Monthly Archives: April 2014

A Call to Action

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We have an opportunity to help Californians, and all acupuncturists, but we need to act now. As I’ve written before, states setting their own super-special requirements for acupuncturists seeking licensure is expensive and limiting for practitioners and the profession. I’ve never seen evidence that the public benefits from such requirements.

California has been one of the worst offenders. An exploration of the unique educational requirements can wait for another day, but we now have an opportunity to do something about the exam.  (Please note – much of what follows is based on my best understanding of the situation from respected colleagues in California.  I have not been personally able to fully research the California situation.)

The California exam has had problems for years, among the lowlights — a California Acupuncture Board (CAB) chair sent to prison for selling the exam; a point location exam shown to be so subjective that the State mandated that the CAB cease using it; incidents of extremely high failure rates and serious scoring errors; and CAB’s refusal to compare two exams for possible unfair scoring.

A recent Sunset Committee is turning up the heat on the CAB. Senator Lieu, the Sunset Committee chair, may support a bill that will allow potential licensees to take the NCCAOM exam rather than the California state licensing exam. It is time to let the Senator know that this change would benefit the people of California and all acupuncturists.

Please send emails this week to:

marty.block@Sen.ca.gov, ted.lieu@sen.ca.gov, tom.berryhill@sen.ca.gov,
ellen.corbett@sen.ca.gov, cathleen.galgiani@sen.ca.gov, ed.hernandez@sen.ca.gov,
jerry.hill@sen.ca.gov, alex.padilla@sen.ca.gov, lark.park@gov.ca.gov, Anna.Caballero@scsa.ca.gov, Denise.Brown@dca.ca.gov, Tracy.Rhine@dca.ca.gov, Sonja.Merold@dca.ca.gov, LeOndra.Clark@sen.ca.gov, kimberleywoo@sbcglobal.net, bluelotushealth@gmail.com, blueheartacu@gmail.com, crystal.clk@gmail.com, Spencer.Walker@dca.ca.gov

Some possible language —

I formally request that the Sunset Review Committee mandate that the CAB and staff use the national certification exam (NCCAOM) as the main exam for California Acupuncture licensure.

The NCCAOM exam is widely known to be a fair and comprehensive exam. It is relied upon in almost every state except California. Those practitioners who are credentialed by the NCCAOM have an excellent safety record. To require a unique exam for California, especially one shown to have ongoing problems, increases expenses for all California practitioners, costs which are ultimately borne by the public.

I urge you to require the use of the NCCAOM exams as the main exam for CAB licensure.

Thank you for your consideration.

We will all be better off when meeting one set of standards allows us to practice anywhere in the country. Changing the situation in California would be a wonderful step in the right direction.

Acupuncture Education

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Between conversations on Facebook, dialogues on list serves, and college tours with my child, I’ve been thinking about acupuncture education a lot recently. There are several topics I plan to address in the next few weeks.  First off —

To those considering becoming an acupuncturist:

  • Talk to practitioners in your area. Do they recommend the school they attended? (Ask if they are employed by the school in any capacity to help evaluate their response.) Are most of their classmates are still in practice? How long did it take them to establish a successful practice? (How do they define success?) Are they easily able to make their student loan payments? Are they on an income-based repayment plan?
  • What percentage of the school’s graduates are still in practice 3/5/10 years out. The admissions office should be able to tell you this. They won’t be able to. Don’t be fooled – knowing the percentage of students passing the credentialing exams is not sufficient data to make a major investment. And make sure to ask what they mean by “still in practice.”  Here’s one school’s information about graduate success.
  • Will the education you receive at the school enable you to practice in the states you might want to practice in. Verify the information the schools provide, as many students have been misled. State requirements vary and are changing. Some only approve graduates of particular schools, some require additional education in certain subjects, some are very specific about whether the school has full ACAOM accreditation (ACAOM approved, or ACAOM candidate status won’t do it).
  • While schools may say that LAcs are employed in hospitals and other health care settings, know that this is a tiny percentage of practitioners. The vast majority of practitioners are establishing their own private practices upon graduation. What are the schools business classes like? Do they bring in marketing experts, accountants, lawyers, to give you guidance?
  • In a recent NCCAOM survey 62% of respondents reported a personal income, before taxes, of less than 65K.  Most “employment” situations for LAcs do not include sick time, paid vacation, family leave, health insurance, disability insurance, retirement savings plans, or payment for time spent on administrative tasks. If you are thinking oh, 30 clients/week at $80.00 = $124,000 — I’ll be rich, you should think again.Your ongoing expenses are likely to include fees for licensure, your NCCAOM credential, the CEU expenses to maintain that credential, malpractice insurance, liability insurance for your office, rent and utilities, marketing, supplies, taxes (of course) which are higher for the self-employed. If you intend to work within the insurance system know that while you may build a practice more quickly, the amount you receive as reimbursement can be changed at the whim of the insurance company. Expect that some amount of your time and money will be spent on additional services to help you track and pursue reimbursements.

Don’t get me wrong.  Many practitioners love what they do and wouldn’t trade it for anything.  This includes people who admit that they are struggling financially. I’m not saying don’t go to acupuncture school. I am saying do the research you would do before any other 80K (or more) purchase.