On commerce and scope of practice.

I know, I know.  Whereas I make the occasional drive by on the forums it has been a good 17+ months since I’ve been here.  But I have a good excuse, really, I do!  I had a bee in my bonnet and, on May 1st, 2008, I started acting on it.  I began work towards a Certificate in Public Health, the first 1/3 of the Master of Public Health degree and I have both completed that and am half way towards the full MPH.  And Denver Open Acupuncture is not only still open, but the front page of the website should be up by the end of the weekend (if not before).  However the clinic is downsized to 4 recliners and in what had been my oversized living room/private practice (pre denver open acupuncture) treatment space.  It works and the patients love it.  The 2 huge plants I inherited from other tennants who have moved onto places that don’t have 12+ foot ceilings help.

Anyway, about commerce.  As much as I wish we all were about healing, it’s about the commerce and the ability to get by, especially in these hard times.  But what some in our profession do to ensure their income makes me rather upset.  About 2.5 years ago the N.D.s in the state wanted to have a practice act voted in to separate them from the certificate naturopaths, something that those of us truly familiar with the difference between the 2 sets of training should well appreciate.  Yet there was much ado on the state association email discussion list about N.D.s possibly practicing Chinese herbs thereby taking away licensed acupuncturists ability to earn.  Some of these same people prescribe and sell assorted supplements – vitamins, minerals – in which they were trained in 1 catch all 1 term class in Western Nutrition and then buy the latest version of Russell Mars text book (whereas I actually had Dr. Mars as a teacher at OCOM).  This isn’t about competition for patients, it’s about providing quality treatment in which one was well trained.  Why can’t we extend that to other non allopathic practitioners?  How can we (in Colorado) be angry about chiropractors practicing acupuncture with 100 hours training or physical therapists practicing “dry needling” with only 46 hours of training, yet demand similar accomodation on supplementation?  What about the woman who came to me wondering about the weird supplement the $100/session acupuncturist wanted to sell her for about $25-$30/bottle, which was a vitamin she could buy at Vitamin Cottage for at most $15/bottle?  And what of the practitioner I know who calls every few months asking how I am and then trying to sell me on his $400+/year leads group or, most recently, on his MLM metabolic testing program.  Just because the doc with whom he is doing this used to be in public health, it doesn’t mean that I want to spend money on a program that is well out of the scope of Asian medicine.  And I’m not even going to start in on the successful practitioner who, without testing, determines that most every patient has a candida problem.

We are trained in a complete system of medicine.  The potential for growth/adaption/expansion to treat issues that have evolved with the change in how we live as compared to even just 100 years ago is there within our scope of practice, we just have to look at our base of knowledge with a fresh eye and an open mind.  It may not be new, flashy or highly revenue generating, but it works.  We are trained in it, we spent time practicing under supervision, and we are dedicating our lives to working these practices.  So let’s do what we do well.  And let’s try to accept the commerce side of it without using it in a manipulative manner.

Author: Jennifer Gross, L.Ac.

In her first lifetime, Jennifer Gross was a not so typical nice Jewish Yeshivah educated New Yorker. Then she found indie rock and went to NYU in order to live in the village and be in the music business (life #2). A series of ear infections (not listening to that inner voice to quit the music business) and systemic candida got her out before graduation, which is when the travel bug set in. <p> A couple of years later she was turned onto Qi Gong while hanging out in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery (no, her mind never did really quiet down) and, while knowing little about acupuncture, knew it was to be her life's vocation. Ten months after getting home she moved cross country to Portland to attend OCOM, particularly enjoying the public health work and Portland's belly dance scene (life #3). But Giuliani made NYC too expensive to move back to in the late 90s and she found herself in Denver attempting to dry out her exhausted Spleen. Spending 4 years studying with the late Jim Ramholz was reason enough to have moved there, and so she remains, hanging with progressives, a few indie rock types and performing occasionally...