International News

• August International Links

• Update on Acupuncture in Mississippi
• Delaware Gets an AOM Practice Act

National AOM Issues

• Guide to Using Your Credentials Correctly!
• Taking a Holistic Strategy on the Road
• Integrator Blog News & Reports

• Business Strategies for Acupuncturists
• Healthy Alternatives: an interview with Regina Danvers

AAAOM Activities

• Nominations for 2008 - 2009 Board of Directors
• AAAOM Notice of Annual General Meeting of Members
• Sneak Preview of Fall ’08 The American Acupuncturist

• August National Links

Continuing Education and Events

• 11th Annual World Congress on Qi Gong
• Chinese Herbal Medicine Tele-Course
• Learn Bowenwork® in Tucson, AZ
• SAR Executive Director Search

• AAAOM National Conference and Expo Offers More to Students!
• New Structure for the AAAOM Student Organization

• Dear Prospective Advertiser:

Greetings AOM Members and Colleagues:

If you have not yet had the time to take advantage of the early bird discount for the upcoming 2008 Expo in Chicago, please log-on to the AAAOM store. The discount ends on August 31st!

www.aaaomonline.com

This month we bring you a rather pragmatic version of the Qi-Unity Report, led by Carrie Craddock’s advice on producing a solid business plan for your practice. You can also read about the new acupuncture practice act in Delaware and about efforts to get a practice act moving in Mississippi. Meanwhile the AAAOM-SO—experiencing unbelievable growth—announces its new organizational structure. Read also about the Sustainable Living Roadshow taking its model for a healthy society on tour. With John Weeks checking in with the latest incarnation of the Integrator Blog and Regina Danvers explaining why she began a television show on alternative medicine, one thing is clear: there’s always something happening in the AOM field! The Qi-Unity Report is always your source for the latest.

As we approach the Chicago conference in October, we invite you to meditate on how far we have come, on where we are, and on where the AOM profession is headed. You are an important part of this unfolding story, and we appreciate your membership in the AAAOM. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” which is to say we are all in this together. On this note, please encourage any of your practitioner friends who are not yet members of the AAAOM to join. Increased numbers leverage your membership into greater influence. We continue to grow with robust participation—driven by those who wish to protect scope of practice, engage on a legislative level, and seek greater statutory recognition. To do all this and more, we depend on you. Put another way by AAAOM IT manager Brian Smither, “Help us help you to represent the AOM profession.”

Once again we extend our appreciation to Golden Flower, Kan Herb, and Mayway for choosing to sponsor the Qi-Unity Report. If you are one of our business partners, wouldn’t you like to join them? Your continued support invigorates the AAAOM and serves to remind us that the AOM profession is, in many ways, the sum of our collective efforts as a community. Thank you sponsors, for your support! We ask our practitioner members to patronize those businesses that have put themselves forward to support your profession.

We hope this edition of the Qi-Unity Report keeps you informed of the various issues that affect your life and practice in AOM. As usual, we’re here for you and would love to hear what you think.

The AAAOM is interested in your feedback. We invite you to use our General Feedback page to let us know your opinions and insights.

International News

August International Links
Here are links of AOM interest from around the world.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/1a.html

State Legislative Activities

Update on Acupuncture in Mississippi
Jerusha W. Ed Groote, MSOM, LAc, is working hard to gather the proper momentum to produce a practice act in Mississippi. Read about the terms of this process below.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/2a.html

Delaware Gets an AOM Practice Act
Lorna Lee, LAc, has been actively involved in efforts to achieve an AOM practice act in Delaware. Read below for insider details on how the landmark Delaware Practice Act came into being.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/2b.html

National AOM Issues

Guide to Using Your Credentials Correctly!
Dr. Kory Ward-Cook, NCCAOM Chief Executive Officer, Betsy Smith, NCCAOM Deputy Director, and Mina Larson, NCCAOM Director of Communications and Marketing, lend us their expertise such that practitioners may have a clearer understanding of how credentialing works.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/3a.html

Taking a Holistic Strategy on the Road
Geoff Barrett, Director of Community Outreach at the Alternative Healing Network, Inc. based in San Diego, CA, announces the “Be the Change” tour, part of the Sustainable Living Roadshow—an ambitious approach toward putting social change in motion all over the U.S. The SLR currently seeks practitioners to get involved in this project. Read on for further details.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/3b.html

Integrator Blog News & Reports
As an on-going monthly feature, the Qi-Unity Report. continues to feature articles of interest from the Integrator, edited by John Weeks. The articles for August include:

• A US military program to teach medical doctors a unique 5-point acupuncture protocol for pain
• A Hawaii Blue Cross integrative pain pilot, including group acupuncture, which showed quality outcomes
• A look at a potential Mayo clinic integrative alternative to putting children on statins
• A review of a key integrative medicine textbook for medical doctors (with no LAc authors) together with a perspective on whether “integrative medicine” is by for and about medical doctors
• A sample bi-monthly Integrator review of recent action which includes a number of acupuncture-related initiatives.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/3c.html

Re-linked here are articles for July which did not have the correct link-in:

• Moves inside the AMA House of Delegates – not all successful, happily - to limit the scopes of doctoral level professions
• Two articles on the National Integrative Medicine Summit which the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences is sponsoring
• An estimate by a mainstream consulting firm that appropriate use of just a few herbal supplement could save $24-billion; and
• A pilot project by microprocessor giant Intel to bring a complementary therapy onsite to limit the costs of musculoskeletal pain.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/07/3c.html

Practice Management

Business Strategies for Acupuncturists
Many acupuncturists come into the field after having gained considerable experience in another field. In the case of Carrie Craddock, that field is business. Craddock helps young practitioners understand some of the business fundamentals that eventually work to produce a thriving clinic.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/4a.html

Healthy Alternatives: an interview with Regina Danvers
This month QUR interviews Regina Danvers, host of the television show, “Healthy Alternatives.” Danvers discusses how her own health and recovery led her to AOM and eventually towards a show that looks into complimentary modalities available to the public.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/4b.html

AAAOM Activities

Nominations Deadline Approaching for 2008 - 2009 Board of Directors
Serving on the AAAOM Board of Directors is an important way to make a significant difference in the profession. We welcome those who choose to challenge their professional and personal lives by making the commitment to serve in this manner.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/5a.html

AAAOM Notice of Annual General Meeting of Members
The Annual General Meeting of Members of the American Association of Oriental Medicine, Inc. will be held at the Chicago Westin Northshore, on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 8:00 A.M. (local time).

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/Notice_of_Annual_Meeting_2008.pdf

Sneak Preview of Fall ’08 The American Acupuncturist
The American Acupuncturist Fall Edition will be published soon. Read below for an early look at some of the articles within its pages.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/5b.html

Links

August National Links
Here you will find a set of links to various AOM articles of note found on the web.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/6a.html

Continuing Education and Events

11th Annual World Congress on Qi Gong
http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/7a.html

Chinese Herbal Medicine Tele-Course

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/7b.html

Learn Bowenwork® in Tucson, AZ

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/7c.html

SAR Executive Director Search

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/7d.html

AAAOM Student Organization

AAAOM National Conference and Expo Offers More to Students!
Jolene Habeck, President Elect, AAAOM-SO outlines what awaits AOM students in Chicago.

http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/8a.html

New Structure for the AAAOM Student Organization
http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/8b.html

Products, Services, and Member Savings

Dear Prospective Advertiser:
http://www.aaaomonline.info/qiunity/08/08/9a.html

In closing.

As always, your feedback serves as a useful lens through which we may look at how well we are serving our members. Please take a moment to express your thoughts to us.

General Feedback

In Health,

Rebekah Christensen, Executive Director

Douglas Newton, Managing Editor