Howdy all!

The AAAOM is working to get acupuncture accepted on the national level. Here’s what they have to say:

AAAOM is working to designate acupuncture as an Essential Health Benefit (EHB) under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Such designation as an EHB will serve as a catalyst to increase opportunities for all practitioners in mainstream medicine across the nation. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a Consensus Report concerning this to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The HHS will make a determination about the inclusion of acupuncture in EHB by May, 2012. Right now, the AAAOM is organizing a letter support national campaign to let our voices be heard.

The AAAOM needs the active nationwide support of as many practitioners, state organizations, students, schools, and patients as possible. As the health care landscape dramatically changes, the federal recognition and inclusion of acupuncture as an Essential Heath Benefit will serve as a critical first step for increasing patient numbers and therefore employment opportunities for acupuncturists nationwide.

The hope is that acupuncture, and eventually all aspects of Oriental medicine, will be included in national discussions about health care, with possible inclusion into programs such as Tricare. I encourage you to regularly check AAAOM’s website (https://aaaomonline.org) for information about this endeavor and visit our Rally Congress site (http://aaaom.rallycongress.com) to join and participate in our support letter campaign now.

Once you fill out the information for the letter, there are options to help your patients get involved as well!
yer (it’s not the needle, it’s the paradigm!) pal,
greg