Thinking Big
By Douglas Newton, Program Manager, AAAOM
Some ideas are specific and tangible, while others take time to open up, find their footing, and evolve. The latter category includes the idea that far more specialized markets must exist for AOM than readily apparent to the recently graduated practitioner or those looking beyond the sole-proprietor business model. Many of you already have found opportunities that make use of your skills but employ them differently, either through academic opportunities, through insurance or government work, or other models. Let’s examine additional means to move alternative medicine into the mainstream economy.
This article in the San Francisco Gate outlines what may be a growing health-care trend in the U.S. As health care costs rise, companies are looking to take matters into their own hands.
Consider the following:
“Nearly 30 percent of large employers had a clinic on campus or planned to open one by 2009, according to a 2008 survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc., a human resources consulting firm, and the National Business Group on Health.”
These clinics will be hiring acupuncturists, and those practitioners who can communicate the preventative health benefits of AOM to employers in a straightforward way will be able to enter into this market.
How can acupuncturists open the door? Point out how much money larger companies will recoup in potential lost productivity through the health maintaining balance acupuncture provides:
"’Part of the challenge is it's difficult to put a value on increased productivity,’ Wood said. ‘While you can count the number of hours they didn't miss by not having to go to the doctor's office, you can't count how much more productive they are because they got their stress under control, they lost weight or quit smoking.’”
Making the case for including AOM in larger companies hinges on the persuasive powers and marketing organization of the practitioner seeking this opportunity. The potential is there and growing, but acceptance of AOM by Americans will depend on one’s ability to make a clear case for inclusion in such clinics. If Missouri is the “show-me state,” then America is the “show-me” country.
Consider carefully how you represent yourself when you pursue these larger companies. Do your homework, approach with confidence because you know they need what you do, and then check back with us. And let us know if we can help.
Douglas Newton, the AAAOM Program Manager, spends a fair amount of time brainstorming about how acupuncturists can thrive in the evolving American economic and health care landscape. He may be reached at dnewton@aaaomonline.org.