More on Acupuncture Education

The for-profit schools don’t want to take responsibility for the circumstances of their graduates. And they won’t let the new gainful employment regulations go into effect without a fight.  Within days of the posting they filed suit to block the regulations. They did the same thing when similar regulations were announced in 2012, so I expect the DOE wrote the new regulations carefully to withstand an expected legal challenge.

However, with a pro-business and anti-regulation majority in the House and Senate as a result of last week’s election, even regulations found to be legal might not be enforced.  If the funds to track compliance aren’t in the budget, for instance, enforcement can’t happen.

Of course, if the schools and alphabets were committed to doing the right thing — producing the best possible graduates at the lowest possible cost to the students, regulations wouldn’t be needed, and wouldn’t threaten the schools even if they were adopted. I don’t expect that commitment from large businesses like Corinthian. I wish I could expect it from acupuncture schools. But most acupuncture schools seem to have little interest in what happens to their grads, and continue to present an unrealistic picture of life after graduation to potential students.

We’ve gotten to the point where even prominent conservatives acknowledge that the current system is a “bad deal for students and parents” and at least some are advocating for change. And it’s true that regulations, however carefully written, often have unintended negative consequences. All too often the well-off and powerful find ways to exploit loopholes and other tricks to avoid regulation, while smaller businesses find themselves significantly disadvantaged. (Consider what happened with the organic label.)

If the schools were on the hook for the money students borrowed no doubt things would be a lot different — from materials provided to prospective students, to the admissions process, to the education provided, to alumni support.

I don’t expect that will happen. And with the change in the political picture here in the US, who knows what will happen with the gainful employment regulations. For now, all acupuncturists can help the market work by helping prospective acupuncturists look past the pitch. Anyone entering the profession should do so with eyes wide open.

(Read this for more on how the November elections will impact the future of acupuncture and complementary medicine in the US.)

Gainful Employment and Strategic Errors

The Gainful Employment final regulations have been announced. Forgive my commenting prior to a complete and thorough analysis of the 941 page document. (You can see some analysis here.) The gist is that for-profit schools (which includes half of US acupuncture programs) will soon have to show that graduates’ student loan payments are manageable with the profession’s available employment (not taking IBR into account). If they can’t, federally guaranteed student loans will no longer be available.

Why should taxpayers continue to provide loans for educations that history shows aren’t worth the investment? Imagine tuition rates and post-graduate employment assistance if the schools provided and guaranteed loans, and took the hit if they weren’t paid back in a timely fashion.

It is no surprise that for-profit schools are displeased about the impending end of the gravy train. Many for-profit schools, and their related organizations, did everything they could to block the regulations. And, just under the wire, the acu-educational establishment contributed comments (see ACAOM gainful employment word).

(The more expensive FPD, and pressure away from “acupuncture-only” degrees now carry a significant downside for the schools.)

Did ACAOM think their letter might exempt them from the rules or impact the final regulations? It seems unlikely that this little community would shift the tide. It was an unforced error for ACAOM to write a letter that reveals such little concern for graduates and such a strong desire to dodge responsibility. (Some of the more significant issues in ACAOM’s letter are discussed here.)

But our own strategic errors have allowed ACAOM and other other alphabets to disregard our well-being.

The petition that asked the alphabets to stop denying their role in our circumstances received 227 signatures. Petitions to stop dry needling often receive thousands of signatures. Which is more likely to limit professional success — a school that leaves students with extensive debt, poor business skills, and no job placement or alumni support, or a little competition? If we can’t survive the competition from those “untrained” professionals our education is surely lacking.

The Feds and the taxpayers pay a price when schools sell an education for far more than it is worth. We graduates pay a far more personal price. It’s too late for us, but at least the Feds are willing to look out for the interests of those who will follow in our footsteps.

What’s your Acupuncture Degree Worth?

Answer: Less than it used to be.

(Please, sign the petition.)

If you earned an MAc and Dipl. Ac (NCCAOM) twenty years ago, you thought you had it made. You could get a license in almost all states with licensure. The schools and the NCCAOM touted the caliber of the education and credentials. You knew you had plenty to learn about this medicine, but you could practice safely.

In the gainful employment letter ACAOM points to the (supposed) earnings of those long-ago grads to minimize the financial struggles of recent grads.

But in 1995 the NCCAOM added the Herbal exam, and later the OM. Some states now require those additional credentials of all practitioners. ACAOM has increased hourly requirements for school accreditation several times. And the NCCAOM has put additional limits on who can take their exams.

Some of our most esteemed teachers do not meet the current requirements for sitting the exams. Many practitioners are trapped, unable to relocate.

By increasing the range of degrees and credentials available before our “brand” was established and our profession was strong, the alphabets increased division and confusion. No wonder the public can’t figure out how an LAc’s education compares to that of other providers.

And here comes the First Professional Doctorate. With this new degree, my alma mater announces,

“[graduates] will be recognized as doctors, both professionally and publicly, and will have increased credibility and standing.”

If graduates with an FPD have increased credibility and standing, what has happened to the credibility and standing of graduates of Masters programs?

According to ACAOM’s gainful employment letter, licensure requirements just happen, and practice success is a simple matter of practitioner choice.

Really, though, the “alphabets” have played a significant role in the expansion of requirements and credential creep, and most of the schools do little to teach students how to make wise business choices.

If, as ACAOM wrote, the graduates of twenty years ago do so well, why have entry level requirements been increased so much? Why are grads struggling to pay off existing loans encouraged to return to school to maintain their credibility? Will the NCCAOM require an FPD to sit their exams? Will the alphabets encourage states to require it for licensure?

ACAOM/NCCAOM/CCAOM/AAAOM — if you represent us, defend the value of our degrees and credentials. Your “options” too often become a requirements.

Colleagues, did the gainful employment letter represent your views? If not, sign the petition. 129 people have, which means ACAOM etc. can still claim to represent 32,871 of us.

For additional information and analysis about educational costs and value, check out this from The New York Times and two posts from Dr. Phil Garrison

 

 

Loans for Acupuncture School

It’s been too long. September brought a rush of obligations. And my post of X things (X to be replaced with a number when the list was completed) wrong with ACAOM’s gainful employment letter made it to 25 things by the time I got to the bottom of page 2 (of 7).

The gist of ACAOM’s letter — It’s not our fault. The cost of the education and the inability of many of our graduates to pay off their loans in a timely fashion has nothing to do with ACAOM, the schools, or CCAOM. It’s the fault of the system and the poor choices of our grads.

If you believe the schools and professional organizations should spend less time denying responsibility and more time taking responsibility, let them know by signing this petition.

My top 7 issues with the letter:

  • The authors absolve the schools of responsibility for the success or failure of their graduates. Where is their evidence that “the primary determinant for success in earnings is dependent upon the students who make their own personal choices….”  And doesn’t an effective education include helping students make choices that lead to success?
  • The organizations claim to represent the entire profession without justification.
  • With the exception of CCAOM, the participating organizations are operating far outside their missions. For example, NCCAOM’s job is to provide a means of credentialing practitioners to protect the public. Why are they weighing in on student loans?
  • The authors conflate the impact of the proposed gainful employment rules with the impact of student debt on establishing a practice. It is student debt that limits practice choices, not plans that would prevent excessive debt for ineffectual schools.
  • While the authors blithely refer to the “realistic” time frame to establish a health care practice, materials provided to prospective acupuncture students are silent on such matters.
  • Putting schools in charge of the metrics (like graduation rates) that determine loan availability is a classic fox guarding the hen-house scenario.
  • The salary figures reported in the letter are questionable at best and mostly irrelevant. Even if it were true that the median salary of practitioners with 20+ years of experience is $122,500, which is doubtful, an acupuncture education 20+ years ago was far less expensive and shorter. (Perhaps the lack of federally guaranteed student loans had something to do with that?) Graduates who could not establish a successful practice are not around twenty years later. What are grads supposed to do about their loans for the first twenty years of their professional life?

It’s requiring a good deal of self-restraint not to continue with my list, but enumerating the failings of ACAOM’s letter doesn’t create momentum for positive change. A petition signed by some of those 30,000 people the organizations claim to represent might create momentum. It isn’t easy to determine how best to lower costs and increase practitioner support. It will require careful analysis and consultation with experts. But if the powers don’t care enough to ask the questions, we’ll never approach the answers. Sign the petition.

(Before you say it isn’t possible, here is a school that has designed an affordable acupuncture program with a focus on creating successful practitioners.)

Who Speaks for You?

ACAOM’s letter to the Department of Education regarding the proposed gainful employment rules begins —

On behalf of the Commissioners of the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (ACAOM), and in partnership with the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (CCAOM), the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) and the American Association of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (AAAOM), we write to offer comments…. Collectively, we represent over 33,000 students and graduate acupuncturists in the United States, and 56 colleges of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine.

Are there 33,000 students and graduate acupuncturists? Where did they get that number? Do they represent me? Reading the rest of the ACAOM gainful employment letter confirmed it – their letter doesn’t reflect my position on the proposed rules, or on the state of the profession.

ACAOM‘s existence depends on the schools and a steady flow of students, CCAOM represents the schools, and the NCCAOM‘s income depends primarily upon new graduates taking credentialing exams.  Once these groups get their money the future of acupuncture school grads is of little consequence to them.

Of course they would make the case for maintaining the status quo, but they should not be telling the DOE that they represent me.

I’ve just sent this email to the ED of ACAOM (mark.mckenzie@acaom.org) with CC’s to the leaders of NCCAOM, CCAOM, and AAAOM (kwardcook@thenccaom.org; executivedirector@ccaom.comcastbiz.net; DonLeelac@gmail.com), and to ashley.higgins@ed.gov (of the DOE) and bduran@mpamedia.com (of Acupuncture Today) —

 

ACAOM’s May 23rd letter to the DOE regarding the proposed gainful employment rules includes this phrase —

“Collectively, we represent over 33,000 students and graduate acupuncturists in the United States.”

Neither ACAOM nor any of the other organizations mentioned represents me.

The only organization listed that even pretends to serve graduate acupuncturists is the AAAOM. Their professional and student membership is a thousand or so, optimistically, and they were not in partnership with you for this letter.

I am not surprised that organizations that profit off students and new graduates would write a self-serving letter avoiding responsibility for the number of acupuncturists struggling to pay off huge educational debt.

I am not even surprised that you would claim to represent me. But I am angry that you did so.

Unless you can provide documentation that you do represent 33,000 students and graduate acupuncturists please retract your statement to the Department of Education and make clear that you are speaking on behalf of your organization, which depends on schools and a steady flow of students to survive.

Speaking for myself,

Elaine Wolf Komarow, LAc

In coming weeks I’ll explore more of the distortions and spin in the ACAOM letter. But for now I hope you agree that standing by while these organizations claim to speak for us is a mistake.

Borrow my text or use your own, but, let ACAOM and the other alphabets know they don’t represent you — and make sure the Department of Education knows that too.

Acupuncture Careers

ACAOM gainful employment — This deserves its own post.  I don’t have the head-space to write such a post at the moment.  I don’t even have the time to fully read and digest this document.  The little bit I can digest is making me sick to my stomach. I’m betting some of my readers would like to dig into this. I’d love to hear what you think.

Talking about our Education

“We have over (2000 hours, 4000 hours, 3 years, 4 years) of education and they want to do acupuncture with (a weekend, less than ten, 200 hours) of training!The public is in danger.”

“The (PT’s, Chiropractors, MD’s) doing acupuncture are significantly undertrained! If they want to do acupuncture they need to go to acupuncture school, or at least take (400, 500,1000) hours of training.”

It’s a no brainer, right? But ….

1) We are comparing our total professional education to additional post-professional-degree hours.

An MSAOM curriculum includes: Biochemistry, Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, Introduction to Western Pathology, and a Survey of Western Clinic Sciences (3 semesters). M.D.’s have already covered these classes in their education.

2) Does the aspect of “our” medicine they want to use require a full TCM education?

Is Tai Qi, Qi Gong, Introduction to Botany, 40 credits of herbal medicine, a semester of auricular acupuncture and 3 semesters of point location needed for a PT to safely use a needle to release a trigger point? (If you insist they learn all of that, won’t they then argue that they can also do auricular acupuncture and distal points?)

3) How well-educated are most acupuncture school graduates? How worthwhile was most of their time spent in school?

ACAOM standards were based on the programs that existed at the time credentials were being established. They were not based on a careful analysis of what was needed to train safe, effective, successful practitioners. Acupuncture related Facebook groups include posts asking about using moxa to turn breech babies, how to treat TMJ (no pulse, tongue, or presentation information provided), and recommendations for treating people undergoing chemotherapy. With our thousands of hours of training, shouldn’t we know the answers to these questions? (Or have a better source than Facebook for answers?)

4) Is there a correlation between the length of a program and the quality of the graduates? Were the early U.S. practitioners (many of whom had less than 1300 hours of training) harming the public?

It is an article of faith in the acupuncture community — our training of X hours is necessary for safety, and anything less is an affront and a danger. Yet a colleague recently wrote “I am at a medical acupuncture conference. Exceeding my expectation. The presenters know their stuff. Lots of depth…. I am going to find out about their training. Maybe they are a special group….what i am seeing here meets any high standards TCM conference…. Very surprised.”

The more (as defined by us) = better has done us no favors. The numbers we fight for are arbitrary. The argument is easily refuted by other providers. Adopting it within our profession has increased the business strangling debt-burden new grads carry. And created internal divisions which only further harm our growth. (How long before a state (or the NCCAOM) demands the FPD to become an LAc?)

Please, let’s let the knee-jerk “less is dangerous, more is better” argument go.

Acupuncture Education

Between conversations on Facebook, dialogues on list serves, and college tours with my child, I’ve been thinking about acupuncture education a lot recently. There are several topics I plan to address in the next few weeks.  First off —

To those considering becoming an acupuncturist:

  • Talk to practitioners in your area. Do they recommend the school they attended? (Ask if they are employed by the school in any capacity to help evaluate their response.) Are most of their classmates are still in practice? How long did it take them to establish a successful practice? (How do they define success?) Are they easily able to make their student loan payments? Are they on an income-based repayment plan?
  • What percentage of the school’s graduates are still in practice 3/5/10 years out. The admissions office should be able to tell you this. They won’t be able to. Don’t be fooled – knowing the percentage of students passing the credentialing exams is not sufficient data to make a major investment. And make sure to ask what they mean by “still in practice.”  Here’s one school’s information about graduate success.
  • Will the education you receive at the school enable you to practice in the states you might want to practice in. Verify the information the schools provide, as many students have been misled. State requirements vary and are changing. Some only approve graduates of particular schools, some require additional education in certain subjects, some are very specific about whether the school has full ACAOM accreditation (ACAOM approved, or ACAOM candidate status won’t do it).
  • While schools may say that LAcs are employed in hospitals and other health care settings, know that this is a tiny percentage of practitioners. The vast majority of practitioners are establishing their own private practices upon graduation. What are the schools business classes like? Do they bring in marketing experts, accountants, lawyers, to give you guidance?
  • In a recent NCCAOM survey 62% of respondents reported a personal income, before taxes, of less than 65K.  Most “employment” situations for LAcs do not include sick time, paid vacation, family leave, health insurance, disability insurance, retirement savings plans, or payment for time spent on administrative tasks. If you are thinking oh, 30 clients/week at $80.00 = $124,000 — I’ll be rich, you should think again.Your ongoing expenses are likely to include fees for licensure, your NCCAOM credential, the CEU expenses to maintain that credential, malpractice insurance, liability insurance for your office, rent and utilities, marketing, supplies, taxes (of course) which are higher for the self-employed. If you intend to work within the insurance system know that while you may build a practice more quickly, the amount you receive as reimbursement can be changed at the whim of the insurance company. Expect that some amount of your time and money will be spent on additional services to help you track and pursue reimbursements.

Don’t get me wrong.  Many practitioners love what they do and wouldn’t trade it for anything.  This includes people who admit that they are struggling financially. I’m not saying don’t go to acupuncture school. I am saying do the research you would do before any other 80K (or more) purchase.

Smart Policy for the Acupuncture Profession

That’s my agenda —  to help acupuncturists and their affiliated organizations (AAAOM, NCCAOM, ACAOM, state organizations, schools, etc.) explore and analyze policy choices to help identify smart and effective policies and to avoid knee-jerk wild goose chases and unintended consequences.

My agenda is not to overthrow the NCCAOM, undermine the AAAOM, or to create conflict and division.

We are suffering from a professional auto-immune disease. How many subjects have been the greatest threat to the profession? How many LAcs have walked away from professional affiliations disheartened at the amount of energy spent attacking other professions or colleagues? How many of us react with outrage the moment we hear of some challenge, ready to mount an attack before we have all the information?

As acupuncturists, we see the suffering that results from an overactive immune system. Let’s stop making that mistake.

Last month I shared my email to my state association regarding their comments at an Advisory Board meeting. Here is ASVA’s response, and here is my reply. (I include the documents to show how challenging it can be to have non-triggered dialogue on an issue facing the profession. Rest assured, I am grateful to those who serve.)

News Update

and a bonus at the end —

October 1st, NCCAOM, Facbook —

 NCCAOM has received a significant volume of responses, and the results of this feedback will be taken into consideration during the development of the final policy and standards, as NCCAOM continues to strive for increased customer satisfaction. We are always eager to hear your suggestions for changes that will benefit you, the Diplomate, and the AOM profession overall. It is with your feedback that we can continue to meet your needs.
We are listening!

Spin?

October 2nd, date of scheduled AAAOM Town Hall, AAAOM website —

Legislative Town Hall

CALL POSTPONED – DATE TO BE DETERMINED

No additional news.

October 9th, Richmond, VA, Meeting of Virginia Acupuncture Advisory Board.

Agenda includes discussion of an alternate path to licensure due to conflicts between Virginia law and the NCCAOM proposed policy changes.

The representative from the state association (ASVA) was against any discussion of the NCCAOM issues. ASVA stated  — “lowering of standards…would do harm to both our profession and the public.” Who mentioned lowering standards? Is there evidence that anyone is harmed in states that do not rely on the NCCAOM credential?  Here is my post-meeting email to the association  –  ASVA comments.

The NCCAOM rep at the meeting was clear — the proposals were just proposals, stakeholder comments will be taken into consideration, any language referring to the effective dates of the changes was referring to effective dates for the proposed changes, not the actual changes. I envisioned someone pedaling backwards.

Questions of the Day — We attack when another profession “interferes” with our practice (DVM’s “stealing animal acupuncture”, PT’s “stealing acupuncture”, MD’s wanting to see our patients) even when we have little or no power to change anything. Why are we unwilling to even discuss it when an organization supported by our money, controlling our profession, at our request, takes action that costs us or limits us? We made a difference this time (we hope) – why aren’t our professional associations helping?

Here is a new page on Legislation and Regulation. It contains important and valuable information. Please, read it and pass it on.

I’ll be working on a page about the Acupuncture orgs (the alphabets) and another for potential acupuncture students in the coming weeks.