Summary & Overview
CPT 97814: Acupuncture with Electrical Stimulation, Additional 15 Minutes
CPT code 97814 is an add-on, time-based acupuncture code for additional 15-minute increments of patient contact when acupuncture includes electrical stimulation. As an extension of the initial electrical-stimulation acupuncture service, this code enables reporting of prolonged, clinically directed needle-based treatment sessions and is commonly used in outpatient and ambulatory care settings. Nationally, clear coding for time-based acupuncture services affects clinical documentation, claims accuracy, and payment consistency across commercial and public payers. Key payers in this analysis include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, United Healthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise explanation of the clinical service represented by the code, payer coverage context, and how 97814 relates to companion acupuncture codes for initial and subsequent sessions. The publication outlines common clinical indications where time-based, electrically stimulated acupuncture may be billed, presents benchmark considerations and coding relationships to related codes, and summarizes typical sites of service. This material is intended to provide a national overview of how CPT code 97814 functions within acupuncture service lines and billing workflows.
Billing Code Overview
CPT code 97814 describes a session in which the provider pierces the skin with one or more needles and stimulates anatomical points on or in the skin using electrical stimulation. This code represents each additional 15 minutes of personal, one-on-one patient contact after the initial acupuncture service with electrical stimulation.
Service type: Acupuncture with electrical stimulation, time-based add-on
Typical site of service: Outpatient clinic or ambulatory care setting where acupuncture is provided, including specialty acupuncture clinics and integrative medicine practices.
Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A 52-year-old patient with chronic low back pain (M54.5) presents to a physical medicine clinic for acupuncture with electrical stimulation. The patient has failed to achieve adequate pain relief with medication and exercise and has been referred by their primary care physician. The provider performs an initial 15-minute session of acupuncture with electrical stimulation (97813) followed by an additional 15 minutes of stimulated needle contact billed as 97814. The clinical workflow includes pre-procedure evaluation (pain history, review of medications and anticoagulation status, informed consent), preparation of a clean treatment area, sterile single-use needles placed at targeted lumbar and paraspinal points, attachment of a transcutaneous electrical stimulation device to selected needles, monitoring of patient comfort during the additional 15-minute interval, removal and proper disposal of needles, brief post-procedure assessment for immediate adverse events, and documentation of time spent in one-on-one patient contact. Typical sites of service are outpatient clinic treatment rooms in an acupuncture practice, physical medicine and rehabilitation clinic, or integrated primary care setting. The patient encounter is coded with the initial acupuncture with electrical stimulation code and 97814 for the additional 15-minute increment of electrical-stimulation acupuncture contact when applicable.
Coding Specifications
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