California is Still a Safe Place for its Acupuncturists

BY MICHAEL ZHAO
This has been a particularly tough year for California’s 11,000 licensed acupuncturists. They had to wage a months-long legislation battle in Sacramento over the fate of the California Acupuncture Board, amid charges that the body was not regulating the profession properly.

Although the bill was amended to keep the board, board seats remain unfilled.

A “sunset” review process was kicked off in the spring by Senator Liz Figueroa’s SB233. The efficiency-oriented Little Hoover Commission reported the board was often “a venue for promoting the profession rather than regulating the profession to protect consumers.”

But the threat of ending the Acupuncture Board triggered a rarely seen amount of energy and political participation among practitioners, professors and students.

A 500-person rally was held at the State Capitol in August, according to Michelle Lau, president of the Council of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Associations, an umbrella organization of professional groups that promotes their education and practice.

Last month, a compromise was reached. The board will continue to serve as an open forum of public voices and concerns as well as an administrator of accreditation and educational training of practitioners.

But the board has been reduced from nine to seven seats, with all new members appointed as early as next January.

“The acupuncturists pulled together pretty well and survived,” said Robert Cheasty, a senior partner with Cheasty & Cheasty, a Berkeley-based law firm that has represented many acupuncturists, acupuncture associations and colleges.

“As long as the board is here around, we will not lose our rights,” said Lau, who led many of the negotiations with the legislature.

“Being able to keep the board this year has been the biggest victory,” said Dr. Lam Kong, a veteran acupuncturist in Oakland and former board member from 1986-1991.

Kong started practicing Chinese medicine in 1973, a time he and his colleagues ran the risk of arrest, as there was no legal authorization for them to practice.

Two years later, they could see a patient legally, but only after obtaining a prior diagnosis or referral from a Western medical doctor. A full authorization of diagnosis came in 1980. Now, acupuncturists can practice independently.

Supporters of California’s acupuncturists say the attack was the result of efforts by out-of-state lobbyists to pry into the California market along with campaign contributions from associations of nurses, medical doctors and pharmaceuticals.

“California has always been a huge market,” said Shari Asplund, chair of the acupuncture board for several years.

Every acupuncturist must pass a board-administered examination to practice in California. The national level exam is not accepted in California.

The national exam costs $3,200, while the California test, more robust in standards, costs about $550, Asplund said.

Figueroa’s colleagues said the “sunset” process was based on the board’s poor performance.

“We had hearings, board testimonies, investigation on our part, all seemed to agree that something needs to be done,” said Bill Gage, chief consultant of the Senate Committee of Business, Professions and Economic Development.

The board “missed significant opportunities to protect the public,” according to the independent, bipartisan Little Hoover Commission.

“Look at their meeting agendas, none of them in the last five years have talked about single use needles and public health issues,” said Carole D’Elia, a Hoover research analyst.

“Acupuncture needles are designed for multiple uses, and doctors certainly sterilize them,” said Asplund.

“We’ve never heard about complaints from our customers.”

D’Elia also said that they did not have much information on public complaints in their report.

From http://news.asianweek.com/