WEAMA Legislative Alert!

Announcing a Legislative Hearing on HB 1865, Regulating Acupuncture & Eastern Medicine on February 19, 2019 at 1:30 pm

Dear Washington State Acupuncturists, East Asian Medicine Practitioners and Members:

The Washington East Asian Medicine Association (WEAMA) has been working on legislation for the past year. After many months of intensive discussions with our WEAMA Public Policy Committee members and the WEAMA Board, we were able to successfully submit legislation to be considered by the WA State Legislature.

The bill will change the name of the profession to Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine. The Chinese acupuncture community requested a name change due to historically derogatory connotations for them over the term “East Asian”. While some members may disagree, we reached a consensus in our deliberations to use the name Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine Practitioner or AEMP. (L.Ac. and EAMP will be grandfathered in.) The bill will be introduced as a Substitute bill at the public hearing.

Representative Cody, the primary sponsor, related to me on Friday that the bill will not include the clarifications for needle types, acupuncture points and new substances for point injection therapy included in the original bill. The bill you see highlighted below (click on link) will be different than the bill introduced at the hearing.

The bill will be amended to be mainly a name change for the profession, includes the ability to work with DOH through rules for Continuing Education standards and misc. clean up of old language in the bill.

HB 1865 Regulating Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine has been scheduled for a public hearing in the House Health Care Committee on February 19, 2019 at 1:30 pm in the John L. O’Brien Building in House Hearing Room A. John L.  O’Brien Building at: 504 15th Avenue SW, Olympia, WA 98504. It is on the State Capital Campus next to the Legislative Building.

We invite anyone to attend this public hearing and hope you are able to sign in to support the bill! Another option is to contact your local House of Representative member in your district and ask them to please support HB 1865. (Please do not contact your Senator yet as the bill is in the House right now.) Here is a link to finding your local legislators (please use your home address):

https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

Our prime sponsors of the bill in the House are Representative Eileen Cody (D), the Chair of the House Health Care Committee and Representative Paul Harris (R) as a co-sponsor so we have bipartisan support. In addition, Representatives Pettigrew, Caldier, Tharinger and Thai have signed on as our bill’s sponsors too!

Representative Cody has given us permission to submit a request to her by the end of April 2019 for a Sunrise Review with the Department of Health to work over the interim on a scope of practice update that can include all the items that were removed from the bill language. This will be for  bill next session and allow us to get stakeholder feedback.

Also, the Physical Therapists Intramuscular Needling bills ( SB 5642/HB 1260) did not get scheduled for a public hearing and died for the session! Thankfully, one less skirmish between our professions this year…

Thank you!
The WEAMA Board

WEAMA's bill has a hearing scheduled in the Health Care & Wellness (House) Committee - HHR A, John L. O'Brien Building - Feb. 19 @ 1:30pm Public Hearing on HB 1865 Regulating the practice of acupuncture and Eastern medicine!

The bill has an amendment pending that will address some concerns from DOH and the WA State Medical Association, so stay tuned for the update version when its posted! I will be working on another legislative alert to call your local House of Representative members to go out later this week to support HB 1865!!

We need to get as many people down to Olympia as we can, especially from our Chinese acupuncture community who support the name change for the profession!! Please join us and sign in at the hearing to support our bill.

Thank you,
Leslie Emerick
WEAMA Legislative Director

The Washington East Asian Medicine Association
invites you to participate in our:
Acupuncture & East Asian Medicine Day
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
at the State Capitol in Olympia, WA!

For the first time ever, the Washington East Asian Medicine Association is organizing an Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine Day in Olympia. Come meet your legislators and create a presence for our profession in Washington state! 

We will also be hosting a complimentary auricular acupuncture treatment for legislators and lobbyist. We need providers who are interested in providing this treatment and have experience with auricular acupuncture between 10:00 am and 2 pm in the Capitol Building on the 3rd floor Mezzanine.

To participate in our legislative day please register at no cost to the WEAMA Website: https://weama.info/event-3133667

If you want to be one of the providers who does auricular acupuncture treatments, please send email to: info@weama.info
Read More

Your presence, participation and comments are encouraged...see details and meeting dates below...

State Agency Regulatory Update
Prepared by Leslie Emerick, WEAMA Lobbyist

ARNPs Medical Acupuncture Advisory Opinion Discussion with NCQAC:

The Washington State Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission (NCQAC) has submitted a CR 101 to begin the rulemaking process on how they expand their scope of practice for the nursing profession. These rules are mainly due to the effort that WEAMA has put into pushing back on their Medical Acupuncture decision. CR101_NCQAC_ScopeofPractice.pdf

The nursing commission received a petition on April 3, 2018 from Representative Eileen Cody in response to its Advisory Opinion on Medical Acupuncture: Scope of Practice for Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (NCAO 12.00), requesting the commission to allow for additional stakeholder involvement and consider adopting enforceable rules. In response to the petition, the commission voted to open the rules to discuss concerns raised regarding nursing scope of practice and practice standards. While advisory opinions offer the commission's interpretation of rule, they are not enforceable and, therefore, do not meet the definition of a rule. Opening the rule would provide the opportunity for additional stakeholder engagement, rule clarification, and possible amendments to address the identified concerns. WEAMA has met with the NCQAC twice and has emphasized that the number of training hours is far too low for what they are proposing learning in their Advisory Opinion. We asked that the

procedures they practice be narrower and more limited in scope. More like an introductory class on acupuncture and when it would be appropriate to refer out to a licensed acupuncturist.

The Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission (NCQAC) will be holding a series of workshops with interested stakeholders to discuss rules relating to nursing scope of practice for licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and advanced registered nurse practitioners. The workshops will be held:

January 22, 2019
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Spokane Public Library (Downtown Branch) Meeting Room 1A
906 W Main Ave. Spokane, WA 99201

January 23, 2019
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Richland Public Library Conference Room 955 Northgate Dr.
Richland, WA 99352

January 24, 2019
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Federal Way Public Library Meeting Room 2 34200
1st Way S Federal Way, WA 98003

I plan to attend the meeting in Federal Way. You may attend any of these workshops in person. You may also attend from your computer, tablet or smartphone using the following link. https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/712071413

You may also dial in using your phone.
United States: +1 (646) 749-3122
Access Code: 712-071-413

Your participation and comments are encouraged. Please feel free to contact Amber Zawislak at amber.zawislak@doh.wa.gov with any questions you may have.

Visit our Website
Not a member? Join here

About
The Washington East Asian Medicine Association first began as the Acupuncture Association of Washington over 33 years ago. The organization helped to provide a unified legislative voice for our profession. In fact, our founders were integral in helping establish the legal practice of East Asian Medicine in Washington state. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors consists of not less than 5 democratically elected professionals in the field.

Hi All,

Please join us for our next Public Policy Meeting scheduled for tomorrow evening, January 8th, 7:00 - 8:30pm. Attached you will find the meeting agenda.

Public Policy Committee Meeting Agenda

Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/825229877

You can also dial in using your phone. United States:
+1 (646) 749-3122 Access Code: 825-229-877

The 3 documents below are accessible to our Public Policy Committee members. 
Draft Bill Suggestions from DOH
WEAMA January 2019 Legislative Update
Draft Table

If you wish to join the Public Policy Committee, please contact Shelley at:
info@weama.info

Talk soon!

Leslie Emerick
WEAMA Lobbyist
lesemerick@lkemerick.com
360-280-6142

___________________________________________________

Visit our website
Not a WEAMA member? Join Here

About
The Washington East Asian Medicine Association first began as the Acupuncture Association of Washington over 33 years ago. The organization helped to provide a unified legislative voice for our profession. In fact, our founders were integral in helping establish the legal practice of East Asian Medicine in Washington state. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors consists of not less than 5 democratically elected professionals in the field.

Washington State Department of Labor & Industries sent this bulletin at 01/04/2019 01:12 PM PST
*Bulletin resent with updated link to proposed acupuncture rule language (1/7/19)

Proposed Language and CR-102 for Acupuncture Rules

This message is to inform you of the next steps in acupuncture pilot rulemaking proposed by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I).

You can find the proposed acupuncture rule language, the CR-102 and the opportunities to provide comments at
L & I proposed acupuncture rule language

L&I has reviewed the best available scientific and clinical evidence related to the efficacy of acupuncture and concluded that acupuncture may be effective for treating low back pain. L&I initiated a pilot to collect information to better inform the provision of acupuncture treatment for injured workers with an open claim with accepted conditions that result in low back pain.

The pilot began October 1, 2017 and will continue through June 1, 2019 or up to a two-year period or as otherwise specified. Pilot program results have been considered in developing this proposed rule language.

Data gathered through the course of the pilot include functional questionnaires, billing data, and discharge reasons.

The proposed changes are scheduled to be adopted April 30, 2019 with an effective date of June 1, 2019. The formal comment period is now open.

Thank you for your interest!

For questions related to the rulemaking process, please contact:
Jami Lifka at (360) 902-4941 or Jami.Lifka@Lni.wa.gov

For questions related to the pilot project, please contact:
Zachary Gray, MPH at (360) 902-5025 or Zachary.gray@Lni.wa.gov

_______________________________________________________________________________

Visit our website
Not a WEAMA member? Join Here

About
The Washington East Asian Medicine Association first began as the Acupuncture Association of Washington over 33 years ago. The organization helped to provide a unified legislative voice for our profession. In fact, our founders were integral in helping establish the legal practice of East Asian Medicine in Washington state. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors consists of not less than 5 democratically elected professionals in the field.

SAVE THE DATE: February 26, 2019 7am-4pm

Join WEAMA for our Acupuncture & East Asian Medicine Day in Olympia! Come meet our legislators and create presence for our profession in our state!

WEAMA has reserved the Washington Room in Prichard Building on the Capital Campus for our very first legislative day. We will work with you to set up meetings with your local legislators to advocate for acupuncture. We are going to be offering auricular acupuncture treatments in the Capital Building as a demonstration!

Orientation and review of talking point starting at 7am!

Would you like to be one of the practitioners demonstrating auricular acupuncture on interested legislators and their staff! Please email Shelley at: info@weama.info to sign up!

Visit our website
Not a WEAMA member? Join Here

About
The Washington East Asian Medicine Association first began as the Acupuncture Association of Washington over 33 years ago. The organization helped to provide a unified legislative voice for our profession. In fact, our founders were integral in helping establish the legal practice of East Asian Medicine in Washington state. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors consists of not less than 5 democratically elected professionals in the field.

To participate in our December 11th meeting at 7:00 pm: Please join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/825229877. You can also dial in using your phone. (646) 749-3122 Access Code: 825-229-877

Attached are the documents that we will be discussing at our WEAMA Public Policy meeting on December 11, 2018 at 7 pm. We will begin the meeting with a quick overview of the WEAMA December Legislative Report. We will discuss the draft bill that we have been working on with the House Health Care committee staff that we received on Friday. The draft bill has been sent to our attorney, DOH staff and the East Asian Medicine Advisory Committee and their Assistant Attorney General for review. This draft bill only addresses changes in RCW 18.06. A final version of the bill would be longer and include updating all references to changing the professional title throughout statute/law.

Also attached is the requested response to the 20 questions that WEAMA Member, Jamil Shoot, posted to Facebook regarding the legislative proposal WEAMA is considering for the 2019 Legislative Session. We tried to the best of our ability to answer from a public policy perspective. We hope it will provide answers for our members with similar questions.

Click on titles for the attachments:

• 12-11-2018 Public Policy Agenda
• 12-2018 WEAMA Legislative Report
• Response to Jamil Shoot Questions
• Bill draft has been emailed to members directly.  Not for sharing outside membership.

WEAMA's next public policy meeting is scheduled for Tuesday December 11, at 7:00 p.m.  Please join us by dialing (646) 749-3122, code: 825-229-877.  Click here to view the agenda.

November 2018 Public Policy Update
Prepared by Leslie Emerick, WEAMA Lobbyist

Legislative Overview:
The mid-term elections were on November 6, 2018 that determined the configuration of the state legislature for the 2019 legislative session. Democrats gained seats in both the House and Senate. There are still some races that have not been decided as they are too close to call, but at last count, Democrats picked up 7 seats in the House making the split 57/41 and 3 in the Senate with a 28/21 split. Policy and fiscal committees may be restructured by the House or the Senate, such as the health care committees, adding some new members and replacing others. There will be lots of opportunities to educate new legislators on Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine!   Read more...

Visit our Website
Not a Member? Join or renew here

About
The Washington East Asian Medicine Association first began as the Acupuncture Association of Washington over 33 years ago. The organization helped to provide a unified legislative voice for our profession. In fact, our founders were integral in helping establish the legal practice of East Asian Medicine in Washington state. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors consists of not less than 5 democratically elected professionals in the field.