Blog
Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine Day 2023
Come and CELEBRATE Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine Day with your colleagues at an NMSAAM sponsored luncheon on Sunday, October 22 at the FUN-Raiser! Free food from Chello Grill for NMSAAM members and 1 guest, $10 cost for non-members. Afterwards, DOMs are encouraged to stay and help educate the public about our medicine by donating some community outreach from 2:00 to 4:00 pm with ear seeds, communications, and Qi Gong if you can make the time. Silent auction will continue from 12:00 noon to 4:00pm.
Results of the 2023 BOD Elections
Results of the Board of Directors Elections: August 19, 2023 NMSAAM Annual Meeting. We are especially pleased that we have board members from around the state: Silver city, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque. Thank you everyone who attended the annual meeting to do your part to support our profession. We had some good speakers, including 2 of our lobbyists, and lively discussion. Remember that when you join NMSAAM, you are automatically part of the American Society of acupuncturists, the ASA.
2023 Annual Meeting on Zoom: Schedule
Moving Forward With Gusto! 10:00 to 10:15 Welcome and Greetings . . . 10:15 to 12:00 noon: Movie, Acupuncture Fever, 2023 documentary by Doug Dearth . . . 12:00 to 1:00 Elections of NMSAAM board members . . . 1:00 to 1:30 Lunch Break & Networking . . .1:30 to 2:00 NMSAAM lobbyists . . . 2:00 to 3:00 Mina Larson, CEO of NCCAOM, Update on NCCAOM Policies . . . 3:00 to 3:30 Wongu University: Herbal Medicine stand alone modules . . . 3:30 to 4:30 Report and discussion of SB421 that was tabled at the 2023 Legislative Session . . .
Commentary post July 16 Town Hall
'Remember that during Covid, NMSAAM held a completely virtual Town Hall on November 22, 2021. Every DOM that attended was adamantly opposed to having an acupuncture licensure without herbal medicine in NM. Thus, it was surprising later to learn that there are some...
Herbal Medicine in USA
As busy as we all are, it is easy to become myopic and unaware of the big picture, not even seeing it. We are professionals, and as professionals we need to look at what is best for our whole profession and not just for a few practitioners. If we don’t do so, others will do it for us. In May, I attended the American Society of Acupuncturists, the ASA, annual meeting. At the Friday Council Meeting, I heard about different states and have been following up with some delegates about the tiered acupuncture licensure issue. Note that when you are a member of NMSAAM, you are automatically a member of our national ASA. Let me tell you about the current USA states use of herbal medicine and acupuncture.
Comments Ahead of the July 16 Town Hall
We are collecting comments about the possibility of a second tier of licensure that would not include training in herbs or the ability to practice with them. Here is what we have received so far; we will add more as they come in, even after the Town Hall. Please...
Town Hall In-Person July 16, 2023
During the 2023 Legislative Session, SB421, which would have created an acupuncture-only licensure level, was submitted by one acupuncturist. It was tabled (killed) due to a tied vote in its first committee, Health and Human Services on February 17. That is, it came very close to passing that committee and being able to advance. (An identical bill with a different number, SB 461, was also submitted by the same person.) The committee chair, Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino, seeing that the issue had not been worked out among DOMs and that there was conflict, stated that he wants the profession to come to a consensus before any more legislation is introduced in a future session. This is totally reasonable and necessary.
Review of the 2023 ASA Annual Conference
Review of the 2023 ASA Annual Conference: Envisioning Our Future: May 11-15, 2023. Joyfully coming out of the COVID pandemic, acupuncturists finally met in person again at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC, like we did in 2019, again with 3 parts to the meeting; 1) the ASA Council Meeting, 2) Annual Conference, and 3) Advocate Fly-in to Capitol Hill.
USA & NM ended COVID-19 public health emergency
Looking Back, Forward and to the Present: The NMDOH reported on March 6, 2023 that after three years of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Mexico, our Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that the March 3rd renewal of the COVID-19 executive order would be the final...
No More Sunset of our Practice Act!
By Yvonne Walston, DOM and Elene Gusch, DOM Good News: Our Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham wasted no time signing HB 201, Extend Certain Board Sunset Dates, into law on March 16, 2023, near the end of the 60-day legislative session. We had been bracing for a sunset in...
Envisioning our Future Together
Review the exciting, pertinent schedule, find logistics, and register here. PDAs to be earned: A) Live in-person conference on May 13-14: 16 CAB CEs approved. B) ASA Pre-Conference Webinar Series: 13 CAB CEs. C) May 15 Advocacy Day: 4CEs approved. NCCAOM PDAs pending approval.
Tiered Licensure Bills submitted to NM Senate
Call to all NM DOMs: It has come to our attention that two Senate bills affecting our profession were dropped this past week at the Roundhouse, SB 421 and SB 461. They appear to be the exact same bill. For the record, we, the BOD of NMSAAM, the professional society...
Acupuncture Day at the Legislature
On January 31, 2023, we began setting up our booth at 7:30 am. Before everything was organized, potential patients were lining up, as they remembered how we have helped them with acupuncture during past Legislative Sessions for so many years. After the 2020 NM...
Get Ready: All Aboard!
If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies . . . This year we are celebrating our 42nd year of acupuncture licensure in New Mexico! It was not until 2018 that our work was recognized by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as a distinct profession, rather than a...
What has NMSAAM been doing in 2022?
We at NMSAAM are passionate advocates for this medicine, and we want to keep our DOMs informed . . . We do invite all DOMs to join NMSAAM to help keep our profession alive in our state, as NM has been a leader early on in the USA with licensure for acupuncture almost 42 years now. We are pleased that other states are catching up, and now we don’t want to be left behind!
A Message from AcuCongress Founder
There is no way to predict what will happen in three years but there are some very good things coming down the pike, that have a sense of urgency, if we are to protect our position as the experts with the most experience, clinical training and continuing education in the field.
Wildlife Protection in Traditional Chinese Medicine – Celebration of the Year of Tiger, 2022
We are still Celebrating the 2022 Year of the Tiger! The Annual Conference of the National Federation of Chinese TCM Organizations in 2022 was held in San Francisco, CA, USA, on Sunday, October 16, 2022. The session was streamed online simultaneously. Conference...
Election Results & President Report
THANK YOU everyone who attended our September 17, 2022 Annual Meeting! We may all agree that we have a love/hate relationship with Zoom and the other online platforms . . .The following candidates were unopposed and were elected unanimously: President, Yvonne Walston; Vice-President, Yvette Arellano; Secretary, Elene Gusch; Treasurer, Steven Malins; BOD Members at large: Robert Bibeau, Caterina Di Palma, and Tim Walsh
NMSAAM Needs You! (Memberships are Live!)
What you need to know: The NMSAAM website and membership registration is live now! This means that: you can join or renew your membership online and pay through paypal. It is important to note that the link for joining or renewing is the same in order to simplify the...
Stepping Forward for our Medicaid Population
Integrative Pain Treatment Subcommittee Recommendation Doctors of Oriental Medicine by Dr. Elene Gusch, August 2022 Recommendation: Reimburse Doctors of Oriental Medicine in Medicaid Centennial Care and Fee-For-Service Medicaid, at a level equal to the New Mexico...