Board Members Present:
David Paton, President, Professional Member (MD - Board Member)
Pete Gonzalez, Vice President (AZ - Executive Director)
Penny Heisler, Treasurer/PR Chair (MD - Executive Director)
Ronda Bryan, Secretary (FL - Program Operations Administrator)
Anna Hansen, Board Member (NM - Public Member)
Frank Ervolino, Professional Member (FL - Board Member)

Board Members Absent:
Rosemarie Ortiz, Administrator (NM - Executive Director)

Official Welcome And Intorductions
Mr. Gonzalez introduced himself and welcomed everyone to sunny Arizona.

Review Of Meeting Minutes:
May 4-5, 2006, Fall Meeting Minutes

Action Taken: After discussion, Ms. Hansen moved to approve the minutes with corrections. The motion was seconded by Mr. Gonzalez and passed unanimously.

Old Business
Reports

Treasurer - Penny Heisler
Ms. Heisler an overview and update on the Federations expenditures. (Attachment 1)

Secretary - Ronda L. Bryan
Ms. Bryan stated that an e-mail distribution list of all acupuncture regulatory agencies was created to assist the Federation with disseminating information.

Ms. Bryan provided an overview of the results from the Federations survey that was sent to all state regulatory agencies requesting data relating to the practice acupuncture. The survey requested information on the number of active and inactive licensees, number of disciplinary cases, top five disciplinary violations and type of regulating body. There were 11(eleven) state regulatory agencies that responded to the survey. (Attachment 2)

At the May 2006 meeting, the Federation expressed an interest in creating a database to store disciplinary and/or other actions taken against licensees. Ms. Bryan provided information on the National Practitioner Data Bank, Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (NPDB-HIPDB) whom Florida is required to report their actions to. (Attachment 3) For additional information, please visit NPDB-HIPBD website at www.npdb-hipdb.com.

The Federation has a link on their website to all state regulatory agencies laws and rules but some states rule link does not go directly to the appropriate rule number. There was discussion rather these agencies are able to make the link more user friendlier.

President - David Paton
Mr. Paton read an opening letter to the members and noted the areas where we may and must contribute as follows:

1. The Doctoral Task Force is poised to reconvene and move forward with an agenda of developing a first-professional entry-level Doctorate curriculum.
2. The recent attempt to introduce bills at the Federal level which propose the development of an AMA guided committee or group to oversee scope of practices and attempt to standardize them.
3. The development of an interdisciplinary data bank.
4. Professional portability.
5. True Licensure by Endorsement.

Mr. Paton also suggested that FAOMRA can contribute in each of these arenas and more that have not been mentioned as follows:

Doctoral Task Force
1. Be present in the development of the educational standards
2. Advise as the ramifications in each state and what regulatory assistance will be needed to facilitate the likely migration to a Doctorate
3. Take action nationally and in each state to inform boards of changes and take this opportunity to create a more uniform, seamless regulatory process
4. Ultimately to make it happen both legislatively and in regulations

Federal Legislative Efforts Which may Impact Regulators
1. AMA 818-5688
2. The TM Congress, efforts to regulate herbal medicine practitioners and efforts to regulate herbal products

Licensure by Endorsement
1. Interstate conversations around creating regulations and cleaning up old legislation to reflect current trends and professional movements
2. Take action to allow movement of first professionals from state to state

Interdisciplinary Date Bank
1. Develop a common reporting mechanism
2. Promote and encourage, solicit if you will, individual State participation
3. Seek to merge data with existing professional boards and utilize their resources and data banks rather than create our own

Mr. Paton further stated that the Federation is tasked with tending to public safety and the legal issues and it is imperative that the Federation step up on our charge and create a vision bigger then our individual states. The Federation is a young organization and has been taking small steps and now is the time to take bigger steps which will take dedication, work and commitment which will contribute to the development of the acupuncture and oriental medicine profession. (Attachment 4)

Mr. Paton thanked Ms. Bryan for the work she has done for the Federation over the past six months.

Marketing Plan - Frank Ervolino
Mr. Ervolino provided a copy and over of his proposed marketing plan. The plan included use of promotional items to illicit new membership, change to by-laws, develop a new member education booklet and develop Annual Meeting Committee to develop an Educational Program. (Attachment 5)

The members requested Mr. Ervolino to e-mail a draft copy of the logo, promotional item(s), supply amount and cost for final approval.

Update on FAOMRA website - Anna Hansen
Ms. Hansen suggested that a picture on the Federation members be posted on the website to help visitor recognize the members at common meetings. The consensus of the members was to post a picture and name to identify the members on the website.

Ms. Hansen requested the members to review the information she printed from the Federations website and provide her with any corrections. Ms. Hansen suggested that the members assist her in keeping the information on the website updated and accurate. Each member was responsibly for review and providing feedback to Ms. Hansen before the final adjournment of the last meeting day. Mr. Paton requested the members to please respond to Ms. Hansen's e-mail request within 24 hours of receipt.

Ms. Hansen noted that she is working on a new letterhead and will include the name, states and states that participate.

State of the States
South Carolina
Martin Herbkersman is the Vice President for the American Association of Oriental Medicine (AAOM). The South Caroline acupuncture profession is an advisory committee under the Board of Medicine. They research and make recommendations regarding the regulation of acupuncture. Mr. Herbkersman indicated that South Caroline is pushing to allow acupoint injection therapy and is aware of Florida implementing a minimum 60 hour course of training to be completed before practicing acupuncture injection therapy.

The next challenge is the transition to the doctorate degree and use of designed titles. An example would be someone with a master degree who has just as much education and continuing education as someone with a doctorate degree.

Currently New Mexico, Nevada and Rhode Island use the Doctor of Oriental Medicine designation. South Caroline is considering pursuing legislative language to support the Doctor of Oriental Medicine designation. Mr. Payton requested Mr. Herbkersman to attend future meetings to share their experience and use FAOMRA as a forum.

Arizona
Mr. Gonzalez indicated that they are experience a growth in licensees. Applicants applying for licensure from Florida who are senior licensees are having a difficult time getting a license. The rules currently require a higher number of educational hours than when these practitioners originally got licensed. These practitioners have been practicing for 15 to 20 years. The Board is allowing these applicants to take additional educational hours because they do not have the statutory authority to waive the required hours.
The Board will be submitting legislative language to address the educational hours and the retention of patient records.

Arizona currently has 544 licensed acupuncture practitioners and has received 97 applications. A large number of applicants are coming from California. The Board will be going through a sun set review in 2007.

Della Stella has observed that a majority of practitioner's do not understand role and responsibilities of the Board. Ms. Bryan offered to provide a copy of the Florida Board of Acupuncture, New Board Member Orientation Manual to assist with educating everyone.

Mr. Paton suggested that the Federation create an educational manual explaining the different roles of all organizations related to the practice of acupuncture.

Florida
Mr. Ervolino noted that the Board was challenged by the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee on two rules related to definitions for lack of statutory authority. The Board repealed the two rules and moved the information under the advertising disciplinary guidelines.

The Board sent a representative before the Board of Chiropractic Medicine to request for sticker rules on advertising since they are certified to do acupuncture but not licensed. The Chiropractic Medicine Board responded by strengthen their disciplinary guidelines for misrepresentation.

Mr. Ervolino serves as the Consumer Protection Liaison and will be working with Board staff on creating educational materials for consumers. Mr. Ervolino has done public speaking at acupuncture schools and encouraged students to join an association that will assist them in protecting their profession.

Website - Mr. Paton suggested that the Federation create a welcome package and have it available on the website.

Maryland
Mr. Paton noted that they do not have any legislation coming up and have had a lot less disciplinary actions. They are experience mall massage business that offer acu presser and are largely Asia non-speaking English men who are not licensed. The Maryland Chiropractic Board oversees the Massage Board. The Chiropractic Board has been pressing the Acupuncture Board to get involved because these business men are hiring licensed acupuncturist to work for them and then they post the acupuncturist license at their business. Some of the acupuncturists caught on and asked for their license back. This is on the rise and is resulting in more acupuncturists being investigated.

New Mexico
Ms. Hansen stated that the Southwest Acupuncture College built a brand new school and currently has three campuses.

Ms. Hansen noted that New Mexico practitioners have the authority to prescribe. The Board was working very hard on drafting rules to allow different modules but was advised that they did not have statutory authority. Over the past six months the Board has drafted compentecies skills for the RXII program. The RXII program is a much larger scope of practice. The RXII program was approved and is a really good educational program. There are approximately 30 to 40 practitioners who are RXII certified. There are approximately 700 licensed practitioners.

Ms. Hansen indicated that they are working on improving their licensure by endorsement rules. Ms. Hansen suggested that the Federation come up with a statement regarding licensure by endorsement and how to institute requirement. Mr. Paton stated that the Federation currently has a statement available.

Ms. Hansen noted that their disciplinary committee is receiving complaint letters claiming that practitioners with RX license are not qualified. There are concerns that Individuals do not understand that the Board and Associations do not operate under the same rules.

NCCAOM - National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
Betsy Smith indicated that their disciplinary review committee publishes disciplinary actions taken against practitioners on their website and newsletter. The publications include the practitioners name, state taken action and type of action (suspension, probation, revocation, etc.) Ms. Smith asked the Federation how long other organizations maintain this type of information on their website. Ms. Smith called the State of New York and they said the information is maintained forever. The NCCAOM currently list practitioners on their website who were suspended or revoked for 5 years. Ms. Smith noted that the NCCAOM cross reference disciplinary data on applicants because some applicants fail to report actions when they apply. Their application asks very specific questions about the applicant's history.

The NCCAOM moved the examinations to a computer base test. All the examination test sites are equipment with video cameras so all candidates are taped during the testing time. There has been a 94% decrease in cheating. However, this year there was one incident reported for cheating and it was caught on video. We have received reports stating that examination questions are being published on the web. We have a group of individuals who review and monitor the web frequently to make sure that examination questions are not being published. In the near future the NCCAOM will be offering a practice test at a very low price to hopefully discourage people from going to phony website. There has been a decrease in disciplinary cases.

The NCCAOM sent a survey out to all regulatory agencies and I want to encourage everyone to please respond.

The new candidate handbook is available on line and can be downloaded. Applicants can complete and submit an application on line and the capability to pay by credit card. The NCCAOM are combining the Acupuncture and Biomedicine exam together. Candidates will be required to pass a percentage of the biomedicine questions in order to pass the exam. The apprenticeship route will be eliminated and phased out in 2010. The new computer adapting test will allow candidates to take an exam anytime or day instead of only three times a year.

Mr. Gonzalez commended Betsy and her staff on the electronic report of examination scores.

Adjournment
Action Taken: A motion was made by Mr. Ervolino to adjourn the meeting at 4:05. The motion was seconded by Ms. Hasen.

Call to Order/Roll Call
David Payton, President, called the meeting to order, welcomed the guest and thanked them for participating.

Presentations
AAOM - American Association of Oriental Medicine
Martin Herbkersman, DAc, MTOM

Mr. Herbkersman stated that the AAOM are happy to have the Federation at their annual conference and support what the Federation is doing. Mr. Herbkersman provided a legislative update on the following states:

• South Carolina - Working on expanding the scope of practice and regulation.
• Massachusetts - The AAOM was contacted by a member in Massachusetts requesting assistance with a bill to get acupuncturists included in a mandated insurance coverage. The bill went through without including acupuncturists. There were some resistance from individuals and organizations on the insurance being mandated. There was some misunderstanding about the bill requirements. It did not mean that they would be required to have insurance; it meant that they would be able to file insurance claims for services.
• New Mexico - Received a letter from New Mexico's Association regarding difficulties they were having with the Chiropractic Board changing their scope of practice to 100 hours in acupuncture.
• Ohio - A bill was introduced to allow Chiropractors to have 300 hours of acupuncture training. Testimony was taken and given testimony on behalf of the association.
• New Jersey - Temped to pass legislation to clarify their license status. The AAOM wrote a letter objecting.

The National Education Dialog and Apex contacted AAOM with concerns regarding enter level education to practice acupuncture. The AAOM sent a letter to their members to present to their legislators of other opinions on the appropriate enter level standards for acupuncture and oriental medicine beside what is being presented from Chiropractors and any other profession who would partial off acupuncture as a technique and present it. However, it was perceived as being turf protected. That was not the position we took, we took the position that there needed to be a dialogue between those professions who have rights and privileges with respect to this scope and a dialog of what is the appropriate enter level standards. What happens is that a profession will appropriate and throw in the lowest number of hours they can get away with. Our call is for a high order.

CCAOM - Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
The Council's Entry-Level Standards Committee (ELSC) was established in May of 2003 and charged with soliciting proposals from the AOM community for possible changes to entry-level standards. The Council reaffirmed its support for the Master's degree level as the entry-level standard during this process. Subsequently, the committee received 116 papers and issued a report that appears on the Council's website at www.ccaom.org/ELSCFinalReport.pdf. The committee also surveyed allied health professions that had transitioned to a doctoral degree, surveyed state departments of education concerning their requirements for the offering of a possible entry-level doctoral degree, developed a survey of off-site clinics in which the Council's member colleges participate, and compiled a cost comparison relevant to the transition from the Master's level to the Doctoral level by reference to associated costs in the physical therapy profession. A report concerning all the activities of the committee from 2003-2005 was presented by former co-chair, Valerie Hobbs, at the Council's Chicago conference last year.

With continuing discussion within the profession about the possibility of a first-professional entry-level doctorate, the Council's new Strategic Plan directs the ELSC to make a presentation at the Council's fall 2006 meeting concerning transitional issues related to the doctorate. This panel presentation will provide the CCAOM membership and other members of the AOM community with an opportunity to have an in-depth discussion about doctoral issues. The panel will utilize the expertise that its committee members have developed on specific transitional issues, and will feature presentations by other experts who have been involved in similar transitions in the naturopathic and physical therapy fields. It is expected that the panel will address doctoral issues concerning legislation, administration, libraries, faculty, finances, resources for outreach, and challenges for current practitioners.

NCCAOM - National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
Kory Ward-Cook, Ph.D., MT(ASCP), CAE

The NCCAOM is working on partnering with all professional organization and are gaining momentum. Would like to encourage everyone to visit their website and submit an event that they have planned for Acupuncture Day reserved for October 24.

The NCCAOM 25th anniversary is in 2007 and they are looking for sponsorship for the activities that are planned for the celebration. The media is involved with delivering information and activities. There has been an increase in Media coverage by 80%. The NCCAOM representatives are scheduled to be interviewed by Good Morning Arizona. They are getting National recognition about the profession and certification. The coverage is on safety through certified professionals. The NCCAOM is looking to partner with other organization to assist with press releases and promotion of the profession.

The NCCAOM has rolled out their computer base testing. The NCCAOM has contracted with Pearson VUE to conduct their examination. The NCCAOM is pleased to announce several new options for candidates. The first is year-round testing which will begin February 15, 2007 for Acupuncture, Acupuncture combined with Point Location, Biomedicine, Chinese Herbology and Foundations of Oriental Medicine. There are no deadline dates for eligibility and once you are found eligible, you can schedule your exams at your convenience!  Registration will open December 20, 2006. As you complete your examination, you will also be able to see your preliminary pass or fail status right on the computer screen!

There are several benefits for candidates who choose to test in February. To begin, you will notice that a combined Acupuncture and Point Location examination will be given for the first time. The Acupuncture exam and the Point Location exam will be combined into a single test. The combined test will have 100 questions and you will be given 2.5 hours to complete the exam. By taking the combined examination, you will save $90.00 as compared to taking the examinations separately. Although this is a combined test, you must pass both the acupuncture and the point location sections of the examination. This ensures that your examination will meet the licensure requirements of state regulatory boards.

ACAOM - Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
Dort S. Bigg, J.D., Executive Director

Mr. Bigg, thanked the Federation for inviting the ACAOM to the meeting. Mr. Bigg noted that the ACAOM went through a review process with the US Secretary of Education and will be recognized for the next five years because they were in compliance with all the requirements. The Department of Education approved ACAOM's request to expand their scope.

One of the most important components of the accreditation process is the team site visit. The purpose of the site visit is to obtain in-depth information concerning all administrative and educational aspects of the program. The site visit evaluation is a peer-review process which helps to enhance the quality of education.

The site visit permits a team of Commission-appointed peers to assess a program's compliance with the ACAOM standards and the achievement of its own stated goals and objectives. The site visit confirms and complements the information contained in the comprehensive self-study document completed by the institution, and issues a report of its findings to the program and the Commission.

ACAOM seeks qualified individuals to serve as members of candidacy and accreditation site visit teams. All institutions/programs are encouraged to have representatives from their institutions/programs to serve as site visitors. The Commission also encourages practitioners and qualified members of the public to serve on site visit teams. There are several benefits to becoming a site visitor such as being eligible to receive up to ten NCCAOM Professional Development or Continuing Education Credits, Free Subscriptions to ACAOM Newsletter, engaging in an activity that provides professional development for educators, and Networking with leaders in the field of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

The Doctoral Education Commission will be holding their 3rd public meeting on Doctoral Graduates. The Task Force dissolved but has been recreated.

CCAOM - Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
Kathryn Newmick, VP and Valerie Hops, Member of Standards Commission

The Council has been an active sponsor of and participant in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Day since its initial commemoration on October 24, 2002 and this year will once again promote this day with other national AOM organizations in the U.S. This day is also commemorated in other countries, such as Canada, Mexico, and Pakistan. The Council welcomes collaborative efforts with organizations in the United States and other countries to promote AOM Day.

The Council's new Strategic Plan directs the national office to create a refresher CNT course for continuing education credit. Once developed, it is likely that the course will be offered online (without a practical component) and take approximately four hours to complete. The course will focus on risk management issues involving OSHA and CDC requirements and needling incidents that have actually occurred in clinical situations. The Council would apply for recognition of the course by state acupuncture regulatory boards and NCCAOM. In addition to providing acupuncture practitioners with another CEU option, the course might benefit some HMOs that have expressed an interest in having the Council provide a shorter version of its regular CNT course as a possible pre-condition for initial or continuing approval of a practitioner to work in a HMO setting. A second initiative involving the CNT Program concerns the development of an instructional video of professional quality that can be shown during the regular CNT class as a supplement to the practical portion of the course. The video would depict a standardized and exceptionally high quality demonstration of CNT technique by one of the Council's CNT instructors. A live demonstration of the same technique would then occur after the class viewed the video. The use of a video in CNT classes would reinforce the instructor's live demonstration of CNT technique and physically optimize the opportunity of students in the class to observe this technique. The Council strongly endorses standardization in the area of proper clean needle technique as being important in promoting public safety in the practice of acupuncture.

AAC - American Acupuncture Council
There has been a 20% increase in heat lamp burns a year. The AAC wants people to be aware and encourage someone to give thought to the idea of requiring a positive lock on lamps. We are suing the manufacturing companies on ever claim that is filed.

There are more and more questions regarding the modalities involved in acupuncture and injection therapy. The trend of impropriate touching is growing.

Mission, Purpose and Goals
It was the consensus of the members to create the following committees:

The next meeting will be held via conference call on January 30, 2007 to further discuss the website, agenda, marketing, strategic plan, pending list, letter, old minutes and post cards.

Next Meeting
May 10-11, 2007 - New Orleans, Convention Center

Adjournment
A motion was made by Ms. Hansen to adjourn the meeting at 4:25 p.m. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ervolino and carried unanimously.

Click here for the Draft Minutes Oct 18-19 2007.pdf

Click here for the Keystone Minutes May 2006