What Does “Board-Verified” Mean?
Acupuncture Digest is the only acupuncture directory that independently confirms practitioner credentials before displaying a verification badge. Every badge you see — whether License-Verified or Board-Verified — represents a manual check against official state board records or national registry data.
Verification Tiers
Unverified
Profile exists in our directory. No credential checks performed.
License-Verified
We confirmed an active state acupuncture license using the practitioner’s submitted license number against state board records. License is current as of the verification date.
Board-Verified ★
We confirmed active NCCAOM or NCBAHM Diplomate status — the gold standard in acupuncture credentialing — using the practitioner’s Diplomate number against the public registry. This is the highest credential tier.
Why It Matters
NCCAOM (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine) certification is the national standard for acupuncture practice in the United States. Earning Diplomate status requires passing rigorous national board examinations covering acupuncture theory, biomedicine, and point location.
43 states require state licensure to practice acupuncture legally. A state license confirms the practitioner has met minimum education and examination requirements set by their state board.
General review platforms like Google or Yelp do not display credential information. Patients have no way to verify that a practitioner is licensed or board-certified from those listings. Acupuncture Digest fills that gap.
How We Verify
- 1Practitioner submits their license number or Diplomate number through their profile dashboard.
- 2Our team manually checks the number against the relevant state board website or the NCCAOM/NCBAHM public registry.
- 3We record the source URL or reference, and the date the check was performed.
- 4The appropriate badge appears on the practitioner’s public profile.
What Verification Is NOT
- ✕ Verification badges are separate from paid subscriptions. Paying for a listing upgrade does not grant a credential badge.
- ✕ A practitioner who subscribes but cannot provide a valid credential number will not receive a badge.
- ✓ If a verified practitioner cancels their subscription, their credential badge remains — it reflects a fact about their credentials, not their billing status.