This just in from Lexie. She forwarded it from the Acupuncture Association of Colorado notices. The signup form for the group is here.

Hello again all AAC Members! I am sending all of you a copy of a letter that has been sent to all members of our national organization, the AAAOM. We have a unique opportunity to submit comments regarding AOM to the new administration, but only until Jan. 15th. Please read the attached message - I know it is long, but it is extremely important! Take action to whatever extent you can!

REFORMING U.S. HEALTHCARE: President Elect Barack Obama and Secretary Designate Tom Daschle, Department of Health and Human Services would like your opinion on how to reform the country’s healthcare system.

Let Your Voice be Heard: As one of the priorities of the forthcoming Obama administration, President Elect Obama’s Transition Team has created Change.gov as the most effective way for thousands of ordinary citizens to communicate extraordinary ideas to mitigate or solve some of the well-known problems of our current healthcare system.

Change.gov provides all licensed acupuncturists (LAcs) and our patients the opportunity to lobby for acupuncture and Oriental medicine’s (AOM) rightful inclusion in a reformed healthcare system. Change.gov is a free, grassroots lobbying opportunity for you and your patients to be heard. This web site tallies and organizes all emails by subject and will communicate your ideas to Secretary Designate Tom Daschle.

There is currently a strong movement towards a national healthcare system that will require all citizens to be covered by some sort of health insurance. If we do not plan the future of AOM, other organized health care professions and businesses will—and not for our benefit. If you are concerned about the prosperity of your practice and if you want AOM fully integrated into a reformed healthcare system, email your opinions to Change.gov. We seek to generate emails from at least 1,000 LAcs and 5,000 AOM patients extolling the virtues of AOM and advocating AOM’s rightful inclusion in the healthcare reform process.

If you Believe in Change and have a Yes We Can Attitude, now’s the Time to Join up and Speak Up. Get your patients involved—ask them to email their own opinions, as well. These emails MUST arrive before January 15th as Change. Gov may be dismantled after Barack Obama takes office and Tom Daschle’s appointment is approved. Here are some helpful talking points and guidelines you and your patients may want to include in your emails. You don’t have to include every item. Pick your favorite topics, especially if they are related to compelling patient stories.

Each email should be unique and personal. If the emails are too similar they won’t carry as much credibility or weight. This is a threshold the AOM community has long awaited; it should be easy to be passionate and speak to change in our healthcare system in your own voice.
Rather than complain, offer solutions to the current healthcare system’s problems. When you cite problems, provide a solution to that problem from your perspective Indicate not just why, but more specifically how acupuncture and Oriental medicine can solve some of the healthcare system problems we face today.

Cite AAAOM as the contact organization (info@aaaomonline.org or 866-455-7999) for additional information to substantiate facts, figures and research that you refer to the AOM profession. Include other research sources that can confirm your statements.

Indicate how effective AOM treatments are and give examples from your patients’ experiences.

Cite the World Health Organization’s (WHO) research indicating the number and type of Western diagnosed medical conditions AOM can successfully treat.

Indicate how safe AOM treatments are. Give examples from your own experience. Cite the low cost of AOM malpractice insurance compared to other health professions. Refer the reader to your insurance company to check the relevant actuarial statistics.

Indicate how cost effective AOM treatments are. Give examples from your patient’s experiences. Cite the fact that very few, if any, costly diagnostic or lab tests are required before AOM treatments.

Indicate that acupuncture and Oriental medicine has been discriminated against and red-lined out of the health insurance system, both private and public plans, without justification. Empathize society’s right to choose the medicine of their choice and, in that context, the conduits that assure the right of access. Cite examples as to how full coverage would help your patients and the general public with their health issues. Indicate that the more progressive MDs in your area would thus feel more comfortable referring patients to fully trained, certified and licensed acupuncturists if insurance included AOM treatments.

Indicate maintenance of good health and prevention of chronic illness are two of AOM’s strong points. Give examples from your patient population.

Indicate that by excluding AOM from insurance coverage, the public is being denied the freedom of choice of their health care and that the process of free market economics is not being allowed to operate. Cite cases where patients could not continue effective AOM treatments because they could no longer afford to pay out of pocket, and insurance would not cover the AOM treatment.

If it is part of your clinical experience, indicate how acupuncture is cost effective for treatment of drug, alcohol, and tobacco addictions. Indicate how acupuncture, as part of a fully integrated treatment plan, can effectively alleviate PTSD symptoms experienced by war veterans. Indicate that the Veteran’s Administration has already integrated acupuncture into their treatment programs in some localities and that these programs should be expanded across the U. S.

Indicate how much training is required to become a fully trained, certified and licensed acupuncturist. Cite NCCAOM as the source.

Indicate how AOM can decrease medical expenditures and significantly enhance healthcare programs and delivery systems to senior citizens if AOM treatments were covered by Medicare.

Identify specifically how you want AOM to be integrated into a “Reformed Healthcare System.”

Most importantly, get your friends, family and patients to send their supportive comments to Change.gov. Again, the goal is 1000 emails from LAcs and 5,000 emails from patients.

The Change,gov campaign is only the beginning. During the next 3 months, AAAOM will be raising funds to hire a Washington D.C. based lobbyist to protect our profession against restrictions on our right to practice acupuncture and herbal medicine, prevent incursions by other health professions, and to negotiate our rightful place in a reformed healthcare system. If healthcare reform requires all citizens to be covered by public or private health insurance, we must make sure, for the sake of our patients’ health and the prosperous future of our profession, that every U.S. citizen has the right and the freedom to choose AOM treatment.