Assemblywoman Judy Chu (D-49th District), who introduced a bill that raised minimum education and training hours for acupuncture schools in California, and who has been a relentless advocate of the acupuncture and Oriental medicine profession, was named the "Legislator of the Year" be the American Association of Oriental Medicine. Ms. Chu was honored with the award at the AAOM's annual conference, held in Las Vegas last month. Accepting the award in Ms. Chu's honor was Michelle Lau.
As a member of the California Assembly, Ms. Chu chairs the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, which oversees more than $60 billion in spending for health and human services programs annually. As a legislative leader in the advancement of Oriental medicine, she was the author of AB 1943. Introduced in 2002 and passed later that year, the bill required an increase in Oriental medicine educational standards to include a minimum of 3,000 hours of study (increased from 2,348) in curriculum pertaining to the practice of an acupuncturist, and required that the revised standards be established by the board on or before Jan. 1, 2004, with mandatory implementation for all students entering programs on or after Jan. 1, 2005.
Look for a comprehensive article on the AAOM's annual meeting in the January 2005 issue of Acupuncture Today.
When we talk about fertility, the focus is often placed on the ovaries and the uterus. Yet sperm-related factors contribute to nearly half of all cases of infertility. Whether someone is navigating fertility care alone or with a partner, and whether building a family through intercourse, IVI, IUI or IVF, it’s vital to include sperm health in the picture.
With some plans – and it starts with Medicare (CMS) – there is a payment protocol that may be referred to as a multi-therapy discount, but its official name is the multiple-procedure payment reduction (MPPR). If a health care provider performs multiple procedures during a single patient encounter, Medicare (and many commercial insurers) typically will pay “full price” for only the highest-valued procedure.
Our team of authors offer this paper (and this descriptive AT series) as a support for you as a professional, practitioner and member of the acupuncture community at large. We hope that it will serve to further the needs of acupuncturists everywhere and also act as a guide for those wishing to learn about Acupuncture Medicine – patients, healthcare decision makers, policymakers, and other stakeholders.