Services

Treatments are non-toxic and minimally invasive.
They require the patient to be a part of the healing process.

The following is a list of CHI Medical Center services:

1. Holistic Family Medicine, including comprehensive women's, men's and children's health care.
2. Medical acupuncture: Acupuncture can be effective as the only treatment used, or as a support or adjunct therapy to other medical treatments for many disorders.
3. Natural allergy elimination techniques, which combine acupressure with applied kinesiology techniques, with or without acupuncture treatment.
4. Mind/Body Medicine, incorporating stress reduction and harmonizing techniques, including traditional Chinese healing techniques such as medical qi-gong.
5. Metabolic and nutritional therapy, including nutritional, vitamin and mineral supplements, enzymes and amino acids.
6. Herbal Medicine, including Chinese herbal formulas and Western herbs.

With the above techniques,
CHI Medical Center treats the following illnesses:

• Allergy and immune disorders: multiple chemical, food, environmental hypersensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome, viral infections, fungal infection, candidiasis, parasites, heavy metal toxicity, ADD/ADHD/Autism associate with allergies and autoimmune disorders.
• Acute and chronic pain management: sports injuries, head-aches, facial tics, trigeminal neuralgia, neck and shoulder pain, various forms of tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, low back pain, sciatica, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, etc.
• Digestive disorders: gastritis and hyper-acidity, ulcers, constipation, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, liver and gall balder disorders.
• Respiratory disorders: sinusitis, colds and flu, bronchitis, asthma, recurrent respiratory tract infections.
• Neurological disorders: post-stroke paralysis, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, vertigo/dizziness, MS (multiple sclerosis).
• Reproductive disorders: infertility, PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome), menstrual cramps, irregular menses, post-menopausal syndrome, sexual dysfunction, prostate disorders.
• Cardio-vascular disorders: arrhythmia, hypertension.
• Urinary disorders: cystitis, kidney stones.
• Mental - emotional disorders: depression, anxiety, substance abuse, emotional trauma, emotional stress, eating disorders.
• Systemic problems: obesity and weight management.
• Endocrine disorders: thyroid and adrenal disorders, diabetes and hypoglycemia, female/male hormonal imbalance.

For information regarding treatment methods, please refer to:

1. Medical Acupuncture: www.medicalacupuncture.org
2. Holistic Medicine: www.holisticmedicine.org
3. Natural Allergy Elimination: www.naet.com
4. National Library of Medicine literature: www.pubmed.com

What are the fees at CHI Medical Center?

The fees at CHI Medical Center correspond to Dr. Christenson’s high credentials in both Eastern and Western medicine.

CHI Medical Center blends naturopathic and allopathic medicine to allow the most effective healing process for the individual patient. Medical acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine are time-honored, well-documented, highly specialized areas of healing and therapeutic modalities that are used quite frequently in the services of CHI Medical Center.

There are over 10,000 non-physician licensed acupuncturists and 6,000 physicians practicing acupuncture in the US. Only 3,000 medical doctors are trained in medical acupuncture and among them only 429 (as of January 2007) are board certified by the American Board of Medical Acupuncture, with only 90 of those having attained the fellowship deemed as the highest level of credentialing by the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, the sole physician-only professional acupuncture society in North America. Fellows are required to be Board Certified in Medical Acupuncture, to have at least five years of medical acupuncture clinical practice, and to also meet additional requirements.

Hawaii acupuncture licensing board requires:

1. A diploma from an institute that was accredited by an accrediting body of the U.S. Department of Education.
The institute requires at least 2175 hours, comprised of 1515 hrs of the Academic didactic program and 660 hours of the Clinical training program. The Institute of Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine ICAOM) where Dr. Christenson graduated sets a higher number of educational hours for graduation requirement (1815 hours for didactic and 900 hours for clinical). Dr. Christenson graduated from ICAOM with the highest GPA and treated the highest number of patients during clinical hours.   

2. Passing two modular board examinations.
The required modules are the Foundations of Oriental Medicine Module and the Acupuncture Module. In addition to the above two modules, Dr. Christenson also passed two other modules, the Point Location Module and the Biomedics Module.

Passing these four module exams has enabled Dr. Christenson to become a nationally board certified Diplomate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Dr. Christenson is also one of very few medical doctors in the world who is recognized as a Diplomate of the American Board of Holistic Medicine, a Diplomate of Acupuncture (NCCAOM), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. She is among a selected few medical acupuncturists who are capable of translating the classical Chinese medical text on acupuncture. Dr. Christenson's high credentials in both Eastern and Western medicine allow her to be more efficient in bridging the best of Eastern and Western medicine.

CHI Medical Center fees are based upon the professional standards for medical doctors specializing in holistic family medicine. Since treatment is personalized according to each individual's needs, fees may accordingly vary with each visit. The following are the standard fees for CHI Medical Center.

1. Consultation and evaluation:
$125 per 30 minutes. Fees may be reduced or increased according to time requirements. The initial visit requires comprehensive evaluation, including history of present illnesses, past medical history, family history, all medications taken in the past and present, all past diagnostic reports including laboratory tests, X-rays, CT, MRI, etc., and other specialists' evaluation reports, as well as nutritional, dietary, psychological and emotional profiles. During the initial visit, after the above evaluation, the patient is introduced to the theories, philosophies and techniques of holistic medicine. Additional information may be given, if needed, on relaxation and emotional balancing techniques and life-style modifications, including, dietary recommendations and home study materials, which may include various books and tapes.

The time for consultation and evaluation during the initial visit generally takes approximately one hour and 15 minutes. Fees may be reduced or increased according to time requirements.

Follow-up visits may take 10 to 30 minutes for consultation and re-evaluation, depending on the individual situation.

2. Medical Acupuncture Procedure:
$80 per acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture may or may not be administered during the initial visit.

3. The number and frequency of treatments:
This varies from person to person. Each body's ability to deal with therapy and the healing process is unique and depends on multiple factors, including genetic make-up, age, and the complexity and chronicity of the illness.

In general, according to the protocol:

● Acute problems (immediate and short term) commonly require approximately 10-12 visits, administered 1-2 times per week.

● Chronic conditions (recurring and long term) generally require 1-2 treatments per week for several months.

● For health maintenance, four sessions per year, seasonally administered, are recommended.

In this office's experience, patients who are self-motivated, determined to be healthy, and take charge of their healing, respond the best to treatment as long as they follow the recommendation of a healthy life-style program, including diet, exercise, medical qi-gong, and a meditative program. Patients are also expected to educate themselves with suggested reading materials and tapes, etc. and to follow my instructions for various self-acupressure techniques for emotional release.

Patient Financial Policy

The policy of this office is the prompt payment of fees for services rendered. Full payment is due at the time of service. We will provide you with a superbill to submit to your insurance for reimbursement. We accept cash, check, MasterCard® and Visa®.