A student stands over a patient, needle poised. They have a “perfect” prescription: a textbook combination of points harvested from a lecture slide on chronic lower back pain. But as the needle meets the skin, the student hesitates - the symptom of a quiet habit that has taken hold of our profession. We routinely say we “prescribe” points. It sounds efficient. It echoes the authority of biomedical culture and fits neatly into the insurance field. But vocabulary is never neutral; repeated long enough, it dictates behavior.
David Bibbey, Dipl. Ac., LAc
David Bibbey has served on the Florida State Oriental Medical Association’s board of directors for a decade, including serving as FSOMA president from 2021-2023. He is currently chair of the association’s Legislative Committee. He also practices in Crystal River, Fla.; and is the CEO of Patient Data Protection, LLC, a HIPAA and ADA compliance company specializing in supporting small practices and sole providers with HIPAA Privacy & Security Rule technologies and ADA website accessibility.