The National Oriental Medicine Accreditation Agency (NOMAA) has submitted a petition to the U.S. Secretary of Education requesting that it be recognized as a national programmatic accreditation agency. Should NOMAA's petition be granted, it would join the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine as the only national accrediting agencies for acupuncture and Oriental medicine programs recognized by the Department of Education.
NOMAA was created in 1999 as an offshoot of an ad-hoc advisory committee that was responsible for establishing the National Board of Acupuncture Orthopedics. In May 2002, it was converted to a nonprofit public corporation aimed at increasing the quality of education at schools of acupuncture and Oriental medicine.
The NOMAA Doctor of Oriental Medicine (OMD) program consists of a 4,000-hour core curriculum, including 2,500 hours of didactic biomedicine, Oriental medical science, and clinical medicine, and a 1,500-hour clinical clerkship. The curriculum requirements are based on degree programs offered at Oriental medicine schools in China, with consideration given to curricula from professional schools in South Korea.
To date, NOMAA has received endorsements from the Council of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Associations and the Council on Oriental Medicine Education. It has also received applications from several institutions interested in offering doctoral programs in acupuncture and Oriental medicine. In May 2005, it granted conditional accreditation to South Baylo University's doctoral program.
For more information, visit NOMAA's Web site at www.nomaa.org.
Consequences for HIPAA violations can often be quite harsh. If someone has breached the HIPAA privacy regulations – even without any malicious intent, civil penalties are applicable: $100 per violation for unawareness, a minimum of $1,000 for reasonable cause, a minimum of $10,000 if willful neglect is present and then rectified, and finally, a minimum of $50,000 for individuals who act with willful neglect and ignore the issue.
The luo vessels are important in the treatment of mental health issues. They are conduits of “ying qi”: blood and fluids. We believe that the shen is “housed” in the heart and circulated through the blood, making a channel system that “conducts” ying qi ideal for treatment of the mind and emotions.
As our health care ecosystem continues to evolve, I’ve found an increased emphasis being placed on an integrative approach to patient care. As an acupuncturist, you are an essential part of this collaborative system and health care team, cooperating with a range of other professionals including medical doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, and others.
