Distribution of licensed acupuncturists and educational institutions in the United States at the start of 2023,during the late stage of the COVID-19 pandemic

This study was conducted to identify the number and density of active licensed acupuncturists(LAcs),as well as the number of accredited schools in acupuncture and Oriental medicine(AOM),as of January 1,2023,in the United States(U.S.).The number of active LAcs as of January 1,2023 was 34,524,potentially33,364 after removing license duplication in multiple states,among which the largest three states were California(with 7317 LAcs[21.19%of the total]),New York(5024[14.55%])and Florida(2644[7.66%]).The total number of LAcs decreased by 8.87%from 2018,and fell short of our projected number of LAcs in 2023 by 9037,or 20.75%.The overall LAc density in the U.S.Dmeasured as the number of LAcs per 100,000 populationDwas 10.36,less than in 2018.There were 56 active,accredited AOM schools which offered a total of 147 programs(121 at the level necessary for licensing[entry-level],12 for an advanced practicing degree[advanced-level],and 14 for certifications).Broken down further,offerings included 50 master's degrees in acupuncture,40 master's degrees in Oriental medicine,31 entry-level doctorate degrees(10 in acupuncture and 21 in acupuncture plus Chinese herbal medicine),and 12advanced-level doctorate degrees in AOM.The certification programs included one in East-Asian Medical Bodywork and 13 in CHM.Among these schools in 2023,institutions in the West and East Coast states comprised 67.86%(decreased from 77.42%in 2018)of the national total.California,Florida and Illinois represented 39.29%.There were 48 jurisdictions with acupuncture practice laws in place.The data suggests that the acupuncture profession in the U.S.has been significantly impacted during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Distribution of licensed acupuncturists and educational institutions in the United States in early 2015

In recent decades, acupuncture has been used more widely and extensively in the United States （U.S.）. However, there have been no national surveys or analyses reported in academic journals on the number of practicing or licensed acupuncturists, This study was conducted to identify the approximate number of licensed acupuncturists active in 2015. The Board of Acupuncture or Board of Medicine in each state or U.S. territory was contacted to collect data, Online license information searching was also performed in order to get accurate numbers of licensed acupuncturists for those states in which a board was unable to be contacted. The study found that the number of licensed acupuncturists in 2015 in the U,S, was 34,481. Of this, more than 50% were licensed in three states alone： California （32.39%）, New York （11,89%） and Florida （7.06%）. The number of licensed acupuncturists increased 23.30% and 52.09%, compared to the year 2009 （n = 27,965） and 2004 （n = 22,671）, respectively; increasing about 1,266 per year. There were 62 and 10 accredited acupuncture institutions providing master and doctoral degrees, respectively. The West Coast comprised 51.39% of degree granting programs, while the East Coast comprised 29.17%; together the coastal states housed more than 80% of all programs, with the remainder sprinkled across the southern （9.72%）, northern （8.33%）, and the middle/central states （1.39%）. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia regulated acupuncture practice by law at the time of data collection. Acupuncture continues to be a quickly growing profession in the U.S,