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Politics & Government

South Bay Acupuncturists on SB 628: Silent or Skeptical

Senate bill, intended to recognize traditional Chinese medicine traumatology as a profession through the California Acupuncture Board, meets objections from statewide acupuncturist organizations and some local acupuncturists.

Note: There are video clips in Mandarin attached to this article.

本文附有中文视频,敬請觀賞。

Senate Bill 628, proposed by state Sen. Leland Yee to require the California Acupuncture Board to certify traditional Chinese medicine traumatologists, was voted down in the lower house of the California legislature on July 7.

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The issue received a lot of Bay Area media coverage leading up to the vote. But acupuncturists Patch spoke with in the East Bay seemed apathetic about the issue, and some raised objections.

When Patch contacted acupuncturists in Campbell, Cupertino and Los Altos, most of them declined to comment on SB 628, citing busyness with work. The few who were willing to go on the record expressed concerns about the bill.

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Three statewide organizations of acupuncturists, the California Certified Acupuncturists Association (CCAA), the California State Oriental Medical Association (CSOMA) and the United California Practitioners of Chinese Medicine (UCPCM), publicized their opposition to SB 628 for its lack of certification examination.

Instead of establishing an examination, SB 628 would have required that the California Acupuncture Board to create a Traumatology Committee, which will review applications and certify the so-called "traditional Chinese medicine traumatologists,” who treat injuries and chronic pains by brushing, kneading, rolling, pressing and rubbing the areas between joints.

Right now, Chinese traumatologists can practice in California as alternative therapists under SB 577, but they are legally obligated to tell patients that they don't have medical credentials. SB 628 is meant to legally recognize their professional status.

South Bay Practitioners Have Their Say

Cupertino-based acupuncturist Xiao Ping Wang said traumatologists should pass the standard acupuncture exam if the Acupuncture Board is to issue certificates.

"If they are not taking our test, there should be a separate board, a traumatology board, to certify them," said Wang.

Wang, the president of UCPCM, once organized members to negotiate with Yee before SB 628 passed in the state Senate. Now Wang is gathering signatures on a letter to Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi to block the bill in the state Assembly.

Proponents of SB 628 said written exams wouldn't apply to traditional Chinese traumatology, also known as manual therapy, because it is often a skill set masters teach their apprentices through hands-on demonstrations, with no written records.

Before Western medicine entered China, Chinese medicine traumatologists used to treat all kinds of injuries there. Nowadays, their traditional bone-setting methods cannot compete with Western technology in treating fractures, but they continue to treat sprains and dislocated joints, according to Ching Chi, an acupuncturists who practices at her Sunnyvale clinic near the borders with Cupertino and Los Altos.

Chi said she knows some traumatology masters in China can really perform wonders on patients who suffer sprains, dislocated joints or chronic pains, but that doesn't speak for the quality of Chinese traumatologists in California, because there is no formal schooling for Chinese traumatology in the United States.

Chi explained that Chinatown traumatologists in general acquired their skills from an old master, who had been an apprentice with an older traumatology master. Chinatown traumatology has been this way in California for generations, as it was in ancient China.

It's a different story in modern China. According to Caiqin Helen Liu, a Los Altos acupuncturist, medical school students in China can major in traumatology, which is legally and culturally recognized as an area of traditional Chinese medicine there.

"Traditional Chinese medicine has four major areas: internal medicine, acupuncture, traumatology and herbology," said Liu. "But in the United States, only acupuncture is a legal medical practice. I actually believe Chinese traumatology should be legalized here. It just bothers me that SB 628 doesn't require an exam to certify traumatologists."

About SB 628 proponents' argument for the incompatibility between written exams and Chinese traumatology, Liu said the exam doesn't have to be all written questions and can include a demonstration of manual therapy skills.

Another Los Altos acupuncturist, Susanna Shen, also said an exam should be necessary to certify Chinese traumatologists, or that would put the patient's health at risk.

Chi, Liu, Shen and Wang all said they are raising concerns for the sake of patients. As for themselves, they said SB 628 wouldn't bring them more competitors. Although there is an overlap between acupuncturist and traumatologists, as acupuncture can also be used to treat sprains and pains, the South Bay is not a market for Chinese traumatologists.

South Bay Traumatology

In the Bay Area, Chinese traumatologists are easy to find in the Chinatowns of San Francisco and Oakland but almost unheard of in the South Bay.

Liu said the San Francisco and Oakland Chinese traumatologists are unlikely to move to the South Bay even if granted certificates, because their network and clientele are deeply rooted in and around Chinatown, where generations of laborers have seen traumatologists for low-priced treatments.

By contrast, traumatology in the South Bay is usually combined with the practice of acupuncture for the sake of a license. Liu said a Chinese immigrant with a traumatology background would study for and pass the California Acupuncture Board exam before opening a clinic in the South Bay, because South Bay residents tend to be more educated and thus care more about a medical practitioner's credential.

Although SB 628 doesn't pose a threat to South Bay acupuncturists, Wang said certifying traumatologists through the Acupuncture Board may create confusion about acupuncturists and less educated traumatologists to patients, and that may hurt acupuncturists' reputation in the long run.

Wang also pointed out an unusual feature of the bill—applications must be filed between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 15, 2012. After that, no new applicants will be allowed.

"That means only existing traumatologists will be certified," said Wang. "It will be unfair to new immigrants who come after that time and want to practice traumatology."

CSOMA lists this time limit as the first reason for the organization's opposition to SB 628 in an open letter. The other reasons include no required examination and no required continuing education.

Adam Atman, an acupuncturist who practices in Campbell, Los Gatos and Santa Cruz, said the letter speaks his mind about SB 628.

"I completely agree with CSOMA on this one," he said.

Ron Zaidman, president of Five Branches University, which offers traditional Chinese medicine programs in Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz, also supports the CSOMA statement.

"The days of depending on apprenticeship or grandfathering people into a medical profession are no longer realistic," said Zaidman. "SB 628 asks for both grandfathering, apprenticeship and certification rather than licensure—unacceptable shortcuts and putting the people of California at unacceptable risk."

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