April 4, 2018; posted by Steven H Stumpf, EdD
Change is afoot. Turmoil has returned to acupuncture. These are times of opportunity.
“These are times when the profession might grow up – as it downsizes – to fit in the healthcare mainstream.” I wrote my response to a March 6 post by the Acupuncture Observer publisher. She assailed the “seditious” actions of acupuncturists in Utah (described as “enemies”) who opposed the POCA point of view. POCA has petitioned NCCAOM and ACAOM to reduce the number of educational hours by 32% in part by removing TCM from the standard curriculum. POCA argues too many students take on too much debt. POCA is correct. In order to get a degree for which there are zero jobs a student must take hundreds of hours of courses that fail to deliver a living wage. POCA wants to eliminate the TCM portion of training. Bullseye again.
How does one know when their profession is failing? When it keeps falling down. Every profession is like a chair with four legs. First Leg – There is a SINGLE professional org (acupuncture has at least four of these); Second Leg – there is a licensing/certifying body (NCCAOM); Third Leg – there is a school accreditation body (ACAOM); and Fourth Leg – there is an association of teaching institutions (CCAOM). Acupuncture has four legs but the Third and Fourth legs are beyond ric
kety. That makes a two legged chair and if you ever tried to sit on one of those…
kety. That makes a two legged chair and if you ever tried to sit on one of those…The acupuncture profession cannot be regarded as a mainstream health profession long as we are missing two out of four legs. As a result, there are no jobs for LAcs in mainstream settings like community clinic and hospitals. As a result, LAc median income is between $40k and $50k, pre-taxes. As a result, schools are closing at a quickening pace and student enrollments are off significantly. Workforce opportunities could be hugely improved if acupuncture students trained in mainstream settings. Instead, ACAOM approves 90% of clinical training can take place in the schools’ needling clinics where unpaid students generate income for the schools. CCAOM likes the arrangement.
Acupuncture is a powerful modality that works very well with pain management. Acupuncture costs less and is effective for many patients experiencing acute and chronic pain. The focus of every school should be to make sure acupuncturists have experience working in community clinics and even hospitals alongside mainstream providers like MDs, PAs, RNs and PTs. CCAOM seems to be at best indifferent to mainstream clinical placements.
There are more issues returning to the foreground of how the profession should develop in the near term. These issues are coming up in California which is home to ~35% of all LAcs in the USA. State Assemblymember Evan Low has called for a “unified voice” that will represent all LAcs when seeking legislative support. This is a great idea. A new membership org has formed under the guiding hand of Mr. Low. California membership groups – of which there are quite a few – are represented on the Steering Committee. As a result, professional leaders of licensees and schools are speaking to each other to at least get a hint of what each is planning to do! National groups need not apply!
One of the strongest California membership groups is CAOMA – the Council of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Associations. Michelle Lau, LAc, is the leader (and a Guild member). CAOMA membership includes individuals and groups. CAOMA may have the largest number of dues paying members among all the other groups including national. Most folks have never heard of CAOMA. Ms. Lau is a fireball who has led the CA legislative agenda (with support from NGAOM, often opposed by other groups) over the past decade. She will play a major role in the new membership org that is forming in California.
I always refer to California as “the tail that wags the dog.” CAOMA and NGAOM have begun to work closely with NCCAOM in the past five years. Cannot say the same for CCAOM and ACAOM. The next two states with 2,000 members are NY and FL. They are the dog’s paws! After that, state by state numbers fall off steeply. Get real. What happens in CA will be felt by every LAc in the country. CCAOM and ACAOM must “modernize” or become obsolete.
Acupuncturist orgs are poor communicators. Hostility and back biting has been the norm. Outsiders have exploited this to shape their own personal agenda. Even among our friends like AAAOM, we have iffy communication. I was contacted in March by a national group “friendly” to the Guild. They asked if we could support acupuncture legislation in Oklahoma. Of course, we can. They asked if we could support their efforts to place LAcs in the Veterans Administration. Whoops. CAOMA and the Guild have been working together during the past year with California Congresswoman Judy Chu (Los Angeles) who has an LAc friendly bill up for a vote this year. Ms. Chu’s bill is the Acupuncture for Seniors and Heroes Act. It will authorize LAcs to work under Medicare and the Veterans Administration. Our two orgs never heard of each other’s parallel actions. The groups sponsoring these two independent actions are now aware of each other.
Next move? Reform acupuncture training to focus on preparing graduates to work in the mainstream. Prepare us to earn a living wage with the largest payer of services in our nation and the caretaker for our veterans across the country. NCCAOM is on board.
The other orgs are silent. They are living in the past. What happens in California will set the pace for the rest of the states.
We may not agree on whether TCM should be part of acupuncture curricula. We may not agree on what should be the terminal degree. We should all agree we need to drive revenue to licensees. We need to help ourselves and work with our proven partners and the new all-in-one org in California.
Link to Judy Chu’s bill Rep. Chu Introduces Bill to Expand Acupuncture Access to Veterans
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