What to expect:
By coming to the NESA Clinic you are participating in the educational process of the interns. The purpose of the NESA Clinic is to provide a place for the interns to practice acupuncture and Traditional Oriental Medicine on the general public while also providing a service to the community. Because we are a teaching clinic, generally you will see the same intern each time but at other times you may see two acupuncture interns working together. Please be aware that the interns are still in the process of learning.

Traditional Chinese Medicine works cumulatively on and with the body, therefore we ask that you complete a full course of treatment as determined by your intern. Please be sure to ask your intern, within your first two appointments, how long you should expect to be coming for treatment.

To facilitate scheduling and to insure that you can see the same intern each time, the Front Desk staff will try to schedule your appointment for the same day, at the same time, each week, until your intern dismisses you from treatment. Please check with the front desk after your first appointment to confirm your schedule. Patients are allowed to work with the same intern for one full term (12 - 16 weeks). Patients must switch to a new intern at the beginning of the following term(s) in order to facilitate the education process of the interns.

Please refrain from wearing any scented perfumes, aftershave, lotions or body oils to your appointment. During your first treatment, the intern will ask you a series of questions all targeted at gaining information about your current state of health. A variety of styles of oriental medicine may be used by your intern to treat you, including acupuncture and the insertion of needles, Chinese herbs, heat treatments (moxa or heat lamps) and massage. Your intern will discuss each of these with you prior to any treatment.

Chinese Herbal Clinic:
In addition to the acupuncture clinic, NESA also offers Chinese herbal medicine consultations with students enrolled in the Chinese Herbal program. These appointments are scheduled separately from your acupuncture treatments. Please inquire at the Front Desk for more information or to sign up for one of these appointments.

Patient Check In:
When you arrive for your appointment, please check in with the front desk staff. After your first visit, we ask that you pay for your treatments prior to treatment. Payments for appointments and herbs may be made by cash, check, Mastercard or Visa. The NESA Clinic is a direct pay service only; we do not bill insurance companies or accept workmen's compensations claims or other forms of insurance. However, if your health insurance covers acupuncture we will be happy to provide you with a receipt for reimbursement from your company.

Hours of Operation:
Because we are a teaching facility, we operate on a term-based or school calendar. In general, the Clinic is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and Saturdays from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. However between terms or during school vacations we may be closed. Please be sure to check with the Front Desk for any changes to the clinic hours or notices about term endings and starts. When in doubt, please call before coming. Clinic closings due to weather will be announced on the radio WRKO AM 680 and television station WHDH- 7 news, as well as on a message recorded on our voicemail system. In general, the NESA Clinic is closed when the New England School of Acupuncture is closed.

NESA Clinic Treatment Rates

Discounted rates:
The NESA Clinic strives to make acupuncture affordable for the general public by offering significantly reduced rates for treatment. The typical charge for acupuncture in the Greater Boston is $65.00 per hour. Click here to view NESA's Intern Clinic rates. NESA also offers discounts to the following qualified individuals: Senior Citizens over the age of 65, Veterans of the U.S. Armed forces with proper military identification or proof of service, students with a valid college identification.

Other Treatment Facilities and Locations:
In addition to the primary location of the NESA Clinic in Watertown , we also are affiliated with and staff ten other off-site clinics around the greater Boston area. Many of these locations offer services at a reduced rate or sliding scale and several are free of charge. Please ask at the front desk for more information about these locations.

Cancellation Policy:
Each appointment is reserved and our interns are depending on your attendance. Please provide 24 hours notice if you cannot make your scheduled appointment or by noon on Saturday for Monday appointments. For your convenience a 24-hour voicemail system will record your message with a time stamp, please leave your cancellation message on the voicemail if you are calling outside of business hours. Individuals who do not call to notify the clinic will be responsible for the full appointment fee. Informing your intern of a planned absence without informing the front desk is not considered proper notice. Please also see ‘Frequent Poor Attendance' information below.

Late Policy:
The NESA Clinic policy for late clients is 30 minutes. No patients will be seen by their scheduled intern if they are more than 30 minutes late for their appointment. New patients who are late will still be interviewed by the Intern but may not receive a treatment that day due to the length of the intake process. Late patients may be offered another time slot that day only with another (or the same) intern if the schedule for the day allows at no additional charge. Late patients will be charged the full fee. Decisions to accommodate a patient who is fewer than 30 minutes late are up to the supervisor and the treating intern.

Frequent Poor Attendance:
Because the primary mission of the NESA Clinic is the education of our student interns, we reserve the right to remove any patients who demonstrate a pattern of poor attendance. Patients who cancel three appointments per semester will be automatically removed from the appointment schedule and the intern's time will be reassigned. Patients who miss two appointments in a row, without proper notification to the front desk, will be automatically removed from the appointment schedule and the intern's time will be reassigned.