Click here to support Help a Veteran Serve Again by Sean Honea

Update #7

Greetings from Colonial Williamsburg! We are pretty well snowed in at the moment, so we may not get to Richmond until Tuesday to go prospecting for apartments and clinic spaces. However, we are safe and sound, and have plenty of food to last us the next few days.

Fundraising-wise we surpassed our goal for the week and are now at $4618 that's more than 1/3 of the way towards our campaign goal! This could cover 6 months clinic rent plus our estimated deposit. We are so thankful and blessed!

If we can raise another $380 in the next couple days that could cover the cost of both Erica and I's state and national licensing / transcript fees and put us just under $5000. Thank you again everyone for your generosity!

In other news, the Virginia Board of Medicine (VBM) has received my school's transcript and other documentation, so all that remains in the NCCAOM (national certification) to process and forward my results on to the VBM.

I've also been in correspondence with different agencies and acupuncturists in the region. Looks like the largest Discount Managed Care insurance provider in the country, American Specialty Health (ASH), does operate in Virginia, and when contacted they encouraged me to apply as soon as I get my license.

ASH functions as a kind of vetting organization / case managers for large insurance companies such as Aetna and Cigna for acupuncturist and chiropractors. Going in network with them will be a good first step in bringing insurance-supported acupuncture to the greater Richmond region.
ASH also runs the member Discount / Access Plan (DAP) for Kaiser and Aetna, which is great for people with general health insurance, but without specific covered for acupuncture. A DAP entitles members to up to a 30% discounted off all usual fees, with very little to no paperwork involved.