Insurance Reimbursement: What it Might Mean for the Profession of Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapists, as well as many other complementary and alternative medical practitioners, are weighing measures that could promote reimbursement for services from insurance companies. Becoming recognized by insurance companies as a health or wellness provider could be an important step in helping to make Yoga therapy more available and more affordable for the public. What, however, will insurance companies require from Yoga therapists in terms of documentation, proof of medical necessity, goals for Yoga therapy, and so on? These are questions that have been debated in three different professions in which I participate, and I have experienced both the benefits and the detriments of billing and being compensated by insurance companies as a physical therapist, massage therapist, and Feldenkrais® teacher.