December 2008
International News
Practice Management
Continuing Education and Events		 State Legislative Activities
AAAOM Activities
AAAOM Student Organization		 National AOM Issues
Links
Products, Services, and Member Savings

Table of Contents:

International News



State Legislative Activities


Sponsors of:

National AOM Issues



Practice Management


Sponsors of:

AAAOM Activities



Links


Sponsors of:

Continuing Education and Events



AAAOM Student Organization


Products, Services, and Member Savings

 

Greetings AOM Members and Colleagues:

The onset of winter means the world changes its colors. It is a time for reflection, when nature ritualizes a partial retreat, protecting seeds underground, and trees slough off their leaves. Vast regions of the country turn white; snow-pack later becomes freshets merging into streams and rivers that, in turn, support us. The AOM profession does not hibernate in winter, of course, but continues to serve the public: restoring wholeness; keeping the energy moving; stirring the pot and tending the fire.

“Another Qi-Unity Report already?” you may exclaim. Time is also a river, and so we all are swimmers. Another month closes, another year under our feet. It has been a time filled with challenge and promise on so many levels for so many people. Even as the economy moves through turbulence, and our country remains engaged in wars abroad, hope for new beginnings does not feel so distant—but rather concrete, palpable, and forthcoming.

Like fractal geometry where a part seems to contain the whole, promising trends that will further the mainstream traction, AOM continues to enjoy and expand. “Battlefield acupuncture” follows last month’s report from a military turn toward AOM to treat post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As the military looks to AOM to address suffering in its ranks, can the broader civilian public be far behind?

Jean-Paul Thuot, a practitioner in British Columbia, reviews C51, a current bill in Canada that could serve as a model for herbal medicine regulation in the U.S. We reprint a letter from NCCAOM’s Betsy Smith that may be useful for those seeking clarification on credentialing matters. Additionally, C. I. Roman anticipates and sketches AOM advancement potential in the U.S.

Nancy Bilello checks in from Colorado on recent legislative happenings in that state. John Weeks sends us the latest from the Integrator Blog. The AAAOM-SO announces the Scholar Exhibition, an innovative vision on how students can contribute to the AOM profession and compete for scholarship money. Additionally we provide a look at coming events for the AAAOM Spring Conference, our fastidiously combed national and international links to articles germane to the profession, and so much more!

Look to the Qi-Unity Report for information on the issues that affect your life and practice in AOM.

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

Canadian Health Regulations Act Bill C-51 - is TCM at risk?

By Jean-Paul Thuot, RAc

Bill C-51, which received its first reading in the House of Commons in April this year, seeks to clarify terminology and grant greater enforcement powers to Health Canada regarding food, drugs and natural health products (NHPs). Or does it? Currently the debate rages on the Internet concerning just what Bill C-51 is and what it will mean for the future of NHPs, including Chinese herbal medicine (TCM).

The stated purpose of Bill C51 is:

"To protect and promote the health and safety of the public and encourage accurate and consistent product representation by prohibiting and regulating certain activities in relation to foods, therapeutic products and cosmetics."

With recent product recalls on tainted toothpaste, bad spinach, and contaminated sandwich meats, it seems reasonable that Health Canada would seek to increase its ability to regulate, inspect, and enforce the laws that pertain to foods and drugs. Within the TCM community there have been a number of products produced in China with ingredients other than those stated on the packaging—some of which are toxic and/or pharmaceutical in nature. Thus this increase in vigilance on the part of Health Canada should come as a relief for those practicing in the field who rely on pre-compounded medicines.

Bill C-51 has been introduced to provide a legislative framework with which to regulate the various aspects of Canadians' health management. The goal is to work within the framework to produce varying regulations for the different product categories covered in Bill C-51.

Currently, the Department cannot force companies to recall contaminated products, but instead they can negotiate recalls with the industry itself. Similarly, their limit for fines is $250,000 for a food-related offence and only $5,000 for all others. Bill C-51 seeks to increase fines for infractions as well as increase Health Canada's abilities to monitor and enforce the legislation.

One of the changes contained in the act that has many people up in arms is the classification of NHPs as drugs. This definition is:

"Any substance or mixture of substances manufactured, sold or represented for use in:
  1. the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of a disease, disorder or abnormal physical state, or its symptoms, in human beings or animals,
  2. restoring, correcting or modifying organic functions in human beings or animals, or
  3. disinfection in premises in which food is manufactured, prepared or kept."

However, the information missing from many arguments is that Health Canada clearly recognizes NHPs as being different from pharmaceuticals and therefore not subject to the same rigorous scientific studies. Indeed, TCM falls into an even more subjective classification since there is special dispensation for "traditional medicines," defined thus:

"The sum total of knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, used in the maintenance of health, as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness."

For example, here are some TCM-based traditional use claims that have been approved by Health Canada for the ingredient astragalus:

Claims of a therapy being traditional must show "a history of at least 50 consecutive years of traditional use of a medicinal ingredient within a cultural belief system or healing paradigm," which obviously TCM is able to do quite easily. In fact, one of the proposed amendments to the bill seeks to strengthen the position of traditional NHPs:

"Obligation in respect of information in applications relating to natural health products:
1.3: In making regulations under paragraph (1)(y) relating to the information that is required in an application for a market authorization for natural health products, the Governor in Council shall specify that the information to be provided may include information based on:
  1. traditional knowledge relating to the product; or
  2. the history of use of the product or any of its ingredients."

Thus, traditional medicine becomes represented not only at the regulatory level but within the legislation itself.

Another issue to keep in mind about this bill is that all forms of medicine, including TCM, are regulated provincially, not federally. In British Columbia acupuncture and Chinese medicine is governed by the CTCMA, thus it would be unlikely that Chinese herbal medicine would be banned or otherwise curtailed without huge debate not only by special interest groups but by provincial governments as well.

In conclusion, it seems that the opposition to Bill C-51 may be based in part on a misunderstanding of the language used in the bill and in part by unnecessary fear-mongering among NHP providers or their advocates.

More information can be found here:
Bill C-51: http://tinyurl.com/6b7ue3
Bill C-51 FAQ: http://www.healthycanadians.ca/pr-rp/billC-51_e.html
Bill C-51's progress: http://www.parl.gc.ca/LEGISINFO/

Jean-Paul Thuot is a registered acupuncturist practicing in Victoria, BC.

Smith Letter Reprint

Dear Ms. (name removed for privacy concerns):

Your email was forwarded to me by Rebekah Christensen, Executive Director, AAAOM for a response. In order to practice in most states in the US, you must first qualify and complete the NCCAOM examinations. For information on each state’s requirements, see the State Requirements Table on the NCCAOM website, http://www.nccaom.org/diplomates/state_licensure.html).

To qualify to sit for the NCCAOM exams, you must complete a education at a school accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM), www.acaom.org Or, if you attended a school outside the US, your educational credentials must be determined to be substantially equivalent to ACAOM’s as published in the ACAOM Program and Standards manual which is available on their website. In order to determine equivalency, we require that applicants must first have their credentials reviewed by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), www.aacrao.org http://www.nccaom.org.

I hope this answers your questions. Please feel free to contact me if you need any additional information.

All the best,

Betsy Smith
Deputy Director
National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM)
76 S. Laura Street, Suite 1290
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Main Phone: (904) 598-1005
Direct Phone: (904) 674-2467

International Links for December, 2008

Myanmar official media Thursday urged all practitioners in the country to make efforts for the promotion of Myanmar traditional medicines through cooperation with the international community. The Congress of Traditional Medicine of the World Health Organization (WHO) was held in Beijing, China in the first weekend of November which Myanmar took part in.

The Myanmar delegation discussed matters on Myanmar traditional medicine including measures being taken for conducting research on treatment of six major diseases -- diabetes, hypertension, malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhea and dysentery through traditional medicine, according to the newspaper.
news.xinhuanet.com

Ethno-botanist Deepak Acharya has spent eight years in the Satpura mountains in Madhya Pradesh, parts of which lie cut off from civilization, driven by a single goal — documenting and salvaging India’s traditional herbal remedies before they are lost to the world.
www.sindhtoday.net

Most people believe that obesity results from eating too much, which is certainly true in most cases. But it fails to explain why some people gain weight even though they eat little and drink lots of water while others keep slim though they eat a big dinner every day.

“It is not simply the case that the more you eat, the more weight you gain,” says Dr Zhang Zhongyi, deputy director of the Acupuncture Department of Yueyang Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. “Whether your stomach and spleen work well plays a much more important role.”
www.365tcm.com

DOES IT WORK? No clinical trials to back up long history of use. Dónal O'Mathúna investigates Dong quai and menstrual symptoms. DONG QUAI has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine for a variety of gynecological problems, including relief of premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
www.irishtimes.com
chinesemedicineherbs.net

China's government has resorted to the age-old practices of traditional medicine to help millions of schoolchildren nationwide cope with a very modern problem: poor eyesight due to too much studying. Education officials, concerned about the deterioration, recently introduced a new series of exercises that focus on pressure points around the head, including the back of the neck and the ears, a technique used in traditional Chinese medicine. "It is a combination of massage and applying pressure to pressure points, a mixture of sport and medicine, all merged together," said Dr Shao, a medic at a Beijing primary school.
uk.reuters.com

FROM Chinese Medicine Journal:

Effects of tender point acupuncture on delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) – a pragmatic trial. Acupuncture is used to reduce inflammation and decrease pain in delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

This study investigates the efficacy of acupuncture on the symptoms of DOMS. Methods: Thirty subjects were assigned randomly to there groups, namely the control, non-tender point and tender point groups. Measurement of pain with full elbow flexion was used as indices of efficacy. Measurements were taken before and after exercise, immediately after treatment and seven days after treatment. Results: Significant differences in visual analog scores for pain were found between the control group and tender point group immediately after treatment and three days after exercise (P<0.05, Dunnetts multiple test).

Conclusion: The results show that tender point acupuncture relieves muscle pain of DOMS.
www.cmjournal.org

The United States and China held the fifth Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) at the Beijing Diaoyutai Guest House on December 4 and 5, 2008. As special representatives of President George W. Bush and President Hu Jintao, Treasury Secretary Henry M Paulson, Jr. and Vice Premier Wang Qishan served as co-chairmen of the SED.

Discussions at the fifth SED meeting led to a number of results in areas of strategic importance that strengthen and deepen the bilateral economic relationship, including:

Establishing a cooperation committee or working group on traditional Chinese medicine and identified the first round of cooperation projects. The alternatives to the use of endangered wildlife and derivative products in Traditional Chinese Medicine will be included on the agenda of this working group.
www.isria.info

State Legislative Activities

Colorado Legislative Update

By Nancy Bilello, LAc, RN

Colorado is currently involved in several legislative activities.

Good news: last May a Colorado acupuncturist had a complaint filed against her for using a laser machine. The complaint alleged that the laser was not part of AOM and that the practitioner’s use of the machine was outside her scope of practice. A second complaint was also filed with the Board of Medical Examiners claiming she was practicing medicine without a license. Valerie Hobbs and I investigated the complaints and sent research about laser acupuncture to the Dept. of Regulatory Agencies (DORA). After waiting almost six months for a decision, we are very happy to report that DORA has found in favor of the practitioner, stating no violation of our practice act was in evidence. The complaint was dropped. Subsequently, the Board of Medical Examiners also tabled the complaint.

In the coming legislative session, we will be working with legislators and chiropractors in our state to ensure fair language and practice policies in the upcoming Chiropractic Sunset Review Report.

We also plan to pursue an insurance parity bill.

We will submit updates on these activities to the Qi Unity Report as we have them.

Nancy Bilello is the President and Legislative Chair of the Acupuncture Association of Colorado.


National AOM Issues

Healthcare Trends and the American Way

By Charles Ignacio Roman

According to Reuters, “Acupuncture works better than drugs like aspirin to reduce the severity and frequency of chronic headaches, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. A review of studies involving nearly 4,000 patients with migraine, tension headache, and other forms of chronic headache showed that that 62% of the acupuncture patients reported headache relief compared to 45% of people taking medications, the team at Duke University found.”

This study once again affirms the central role acupuncture has gained in recent years in the health-care marketplace. The announcement offers more evidence about the general benefit of AOM and follows another vote of confidence from the WHO via the “Beijing Declaration.” From the fMRI studies cited by Bill Reddy on the “Opposing Views” web site discussion on acupuncture www.opposingviews.com to recent discussion of acupuncture in nationwide publications like Health magazine and the AARP (its circulation of 25 million is the highest in the world for any such publication), acupuncture and Oriental medicine seem to be gaining both professional traction in the research world and currency in the popular imagination.

Will this greater popular footing translate into health-care inclusion in an Obama administration whose vision seeks to unify acrimonious disparities in the U.S.? That remains to be seen. Acupuncture is not even recognized officially as an independent profession in the Bureau of Labor statistics—an effort all the national AOM associations have sought to change.

Politicians tend to keep their ear to the ground and monitor trends. This tendency to associate with oncoming trends may well work in favor of whatever legislative advances the AOM field is likely to propose under Tom Daschle’s health-care leadership. Meanwhile, the AMA will likely continue a public relations campaign designed to limit the scope of practice (and influence) of health-care modalities that could impinge on their market-share. Alternative medicine appears to be mainstreaming to a degree that makes it harder for MDs to ignore, and battlegrounds will shift and alliances will form under the incoming Obama administration. Whatever happens, the public will be watching and hoping to find a way to stop the bleeding of escalating health-care costs—a higher percentage of the U.S. paycheck goes to health insurance than any other developed country.

The blank check free pass the health-care industry in the U.S. has enjoyed for so long may stop soon—as the Federal government, strapped with Iraq expense and corporate bailouts, may become enticed with more cost-effective models.

Charles Ignacio Roman became fascinated with Chinese medicine during his extensive travel in Asia, where he witnessed TCM offer relief without western pharmacological intervention. Roman studied writing at the University of California and contributes perspective pieces on the evolution of health-care practices and policy in the US. He invites your comments and may be reached at: charlesignacioroman@gmail.com.

Integrator Blog News & Reports

Integration, by nature, asks us to open our peripheral visions. We are served to look at the whole of the field. We need to develop new fascia, new connectivity. Opportunities crop up in new places. The Integrator Blog News and Reports is meant to provide you with information, insights and tools to enhance integrated care in the environment you serve.

- John Weeks, publisher-editor

Action Bulletin: Obama's Call, IOM Summit Registration, Integrative Healthcare Symposium

Exchange of ideas on healthcare policy has not been this heated for 15 years. This Integrator Action Bulletin links you with ways to be involved with shaping the Obama agenda and the action strategy of the integrative practice community. I have on good evidence thayt for those who submit to Obama's online forum, the staff of the Community Organizer-in-Chief actually respond. Another link takes you to an initiative led by Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Daschle's grassroots push for community forums on health care. Reader Daphne White invites you to her community discussion, focusing on integrative medicine ... Then, two alerts from inside the integrative health community. First, sign-up is open for the IOM's National Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public. Admission is free, but participation is limited. Registration is also open for the Integrative Healthcare Symposium on February 19-21 in New York City. There a myriad of clinical and business offerings will be spiced with two top flight policy panels where we will explore roadmaps for a more influential future for integrative practice.
More ...

"Wellness" Advances: Policy, Employers, MPA Media, Accreditation Standards, IOM Summit, plus

US Senate health policy leader Tom Harkin (D-IA) is talking of recreating the U.S. as a "wellness society" ... Reports from Towers Perrin and Aon show employer interests in wellness programs are up, despite the economic downturn ... Large complementary and alternative healthcare media firm, MPA Media, announces plans to create Integrated Wellness Pavilions at major trade shows ... URAC, the national accrediting body, promulgates standards for Comprehensive Wellness Accreditation ... The IOM-Bravewell Summit explores wellness themes ... Are we seeing a paradigm shift toward health and wellness? Will integrative practice professions be seen as leaders in this shift, which most view as their birthright?
More ...

"Beijing Declaration" from WHO Congress on Traditional Medicine Pushes Use in Primary Care

The first Congress on Traditional Medicine of the World Health Organization (WHO) was convened in Beijing, China November 7-9, 2008. Participating were 1100 experts from 70 countries. Included was a significant contingent of chiropractors organized by the World Federation of Chiropractic. The Congress promulgated the "Beijing Declaration," included here, which also calls on countries to integrate conventional and traditional medicine. A particular focus, in the Declaration and comments from the WHO. director general, is to support the broader WHO campaign to revitalize primary care. Will the IOM's National Summit on Integrative Medicine align with this call?
More ...

Integrative Medicine and Integrated Healthcare Round-up: Oct. 16-Nov, 30, 2008

Cleveland-based Manufacturer Parker Hannifin created a rich CAM benefit which has stimulated the development of a national CAM PPO of America network with affiliations with the AANP and Massage Envy ... Integrative Practitioner tops 5000 members, earns Stevie nomination, names Jacobs, Blumenthal to advisory roles ... Day-late, dollar-short: McCain weighs in on chiropractic ... UCSF Osher seeks medical director: Obama-esque leader needed ... Helfgott Research Institute update ... Tai Sophia and Johns Hopkins nursing advance their relationship; AANP's Howard benefits from program ... Naturopathic policy action in Washington State: hard to imagine this in state's where NDs are not licensed ... Georgia chiros get parity boost from insurance commissioner ... AHPA's Dentali in appointment, $100,000 grant for healthy aging to Bastyr, plus ...
More ...

Resources

Integrator Archive by Subject for January-June 2007
More ...

Integrator Archive by Subject for 2006: All Hot-linked
More ...

Practice Management

NIH News

According to a New Government Survey, 38 Percent of Adults and 12 Percent of Children Use Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Approximately 38 percent of adults in the United States aged 18 years and over and nearly 12 percent of U.S. children aged 17 years and under use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), according to a new nationwide government survey1. This survey marks the first time questions were included on children’s use of CAM, which is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products such as herbal supplements, meditation, chiropractic, and acupuncture that are not generally considered to be part of conventional medicine.

The survey, conducted as part of the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), an annual study in which tens of thousands of Americans are interviewed about their health- and illness-related experiences, was developed by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The survey included questions on 36 types of CAM therapies commonly used in the United States—10 types of provider-based therapies, such as acupuncture and chiropractic, and 26 other therapies that do not require a provider, such as herbal supplements and meditation.

“The 2007 NHIS provides the most current, comprehensive, and reliable source of information on Americans’ use of CAM,” said Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., director of NCCAM. “These statistics confirm that CAM practices are a frequently used component of Americans’ health care regimens, and reinforce the need for rigorous research to study the safety and effectiveness of these therapies. The data also point out the need for patients and health care providers to openly discuss CAM use to ensure safe and coordinated care.”

The 2007 survey results, released in a National Health Statistics Report by NCHS, are based on data from more than 23,300 interviews with American adults and more than 9,400 interviews with adults on behalf a child in their household. The 2007 survey is the second conducted by NCCAM and NCHS—the first was done as part of the 2002 NHIS2.

CAM Use Among Adults

Comparison of the data from the 2002 and 2007 surveys suggests that overall use of CAM among adults has remained relatively steady—36 percent in 2002 and 38 percent in 2007. However, there has been substantial variation in the use of some specific CAM therapies, such as deep breathing, meditation, massage therapy, and yoga, which all showed significant increases.

The most commonly used CAM therapies among U.S. adults were

Adults used CAM most often to treat pain including back pain or problems, neck pain or problems, joint pain or stiffness/other joint condition, arthritis, and other musculoskeletal conditions. Adult use of CAM therapies for head or chest colds showed a marked decrease from 2002 to 2007 (9.5 percent in 2002 to 2.0 percent in 2007).

Consistent with results from the 2002 data, in 2007 CAM use among adults was greater among:

CAM Use Among Children

Overall, CAM use among children is nearly 12 percent, or about 1 in 9 children. Children are five times more likely to use CAM if a parent or other relative uses CAM. Other characteristics of adult and child CAM users are similar—factors such as socioeconomic status, geographic region, the number of health conditions, the number of doctor visits in the last 12 months, and delaying or not receiving conventional care because of cost are all associated with CAM use.

Among children who used CAM in the past 12 months, CAM therapies were used most often for back or neck pain, head or chest colds, anxiety or stress, other musculoskeletal problems, and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD).

The most commonly used CAM therapies among children were

“The survey results provide information on trends and a rich set of data for investigating who in America is using CAM, the practices they use, and why,” said Richard L. Nahin, Ph.D., MPH, acting director of NCCAM’s Division of Extramural Research and co-author of the National Health Statistics Report. “Future analyses of these data may help explain some of the observed variation in the use of individual CAM therapies and provide greater insights into CAM use patterns among Americans.”

Inclusion and development of the 2007 supplement was supported, in part, by seven National Institutes of Health components: NCCAM; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; National Institute of Mental Health; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Office of Dietary Supplements; and Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.

1. Barnes PM, Bloom B, Nahin R. CDC National Health Statistics Report #12. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults and Children: United States, 2007. December 10, 2008.
2. Barnes P, Powell-Griner E, McFann K, Nahin R. CDC Advance Data Report #343. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults: United States, 2002. May 27, 2004.
3. While the reference period for overall use of nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products was for the past 12 months, the reference period for the use of specific nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products was reduced from 12 months in 2002, to 30 days in 2007 in order to be more congruent with other national surveys of dietary supplement use, such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Media note: For the full report and downloadable graphics visit - http://nccam.nih.gov/news/camstats.htm.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine’s mission is to explore complementary and alternative medical practices in the context of rigorous science, train CAM researchers, and disseminate authoritative information to the public and professionals. For additional information, call NCCAM’s Clearinghouse toll free at 1-888-644-6226, or visit the NCCAM Web site at http://nccam.nih.gov.

The NCHS is a component of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCHS’s mission is to provide statistical information that will guide actions and policies to improve the health of the American people. The CDC protects people's health and safety by preventing and controlling diseases and injuries; enhances health decisions by providing credible information on critical health issues; and promotes healthy living through strong partnerships with local, national, and international organizations. The complete data set can be found under “What’s New” at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH)—The Nation’s Medical Research Agency—includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.


AAAOM Activities

Notice of Annual General Meeting of Members

American Association of Acupuncture Oriental Medicine (AAAOM)
April 24, 2009
7:00 PM
The Hyatt Capitol Park, Sacramento, CA

The Annual General Meeting of Members of the American Association of Oriental Medicine, Inc. will be held at the Chicago Westin Northshore, on Friday, April 24, 2008 at 7:00 PM PST for the following purposes:

By order of the Board of Directors:

The Amended and Restated Bylaws and the Articles of Amendment (last amended October 18, 2008) are online from the AAAOM Homepage.

Note: The "Organizational Member's Representative" present to vote at the AAAOM annual meeting must be an Individual Member in good standing as defined in Article III, Section 2 and 4. Voting members that cannot attend the 2008 conference will be able to vote by mail or email. Instructions will be provided.

Annual General Meeting Agenda

  1. Call to order.
  2. Present list of members.
  3. Confirm giving of notice.
  4. Appoint inspectors of election.
  5. Establish quorum and convene meeting.
  6. Reports of Officers and Committee Chairs.
  7. Election of Directors.
  8. Election of Alternates.
  9. Other Business; Questions.
  10. Adjourn.

By:


Deborah Lincoln RN, MSN, RAc, NCCAOM
President, AAAOM

AAAOM Conference and Exposition 2009

Celebrate Spring: Transitions with the AAAOM
April 23-26, 2009

Greetings AAAOM Member:

Spring is a great time to be in Sacramento, when the plentiful trees here are blooming. AAAOM members will be able to say goodbye to cold-weather conferences, as we adopt a spring schedule beginning with our homecoming conference in April, 2009.

Come join us to Celebrate Spring: Transitions with the AAAOM. All future AAAOM conferences and expos will be held in the spring of each year. The 2009 event will unfold just blocks from AAAOM’s Corporate Headquarters in Sacramento California at the Hyatt, Capitol Park, across the street from the California State Capitol. Sacramento has more trees per capita than any other city in the world, so we hope you will enjoy the dappled shadows under our urban canopy of English Elms and other stately trees.

There is much to look forward to in Sacramento! Here’s a sneak peak of events:

Founded in 1849, we’re poised to celebrate our rich 160 year state history. We’re proud to call Sacramento home for AAAOM’s corporate offices, and it’s truly exciting to be the host city for the AAAOM’s Transitions Conference 2009. Kindred to our profession and this event, Sacramento’s downtown area has transitioned from a “destination…not” to a stroller’s paradise—with tree-lined, well preserved, Victorian-era homes. Our city has arrived with its hot, hip, walkable, stylish neighborhoods that boast dozens of trendy white-linen restaurants and kicked-back eateries, one-of-a-kind boutique shops, coffee and tea houses, dessert diners, and galleries galore…all creating a sophisticated bohemian vibe.

The 2009 conference features two rather profound aspects of AOM: fertility and integrative medicine. As we look at both tracks, some workshops offer not only state-of-the-art clinical advancements in these areas, but, equally, they open the door to new applications and opportunities for expansion of AOM into far greater realms of modern healthcare—addressing health impacts that reflect on core societal needs.

On Thursday our pre-conference activities will open with two featured events: a Master’s Level course on Korean Saam Acupuncture, taught by Yong-Suk Kim OMD, PhD, Seoul, Korea, and Acupuncture Awareness Day. At Expo 2008 in Chicago, AAAOM offered a 4-hour workshop on Saam Acupuncture taught by a delegation of four practitioners from Korea. The course, in attendance by more than 90 practitioners, received “rave reviews” with many comments expressing how the 4-hour workshop did not afford ample time to convey the depth of knowledge and experience presented. In response to this overwhelming feedback, we invited Dr. Kim to return and teach an 8-hour intensive Master’s Level course. The AAAOM is proud to re-open the door to this extraordinary example of cultural and professional exchange. This is a base of knowledge that is not readily available in the U.S. Due to class popularity, we recommend early enrollment!

Simultaneously, the AAAOM will host Acupuncture Awareness Day at the California State Capitol. Serving far beyond the needs of California practitioners, this day is designed to offer a blueprint for conducting public awareness campaigns in your own state capitals and communities. As a grassroots effort it is designed to reach out to the public-at-large such as legislators (and thus their constituencies), legislative staff, state agencies, and local government.

A few of the workshop highlights include: acupuncture for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within the VA system; herbal research in clinical practice; neuroimaging in acupuncture; and Master Tung’s Magic Points for integrative medicine. There will be 20 CEUs in fertility, including the Essence of Essence taking us from an abstract concept to clinical considerations regarding infertility, a 4-part series detailing what patients should expect when expecting (which provides an overview of Western fertility treatment as it integrates with AOM and includes discussions about lab testing and hormonal assessment), managing hormone regulation and reproductive health through nutrition and herbal supplements, and the heart of the matter where spirit, mind and body integrate to address fertility challenges.

Please join us in Sacramento, and transition with us into a brighter future for the AOM profession!

Best,


Rebekah Christensen
Executive Director, AAAOM

Links

December National Links

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the widely used herbal supplement Ginkgo biloba may not help elderly people who are healthy or have only mild cognitive impairment, to prevent Alzheimer's disease if they start taking this supplement too late.

The study led Dr. Steven DeKosky, dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine involved 3,069 apparently healthy people age 75 or older at five U.S. locations. Participants were free of Alzheimer’s or had only mild cognitive impairment.
foodconsumer.org
www.houmatoday.com www.sacbee.com

A number of Chinese herbs can be useful for the many different facets of Lyme disease. Lyme disease is a bacterial infectious disease caused by the spirochetal organism, Borrelia Burgdorferi. It is usually caused by a tick bite. The prevalence of the disease is greatest in the northeastern United States, but there have been cases of the illness in all lower 48 states.
onlinedepressionhelp.blogspot.com

Acupuncture is more effective than medication in reducing the severity and frequency of chronic headaches, according to a new analysis conducted by Duke University Medical Center researchers.

The National Institutes of Health recommended acupuncture as a viable treatment for chronic headaches a decade ago and, while research in this field has increased, there have been conflicting reports about its efficacy.

“We combed through the literature and conducted the most comprehensive review of available data done to date using only the most rigorously-executed trials,” says Tong Joo (T.J.) Gan, M.D., a Duke anesthesiologist who led the analysis.
durhamcounty.mync.com
localtechwire.com
www.gather.com

Health Alliance Plan (HAP) is adding acupuncture and chiropractic services to its Flexible Health Options Benefit for Medicare Advantage members beginning January 1, 2009. HAP's growing list of services to promote wellness encourages Medicare beneficiaries to choose activities and services they want, while putting money back in their wallets.

HAP offers a Flexible Health Options Benefit to members of HAP Senior Plus and Alliance Medicare PPO plans that reimburses members up to $20 monthly ($240 annually) toward the cost of fitness classes, swimming, yoga, Tai Chi, weight training, or other activities at any gym, fitness facility or health club either at home or abroad. Members may also choose a qualified weight management program like Weight Watchers(R), LA Weight Loss(R) or Jenny Craig(R).
www.marketwatch.com

from the Washington Post, Boston Herald, Reuters, Wall St Journal:

More than one-third of adults and nearly 12 percent of children in the United States use alternatives to traditional medicine, according to a large federal survey released today that documents how entrenched acupuncture, herbal remedies and other once-exotic therapies have become.

The 2007 survey of more than 32,000 Americans, which for the first time included children, found that use of yoga, "probiotics," fish oil and other "complementary and alternative" therapies held steady among adults since the last national survey five years earlier, and that such treatments have become part of health care for many youngsters.

"It's clear that millions of Americans every year are turning to complementary and alternative medicine," said Richard L. Nahin of the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which released the survey. "The use of complementary and alternative medicine seems to have stabilized in the United States."
www.washingtonpost.com
www.kfoxtv.com
www.bostonherald.com
www.google.com
www.reuters.com
blogs.wsj.com

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in complementary and alternative healthcare interventions, with a specific emphasis on those that elucidate biological mechanisms of action. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine (ISSN 1472-6882) is indexed/tracked/covered by PubMed, MEDLINE, CAS, Scopus, EMBASE and Google Scholar.
www.biomedcentral.com



Continuing Education and Events

Health Alliance Plan (HAP): Growing list of wellness services available to seniors

DETROIT, Dec 02, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Growing list of wellness services available to seniors Health Alliance Plan (HAP) is adding acupuncture and chiropractic services to its Flexible Health Options Benefit for Medicare Advantage members beginning January 1, 2009. HAP's growing list of services to promote wellness encourages Medicare beneficiaries to choose activities and services they want, while putting money back in their wallets.

HAP offers a Flexible Health Options Benefit to members of HAP Senior Plus and Alliance Medicare PPO plans that reimburses members up to $20 monthly ($240 annually) toward the cost of fitness classes, swimming, yoga, Tai Chi, weight training, or other activities at any gym, fitness facility or health club either at home or abroad. Members may also choose a qualified weight management program like Weight Watchers®, LA Weight Loss® or Jenny Craig®.

"With the holiday season upon us, this is a great time to be thinking about wellness resolutions for 2009," said Karen Wintringham, vice president, Medicare and Public Sector Programs, Health Alliance Plan. "So, if you just can't resist a second helping -- know that in January, you can take advantage of HAP's weight loss or exercise Flexible Health Options Benefit to help shed those holiday pounds."

Since the Flexible Benefit was first launched in January 2008, more than 600 HAP Medicare Advantage members have used it. This number is expected to grow in 2009 with the addition of two reimbursable complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services.

Beginning January 1, 2009, HAP Medicare Advantage members can elect to use their benefit reimbursement of up to $20 per month for acupuncture or chiropractic services not otherwise covered by Medicare.

Approximately 20 percent of American adults have received chiropractic care, and an estimated 8.2 million adults have used acupuncture, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Many people who seek chiropractic care have chronic, pain-related health conditions -- most commonly low-back pain, neck pain and headache. A growing body of research suggests that acupuncture may help to ease some side effects of breast, head and neck cancer treatment; decrease the need for post-op painkillers; and relieve pain associated with osteoarthritis.

To receive the Flexible Health Options Benefit, HAP Senior Plus and Alliance Medicare PPO members can mail a completed form and a receipt to HAP each month, showing they paid a fee for a qualifying membership or service. Unused amounts cannot be rolled over to future months. Benefits provided through individual plans and employer group plans may vary.

Current HAP Senior Plus members may call 1-800-801-1770 toll-free for more information or for monthly benefit claim forms. Alliance Medicare PPO beneficiaries may call 1-888-658-2536 toll-free for information or for monthly benefit claim forms.

Prospective members who would like to enroll or learn more about HAP's Medicare Solutions may call 800-971-7878 or visit http://www.hap.org/medicare.

Important Information for Beneficiaries:

The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period runs from November 15 through December 31, 2008. Now is the time for Medicare beneficiaries who do not receive coverage through an employer to review their current medical and prescription drug coverage for 2009. Those who have health benefits from an employer group plan should ask the company or union for advice before signing up for any plan.

About Health Alliance Plan

HAP is a Michigan-based nonprofit health plan serving more than 500,000 members through PPO, HMO and Medicare plans. HAP has the top-ranked Medicare HMO plan in Michigan, according to U.S. News/NCQA America's Best Health Plans 2008. HAP's commercial HMO and HAP Senior Plus, a Medicare Advantage HMO, earned Excellent accreditation ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

SOURCE Health Alliance Plan

http://www.hap.org

AAAOM Student Organization

AAAOM-SO Announces Scholarship Program

Call for Exhibition and Scholarship Program Entries
By Elisa Behnk, VP of Communications

The AAAOM-SO today announced the Scholar Exhibition, an annual scholarship award program providing individual students and local Chapters with the opportunity to gain professional recognition and earn scholarship funds for their original work.

A designated exhibition area at the 2009 AAAOM Conference Student Caucus in Sacramento will host this year’s competition entries in the form of table-top and poster presentations. From the entries, three scholarships of $250 each will be awarded in two exhibition categories: Scholarly Projects and Chapter Projects.

“This scholarship program is designed first and foremost to promote excellence and integrity in field of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine,” said AAAOM-SO President Jolene Habeck. “The second aim is to recognize individual AAAOM-SO member and Chapter outreach initiatives in the service of AOM.”

Two project categories encompass:
Scholarly Projects—Original work related to student education in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Topics could range from classical studies to primary research into AOM treatments, secondary research on Western medical knowledge, or public policy research that impacts AOM. Projects will be professionally judged on the basis of exhibition presentation and impact, relevance of the topic to AOM, topic originality, and the quality and depth of scholarship.

Chapter Projects—Local fundraising, public relations and community service projects. Individual and Chapter entries could include events designed to raise awareness of and/or funds for the local Chapter, health fair presentations about AOM, community service campaigns, local government outreach efforts or local AOM media awareness campaigns. Projects will be professionally judged on the basis of exhibition presentation and impact, community impact, success in meeting stated goals, and project originality.

The scholarship recipients will be featured in the post-Conference issue of The American Acupuncturist.

To be considered for the 2009 Scholar Exhibition, student members and Chapters must submit 1,000-word abstracts to the AAAOM-SO, by March 31st, 2009. Students will be able to apply online at aaaomonline.org, in the coming weeks. Look for more up to date information in the January edition of the Qi Unity Report.

Products, Services, and Member Savings

Dear Prospective Advertiser:

Investing your advertising dollars in The American Acupuncturist and the Qi-Unity Report makes good sense for so many reasons:

Join our current advertisers to infuse growth into the field your products and services benefit. The reunified organizational force behind the AAAOM means more power toward serving the growth of alternative medicine.

With so much to gain, what better time is there to advertise in The American Acupuncturist and the Qi-Unity Report? Please contact me to learn more at (866) 455-7999.

Yours in Health,

Douglas Newton
Manager, Program Development and Business Services, AAAOM
866-455-7999
916-443-4766 (fax)
info@aaaomonline.org

ENCLS: AA/QUR Ad Card (PDF); Adv. Contract (PDF)

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