US · guidance
CMS Pub. 100-03, ch. 1, § 30.3
Acupuncture
A. General
Acupuncture is the selection and manipulation of specific acupuncture points by a
variety of needling and non-needling techniques.
B. Nationally Covered Indications
Effective for claims with dates of service on and after January 21, 2020,
acupuncture is only covered for chronic low back pain under section 1862(a)(1)(A)
of the Social Security Act (the Act). See National Coverage Determination section
30.3.3 for specific coverage criteria.
C. Nationally Non-Covered Indications
Medicare reimbursement for acupuncture, as an anesthetic, or as an analgesic or for
other therapeutic purposes, may not be made unless the specific indication is excepted.
All indications for acupuncture outside of NCD section 30.3.3 remain non-covered.
D. Other
N/A
(This NCD last reviewed January 2020.)
History
(Rev. 10337, Issued: 08-27-20, Effective: 01-21-20, Implementation: 06-24 - 20 - A/B MACs; 10-05-20-SSM Edits; 01- 04-21 - BR 13 CWF only)
Provenance
- Source
- cms.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-25
- Edition
- iom-2026-08-25
- Content hash
ff22218f875c9c77a924305a5a10f96a0b516d276941e83831b1b22240d01247
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