(코리아타운뉴스) Franchise ‘Modern Acupuncture’ Enters SoCal

Affordable memberships are provided
Korean clinics fearing loss of customers

The Eastern medicine industry in Southern California is nearing a shift of paradigm.

Modern Acupuncture, the largest nationwide clinic, is planning on entering the Southern Californian market, according to Pasadena Star News.

Under the slogan “Make Your Life Better,” Modern Acupuncture is America’s first medical franchise providing Eastern treatments. All Modern Acupuncture clinics are operated with a uniformed interior design and treatment processes.

Treatments provided by Modern Acupuncture include chronic diseases, infections, allergies and sleeplessness. Its clinics also provide affordable memberships.

Modern Acupuncture plans to operate 150 locations nationwide by 2020. The grand plan includes launching more than 30 locations in Pasadena, Woodland Hills, Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica. Modern Acupuncture estimated that its expansion to Southern California will create as little as 180 to as many as 300 new jobs.

Acupuncture business has long served as a major industry within the Asian-American community. That has casted concerns on Korean acupuncture clinics, as Modern Acupuncture’s expansion to Southern California could eventually be a threat.

“Korean acupuncture clinics outside of Koreatown have a high rate of non-Korean patients,” said Association of Korean Asian Medicine and Acupuncture of California (AKAMAC) chairman Hak-bong Yang. “This could limit the opportunities of younger Korean acupuncturists.”

Case in point, AKAMAC has recently revealed that some Korean acupuncture clinics have set non-Korean customer base of 40 to 50 percent.

“Younger patients don’t just come to Korean acupuncture clinics for its Korean-style services,” said another Korean acupuncturist in Buena Park, only identified by his last name Kim. “That means many of them can simply choose to go to a cleaner and more systematic clinic at any given time.”

Kim’s concerns mirror what many of the Korean acupuncture clinics based in Southern California believe as many of them target the younger generation with their services centering on skincare, diet and body treatments.

Yang explained that the inclusion of acupuncture in health insurance has triggered larger franchises to expand their businesses.

“Even the larger scale acupuncture clinics have strengths and weaknesses,” said Nicholas Song of Pain Clinic. “Those clinics may offer comfortable and simple treatments, but you do have to question if they’re capable of tailoring the treatments to Koreans. Unless they address that concern, patients who’ve visited an acupuncture clinics for the first time may start thinking twice about Eastern medicine as a whole.”


By Jaera Kim