American Alliance of Acupuncture & AcuCongress Join Forces to Shepherd Federal Acupuncture Legislation

    WASHINGTON, DC, November 21, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The American Alliance of Acupuncture is partnering with AcuCongress to provide free federal legislative training to members of the Licensed Acupuncturist community as they prepare for the upcoming AcuCongress Virtual Federal Fly-In on December 8, 2021. The organizations have spent the last few months meeting with members of Congress holding seats on key committees, as well as Congressional offices with large constituent bases of Licensed Acupuncturists in their districts.

AcuCongress founder, Dr. Kallie Byrd Guimond, OM.D, MPH says, "The AAOA is the only acupuncture industry trade association who consistently shows up year after year to educate members of Congress on the benefits of acupuncture for patients and to the American healthcare system. Dr. Lau has worked tirelessly in support of Congresswoman Chu's efforts to have Licensed Acupuncturists included as non-physician healthcare providers within the Social Security Act. The current bill would allow L.Acs to perform their services without oversight from other healthcare providers who do not have the experience, skills or education to oversee acupuncture services." Speaking further about HR 4803, Guimond continued, "This bill would also allow the profession to bill Medicare directly which would reduce the burden currently leveled at our 65+ and disability populations who want to use acupuncture for their chronic lower back pain. Changing this law is imperative, especially since we fully expect CMS guidelines to change over time to cover ALL acupuncture services. In treating chronic pain, opioids and acupuncture are already covered. Licensed Acupuncturists are not. To change this law, members of the industry must be trained. The combined efforts of AAOA and AcuCongress will work together to do just that."

AAOA President, Dr. Michelle Lau, OM.D, L.Ac agrees stating "For years, there has been alot of talking about what needs to be done. We are not just talking anymore...this is all about ACTION. Also, this is just the beginning of the federal work. This is the most important first step. The whole industry must work together to make this happen."

AcuCongress was formed to provide free federal legislative training and materials to achieve unified messaging and action. Guimond states, "Where other healthcare professions understand the value of training advocates within their ranks while in school, this industry has not historically spent much time on that. It is not enough to hire lobbyists and expect laws just to pass. If that were the case, we would have made much more progress than we have in the last few years. We created the National Acuvist Training Program to fill this gap and help our members mount efforts that will successfully produce all intended results."

AAOA and AcuCongress have spent the last few weeks meeting with key Republicans to promote bipartisan co-sponsorship of HR 4803. In a recent meeting with Representative Chu, she asked for help from the industry, explaining that while there are two basic avenues for bill passage, they both start with the same goal: WE MUST ADD 100 CO-SPONSORS TO HR 4803 IN THIS CONGRESSIONAL SESSION. AcuCongress has full district demographic analyses and has messaging that is unified for the profession, yet specific to each federal district. AAOA is providing the translations of all AcuCongress materials in an effort to include all members of the industry in their languages. Both AcuCongress and AAOA will take the stage at the upcoming Atlantic Symposium to train registrants in person. They are calling all members of the industry to take part in the only effort in 2021 that will aim to add as many co-sponsors as we can. "We want to show Congress the amount of interest acupuncture legislation garners. We know that the more difficult path is to pass the bill on its own, so we are banking on the ability to strip the language and have it placed in a large healthcare-specific bill expected before interim elections. Regardless of the path, we have a goal of 100 co-sponsors at least. For that to happen, we need the whole industry working together."

To take part in FREE AcuCongress Training: https://3.basecamp.com/4998321/join/V7s7JnMWYGEA

To Register for the AcuCongress Virtual Federal Fly-In December 8, 2021: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=ovv9i4cbb&oeidk=a07eirp3a3u9c654058

About AAOA: AAOA is a large family that values solidarity, tolerance, vitality and responsibility. It is a representative acupuncture association in California. AAOA members of the various guilds, plus two of the largest school members in Southern California: South Bay University and Alhambra Medical University and their student members total more than 1,500 people. It is a representative that promotes acupuncture legislation in California and throughout the United States.

AAOA, formerly known as the California Chinese Medicine Political Alliance established in 1987 and has been working for California acupuncture community for more than 31 years and has participated in more than 100 bills related to acupuncture legislation, involved in the legislative process of many important bills, including 25 years of unremitting efforts to secure the federal acupuncture bill. Unyielding, it has made a great contribution to the integration of acupuncture rights into the federal insurance system.

About AcuCongress:
AcuCongress is a coalition designed to train advocates in the profession to do ONE THING: Include L.Acs in the Social Security Act to be able to bill Medicare directly and without physician (as defined in the SSA,) nurse practitioner, or physician assistant supervision as listed in the 2020 CMS guidelines for covering acupuncture for chronic lower back pain. AcuCongress training is FREE to anyone wanting to advocate for the Acupuncture Industry. For those wanting to take larger roles, we have created the AcuCongress National Acuvist Training Program designed to train State Captains & District Leaders to serve as coordinators in ANY federal legislative effort!

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