AMA Coalition for Patient’s Rights Collaborative (CPRC) Task Force
December 14, 2006 – Qi-Unity Draft Report
5:20 PM - 6:20 PM

Note: The CPRC is an AAOM Task Force. Hereafter, this will be referred to as the AOM Task Force. The AAOM will utilize the work of this task force to input into the activities of the Coalition for Patient’s Rights (CPR). The CPR is the national task force comprised of 34 national organizations of CAM and allopathic providers formed to address the issues posed by the AMA.

Tasks Force Members Invited
(Comprised of those submitted applications to represent their respective associations):

1. Dort Bigg, ED, ACAOM (Attended)
2. Jim Bloomfield, Director, CSOMA (Attended)
3. Rebekah Christensen, ED, AAOM (Attended)
4. Lynn Eder, AAOM Staff Editor, AAOM (Attended) (AOM TASK FORCE Secretary)
5. Lloyd Wright, Director, AAOM (Attended)
6. Neal Miller, Director, AIMS (Unable to Attend)
7. Will Morris, President, AAOM (Attended)
8. David Patton, President, FAOMRA (Pete Gonzalez, AZ Acu Board) (Unable to Attend)
9. David Sale, ED, CCAOM (Attended)
10. Amy Sear, President, FSOMA (Attended)
11. Betsy Smith, Associate Deputy Director, NCCAOM (Attended)

CPRC Meeting Agenda:

1. Self Introductions (All)
2. Update Report: Rebekah Christensen
3. Establish Goals of the AOM TASK FORCE (All)
(Per above, the AOM TASK FORCE is the AAOM AMA Task Force)
4. Establish Action Items (All)
5. Set date of next meeting (All)

Links to AMA (and related) Documents

Resolution 814, Resolution 902
HR-5688, Resolution 904
Coalition for Patient’s Rights; Members
AMA posted online Report 21

1. Self Introductions (All)

Dort Bigg, ED, ACAOM: Participating to address this issue on behalf of ACAOM, specifically – AOM accrediting issues must be protected. AMA is an organization that represents only one of many health care professions, and its primary focus is to protect the economic interests of its member physicians. Many AMA actions are specifically intended to promote the pecuniary interests of its members under the guise of protecting health care consumers. AMA, through the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (NCME), and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), is are only one two of numerous accrediting agencies approved by the U.S. Secretary of Education to accredit programs for training safe and competent health care professionals. For example, ACAOM has been continuously recognized as the accrediting agency for the AOM profession since the mid-1980’s. It is arrogant for the AMA or any other health care organization to make determinations about educational standards, certification requirements, scope of practice and licensing titles governing other health professions. It is not in the best interests of AMA or any other organization to politicize the educational/certification processes for other professions;

Jim Bloomfield, Director, CSOMA: Participating to address the work of the AOM TASK FORCE with the CSOMA membership;

Rebekah Christensen, ED, AAOM: Participating as the Chair of the AOM TASK FORCE on behalf of the AAOM;

Lynn Eder, AAOM Staff Editor, AAOM: As staff editor for the AAOM, representing the AAOM as secretary for the AOM TASK FORCE;

Lloyd Wright, Director, AAOM: Participating as the Chair of the AAOM Legislative Committee to integrate these activities into AAOM’s overall Legislative activities;

Will Morris, President, AAOM: The composite AMA documents are benevolent paternalism; turf protection is harmful to public welfare;

David Sale, ED, CCAOM: The CCAOM has not made an evaluation of the level of threat that the AMA initiative presents and, at this time, is participating in these meetings to monitor developments;

Amy Sear, President, FSOMA: As president of FSOMA, has been following the AMA activities since AAOM began its reporting. Participating to determine what her state and FSOMA can do. The original documents that she has read concerned her that states rights were being impacted; what is being proposed is redundant legislation as Florida has laws in place that govern the practice of acupuncture, so why should the federal government become involved?;

Betsy Smith, Associate Deputy Director, NCCAOM: Participating to listen in order to determine the role of the NCCAOM on the AOM TASK FORCE.

2. Update Report: Rebekah Christensen

A comprehensive update report was provided by Rebekah Christensen. This document provides our constituencies with a comprehensive understanding of the AMA issues, the sequence of activities to date, and the composite membership and goals and actions of the Collation for Patient’s Rights (CPR).

3. Establish Goals of the AOM TASK FORCE (All)

There was group discussion by the Task Force members to further understand issues at hand prior to establishing goals. Highlights of the discussion concluded that the AMA has only identified the parameters of its investigation, but as yet has not conducted the investigation. Thus, HR 5688, a federal bill closely related to the AMA initiative, is premature and based on erroneous assumptions. The sponsors of this federal bill appear to be pushing forward before they have evidence of an actual problem. This is also the impression of the 34 (non-MD) allopathic practitioner groups and CAM practitioner groups that are members of the Coalition for Patient’s Rights (CPR). At present the AMA is still continuing not to consult with any of the entities that are identified for investigation, and following the AMA House of Delegates meeting in November 2006, the AMA pushed forward with Resolution 902 and Resolution 904. One task force member commented that several of these fields representing allopathic (non-MD providers) were created because MDs needed these professions to support them in the context of patient care. MDs do not have enough time to give patients the level of care that allopathic support professions can provide. They needed to rally around a cause – and this is that cause. It was further concurred that the patient community is demanding alternatives to allopathic medicine – the need for our services is “patient-driven.”

Why did the AAOM join the Coalition for Patient’s Rights? Through the development of the CPR, which the AAOM joined on behalf of our profession in August 2006, this is the first time that non-MD allopathic providers have come together around a common purpose or cause. From the perspective of enhancing integrative medicine, this collective response is a positive benefit arising from the potential threat that the AMA initiative poses to our profession and to non-MD allopathic providers.

California Working Group was Formed: California has formed its own working group of the state counterparts of the national associations participating in the CPR. Thus far there has been only one meeting, and they have not determined their continuum, nor their goals and purpose. A secondary meeting is scheduled for January 24. As a result of the AAOM’s participation, it was evident that the national CPR members had not informed their state counterparts of the full activities being pursued by the AMA.

Does HR 5688 have a deadline? There will be no action in this current congress on HR 5688 and the bill will need to be re-introduced in the new congress when it convenes in 2007. This gives all professions that are impacted the opportunity to address HR 5688 and the associated issues comprising the AMA activities. But we must be proactive and timely in formulating a plan and taking action.

Task force HR 5688 Discussion:

Bill Purpose: Should this legislation be enacted, it would prohibit misleading and deceptive statements (including advertising) that a person is a medical doctor or has the same or equivalent education, skills, or training as a medical doctor. As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would be required to conduct an investigation of health care providers engaging in the conduct prohibited by the bill. The purpose of the investigation would be to: 1) identify specific acts and practices (including frequency of occurrence) constituting a violation of the bill; 2) identify instances of harm or injury resulting from such acts and practices; and 3) identify instances where any State public policy has permitted such acts and practices.

National Strategy of CPR: The CPR has developed a steering committee to put forth goals and objectives to be considered by the CPR at-large. The feedback from the CPR steering committee is not yet available and will be provided to the CPR for our AOM constituencies as soon as it is available. The CPR does collectively represent more than 3 million allopathic (non-MD) and complementary medicine practitioners. Also, specific members of the CPR are politically active on this issue; to include but not limited to The American Nursing Association (ANA) and American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. A complete list of CPR members is provided.

Motivation for AMA Investigation: The AMA’s specific motivation is not fully known, is likely multi-faceted, and appears to be substantially based on fear. There appear to be a substantial number of MD’s that do not believe in these activities and, to a good extent, those MDs that disagree are not members of the AMA.

Public Awareness of Minimal AOM Training by MDs: The general public is probably not aware of the minimal amount of acupuncture training that most MDs have who provide acupuncture services compared to that of a professionally trained acupuncturist. A consumer chart comparing the varying levels of training among a number of categories of acupuncture providers in the U.S. may be found on the CCAOM website at www.ccaom.org/KnowYourAcupuncturist.pdf. Many AOM practitioners and others have found this chart very useful.

3. Establish Goals of the Task Force (All)

  1. Development of a combined Document and Central Repository: There is a need to develop a combined document and central repository delineating all aspects concerning our profession to be studied by the AMA. The document will be collaboratively developed and collaboratively owned by all the organizations participating on the Task Force. The full parameters of the document are yet to be fully defined, but initially include: educational and certification standards, nationally and for each state; the continuing education requirements by state; and all laws and regulations governing scope of practice with contact information to regulatory oversight agencies for acupuncture.
  2. Collaboration with CPR: Once the Task Force determines the document and repository are complete, the Task Force proposes to enable AAOM to work collaboratively with the CPR to educate and inform the AMA with relevant data from the AOM and other professions.
  3. Grass-roots Advocacy: Once the Task Force determines the document and repository are complete, and as appropriate for each organization participating in the Task Force, some consideration may be given to developing and implementing a grass roots advocacy program with state government authorities.

4. Action Items of AOM TASK FORCE:

Minutes:

Task Force Composition:

Document/Repository Composition:

5. Next Meeting of AOM TASK FORCE: TBA

6. Meeting Adjournment: 6:20 PM PST.