Join us for an online ASVA Sponsored Event on November 5, 2026, from 6:30-7:30pm
Building a Sustainable Acupuncture Practice: Practical Strategies for Every Stage of Practice.
Real-world strategies for practice growth, financial sustainability, patient retention, referrals, systems, and building a practice that supports the life you want.
What makes an acupuncture practice truly sustainable?
It isn't simply having a full schedule. A sustainable practice needs to support the practitioner's financial needs, professional goals, patients, and life outside of the treatment room.
In this practical one-hour presentation, Dr. Amy Abelar, DAIM, MTCM, L.Ac., draws from nearly two decades of healthcare business experience, ownership of a large multi-provider practice, and her work teaching practice management within acupuncture master's and doctoral programs.
Rather than focusing on a single area of business, this presentation brings together practical lessons from across the practice-management spectrum. Attendees will explore how to define what success actually looks like for their practice, understand important financial numbers, attract and retain patients, strengthen referral relationships, create better systems, recognize capacity limitations, and make intentional decisions about future growth.
The presentation is designed to be valuable for practitioners at any stage of practice—from newly licensed acupuncturists establishing their first business to experienced practitioners managing established or multi-provider clinics.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies they can immediately evaluate and apply within their own practices.
As a bonus, participants will receive access to additional free practice-management resources from Dr.Abelar, including a companion practice assessment/workbook and access to The Financially Free Acupuncturist, her free course designed to help self-employed acupuncturists better understand saving, retirement, compound interest, and long-term financial sustainability.
About Dr. Amy Abelar, DAIM
Dr. Amy Abelar, DAIM, MTCM, L.Ac., is an acupuncturist, educator, and longtime healthcare business owner. She began her career as a massage therapist in 2007 before becoming a licensed acupuncturist and earning her Doctorate in Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine. Today, she owns and operates a large multi-provider massage and acupuncture practice, giving her firsthand experience in practice growth, hiring, leadership, marketing, systems, and patient care. Dr. Abelar also teaches practice management and advanced practice management within acupuncture master's and doctoral programs. She founded Acupuncture Practice Systems (APS) to help acupuncturists navigate the real-world business side of the profession through practical education, CEUs, templates, marketing resources, and practice systems. She is passionate about helping acupuncturists build financially sustainable careers that allow them to remain in practice, serve more patients, and create businesses that support the lives they want to live.
What Attendees Will Learn
During this presentation, attendees will explore:
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How to define practice success based on personal, professional, and financial goals rather than assuming that bigger is always better.
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Important financial numbers practitioners should understand when making business decisions.
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How opportunity cost can change the way practitioners think about spending, delegation, marketing, and growth.
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A simple Attract → Retain → Refer framework for sustainable patient growth.
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Why patient education and retention are important parts of practice growth—not just marketing.
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How to build stronger professional referral relationships and make it easier for other providers to know whom to refer.
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Why consistent marketing is more effective than waiting until the schedule becomes slow.
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How systems can reduce repetitive work, improve consistency, and eventually make delegation easier.
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How to recognize when a practitioner or practice is reaching capacity.
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Options for increasing practice capacity without assuming every practitioner needs to build a large clinic.
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Why long-term financial planning, emergency savings, and retirement should be part of building a sustainable career.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Identify at least three financial, operational, or lifestyle factors that should be considered when defining a sustainable acupuncture practice.
2. Describe the Attract → Retain → Refer framework and identify at least one strategy within each category that can support patient growth.
3. Identify opportunities to improve practice efficiency through documentation, systems, delegation, and workflow development.
4. Recognize common indicators that a practitioner or practice may be approaching capacity and identify potential strategies for addressing those limitations.
5. Identify at least one immediate practice-management change that can support greater financial, operational, or professional sustainability.
Event Reminders and Disclaimers:
Video call-in links or call in phone numbers will be sent by email 30 minutes prior to the event.
Event details, speakers, and schedules are subject to change. Notifications of changes will be sent via email.
Audio & Visual Reminders: This event will be recorded. Please turn off your screen if you do not agree to be visible by others during the presentation and recording of the event. You will be muted upon entry to the event. Please keep your microphone muted unless otherwise called upon.
Fees: Registration fees are non-refundable within 24 hours of the event.
