APTA continues to advocate for the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to recognize physical therapists as eligible to bill for dry needling services, but the current status hasn't changed: Dry needling services delivered by a PT are never covered under Medicare.

However, it's possible to provide dry needling to Medicare beneficiaries if the beneficiary agrees to pay for the service. This is done through an advance beneficiary notice, or ABN. But as with many things Medicare, it's not quite that simple: CMS, through its Medicare Administrative Contractors, or MACS, can still deny that the patient should be paying for the service, even though the patient agreed to do so. The key is for providers to supply CMS with the correct codes and information, at the right time, in the right order.