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Dr. Sina Foroutanjazi, Co-Founder and CEOSometimes, patients return to Carnation Acupuncture without an appointment. They are not coming for treatment. They bring flowers to the founder and lead acupuncturist Dr. Shahla Bastar, a gesture of gratitude for her care.
For the Worcester, Massachusetts-based clinic, those visits reflect the trust Dr. Shahla builds with patients. Acupuncture is part of a broader care relationship that begins with understanding the person behind the condition, including medical history, current experience and what realistically fits into daily life. Patients seek support for acute and chronic pain, fertility and pregnancy-related concerns, tobacco dependence, anxiety and depression, debilitating migraines and more. Treatment is shaped around the individual, not a standard protocol.
“Our aim is to help anyone who seeks our care,” says Dr. Sina Foroutanjazi, co-founder and CEO.
Looking for the Root
Dr. Shahla approaches care through traditional Chinese medicine while remaining attentive to the patient’s Western medical history.
Before treatment, she reviews diagnoses, medications, surgeries, past medical history and, when patients are referred by other providers, relevant office notes. Rather than isolating her traditional Chinese medicine assessment from existing medical care, she uses both to understand what may be driving the condition and how treatment should fit the individual.
No treatment plan follows a preset template. Frequency and duration of visits depend on the condition; patient schedules and circumstances shape how the plan works in practice. Expectations and potential outcomes are discussed upfront before they agree on a realistic cadence.
Making the Patient Part of Care
Patients unfamiliar with acupuncture may not know why certain points are selected or how treatment relates to physician care. Dr. Shahla describes her model as an open-door approach to communication. Staff and the acupuncturist explain the process, inviting patients to participate in their care and build confidence in the plan.
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If you listen to the patients, learn about them, understand where they’re coming from and what’s bothering them, and really try to help them, you can help almost everyone.
Carnation Acupuncture also measures whether the patient’s experiences match its standards. Dr. Foroutanjazi says feedback collected through the clinic’s electronic medical record system is nearly 100 percent positive. When an experience falls below its five-star goal, the team follows up and uses feedback to refine care and communication.
Patients can locate the clinic and book appointments online, while referrals also come from neurologists, physical therapists, orthopedic surgeons and primary care physicians.
Access as Part of Care
Carnation Acupuncture is one of the few clinics in its area treating workers’ compensation, MassHealth or Medicaid patients alongside those with commercial insurance or who self-pay. Lower reimbursement, prior authorization requirements and occasional denied claims make that choice difficult, but the clinic considers access part of its responsibility to the community.
Serving patients across socioeconomic backgrounds has reinforced a simple lesson for the team.
“We’re all humans who suffer and go through hard times,” says Dr. Foroutanjazi. “If you listen to them, learn about them, understand where they’re coming from and what’s bothering them, and really try to help them, you can help almost everyone.”
Carnation Acupuncture has supported people through difficult fertility journeys, including some who had previously undergone multiple IVF attempts. Some later returned following successful pregnancies with their children; the clinic affectionately calls them “Carnation kids.” Other patients arrive with severe pain that has disrupted sleep, work and everyday activities. Over the course of treatment, some have reported pain declining from 10 out of 10 to six, four or, in several cases, zero out of 10, allowing them to resume parts of life that pain had interrupted and continue living with dignity.
Trust in the model is taking Carnation Acupuncture from Worcester to Needham. The move is intended to extend the same individualized, community-oriented care model rather than simply enlarge the clinic’s footprint. The combination of clinical context, accessible care and sustained patient involvement underpins its recognition as Medical Care Review’s Top Acupuncture Clinic 2026, alongside other awards received by the practice and Dr. Shahla since its establishment.
