Author: Linda Shepherd-Gentle

A major concern among Reiki practitioners has been the inability to bill client's insurance companies for treatments. However, today there are avenues available to the practitioner.A nurse who practices Reiki and wishes to bill an insurance company for a treatment may use the diagnostic code 1.8 - Energy Field Disturbance. The diagnostic code may only be used by nurses and is recognized by the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association. The bill should be accompanied with a separate sheet setting forth the assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation. This information may be found in the Official Newsletter of the American Holistic Nurse's Association (Vol. 15-No. 4, April 1995)

Energy Field Disturbance is defined as a disruption of the flow of energy surrounding a person's being which results in disharmony of the body, mind and/or spirit. Defining characteristics of EFD are - temperature change (warmth and coolness), visual change ( image/color), disruption of the field (vacant, hold, spike, bulge, movement (wave, spike, tingling, dense, flowing), and sounds (tones/words).

For those practitioners who are not nurses and wish to submit their bill(s) to the client's insurance company, there is still a solution. Use a letterhead with your name, address, phone number and social security number. If you practice under a business name, use its federal I.D. number instead of your social security number. Address the bill to the insurance company, using the client's name, group number and/or plan number. If the treatment is due to an auto accident, use the claim number. The client should provide you with this information. Use a heading on the bill entitled "For Professional Services Rendered". Below that, and this is very important, state "bio-energetic modalities" or "therapeutic modalities services".

List the dates and length of session under this heading along with the amount you are charging for each session. Do not be surprised if you receive a letter or phone call from the insurance company requesting a code.

At this time, you can explain that you are a Reiki practitioner and cannot diagnose, but that there is a code the American Holistic Nurse's Association uses which is 1.8.

Attach a page to your bill entitled "Evaluation Sheet". It should list the categories of Initial Interview, Treatment and Final Evaluation .

Initial Interview - How the client presented him or herself. i.e. the patient's complaint

Treatment - Explain the length of time of treatments, number of treatments and how the patient responded to the treatments.

Final Evaluation

(a) Give a date of last treatment and patient's response after the treatment

(b) Recommendation as to further treatments. This will keep the door open for the insurance company to pay for additional treatments.

This Evaluation Sheet is the medical model of SOAP which the doctors use in charting a patient. SOAP stands for subjective, objective, assessment and plan.

If a medical doctor referred a patient to you, attach a copy of the referral letter to the bill. This helps the credibility to your treatments and billing.

Linda Shepherd-Gentle is a Reiki Master in Bellevue, NE