AAMA
Newsletter
Serving the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture
February 2001

Page 1

Symposium has dynamic lineup

Be among those physician acupuncturists who will be instrumental in "Shaping the Future of Medicine" in the 21st century by attending AAMA's 13th Annual Symposium in March.

This spring, many of the acupuncture saints will go marchin’ in, as the Academy holds its Symposium from March 22-25, 2001 at Hilton New Orleans Riverside in the fabulous city of New Orleans, LA. Chaired by Nader Soliman, MD, this conference promises to be a most valuable experience for your practice of medical acupuncture.

Some of the most prominent acupuncture lecturers in the United States and abroad have been invited to provide Symposium participants with the most valuable techniques in medical acupuncture. International speakers will include: Raphael Nogier, MD, of France, Chan Gunn, MD, of Canada and Alejandro Elorriaga, MD, of Canada and Spain.

Prominent speakers from the US will include: Glenn Rothfeld, MD; John Reed, MD; Bryan Frank, MD; Brian Bouch, MD; John Adams, MD; R. Jodorkovsky, MD; and Mike Arnold, MD.

"Topics at the Symposium will certainly appeal to you as the planning committee has made its choices based on past evaluations received from Academy members,” noted Dr. Soliman. "You will find this Symposium designed to be the most practical ever, presenting some of the most common and most complicated medical problems that we face in our practice on a daily basis.”

The Symposium chairman added that "as pioneers in introducing the art of medical acupuncture to the public in our daily practice, we must strive to provide our patients with the necessary extra approaches that could make the difference in their lives. This Symposium has taken into consideration our new role as the final hope for our patients. We have assembled a program to address our most complicated medical problems to give you the extra and most valuable weapons in medical acupuncture for patients’ needs and expectations.”

The program will include topics like FMS, CFS, depression, sleep disturbance, acute and chronic pain, including RSD, infertility, dysmenorrhea, cancer, nicotine addiction, allergy, ADHD, respiratory and GI problems in adults and children. These will be addressed through acupuncture modalities, like acupuncture energetics, five elements, hand acupuncture, TCM, auriculartherapy, auricular medicine and neuro-anatomical acupuncture.

As usual, a Pre-Symposium day will be held on March 22, 2001, which will include four separate programs: Introduction to Medical Acupuncture by Joseph Helms, MD, and Richard Zweig, MD; Pain Treatment in TCM using Herbs and Acupuncture by Michael Arnold, MD; Intramuscular Stimulation for Treatment of Myofascial Pain by Chan Gunn, MD, and the Theory and Practice of the VAS by Raphael Nogier, MD.

There will be a Review Course on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 20-21, followed by the Board Certification Exam on Monday, March 26, all at Hilton New Orleans Riverside.

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Member testifies before White House Commission

Marshall H. Sager, DO, DABMA, recently testified before the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, which was formed by President Clinton in 2000 to study issues such as who should have access to what complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, by which providers and for what indications.

Dr. Sager was given three minutes to address the Commission. He offered an introduction to medical acupuncture and the Academy (growing rapidly in the last five years to almost 2,000 physicians), a definition of medical acupuncture and physician rights, acupuncture qualifications for physicians, CAM access, and delivery and reimbursement.

Commission members asked Dr. Sager some questions after his presentation. It was clear from the questions asked that there was a somewhat more positive attitude toward non-physician acupuncturists than towards physician acupuncturists.

There was no apparent recognition or understanding ofthe distinction beween acupuncture as provided by non physician and medical acupuncture.

The Commission has been charged with addressing: research on CAM practices and products; delivery and public access to CAM services; dissemination of reliable information on CAM to healthcare providers and the general public; and appropriate licensing, education, and training of CAM healthcare practitioners.

The Commission will meet in Washington, DC: March 5-6, to hear presentations on Info Dissemination; April 9-10, Research Part II; May 14-15, Access & Delivery (Reimbursement) Part II; July 5-6, Review Interim Report Draft; Sept. 13-14, Wellness; Nov. 6-8, Review Final Report; Dec. 6-7, Final Full Meeting, and March 2002, Closing Event.

Academy members are urged to attend the Town Hall meetings of the Commission when in your area so that you can sign up to speak and provide your perspective on these important issues. The Town Hall meetings will be held as follows: March 16, Minneapolis, Midwest/Region VII; March 26, Albuquerque, NM, Southwest/Region VI; and June 22, Atlanta, GA, South/Region IV. To speak at any of these sessions, you can sign up in advance by going to the website: whccamp.hhs.gov. If you intend to speak, contact AAMA President Bryan Frank, MD (bfrankmd@aol.com) or Dr. Sager (pksager@voicenet.com). The Academy can provide "talking points” with suggested areas to cover in your remarks.

The Commission is to make recommendations on policy and legislation in March 2002 to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who will present it to the President. AAMA members may wish to send e-mail on the primacy of physicians in this arena to: WHCCAMP@od.nih.gov (or mail to WHCCAMP, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Ste. 1010, MS-7707, Betheseda, MD 20817-7707 or fax 301/480-1691).

For more details, visit the website: whccamp.hhs.gov.

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Plant seeds to nurture growth of AAMA

By Joseph Helms, MD

AAMA FOUNDING PRESIDENT

Exposing physicians to the clinical value and professional satisfaction of medical acupuncture plants seeds for new professional colleagues and the growth and stability of medical acupuncture in America.

How can we do this? One valuable contribution is to make yourself available to national and state conference organizers of your specialty society meetings to present lectures or workshops on medical acupuncture. AAMA and Medical Acupuncture Publishers can help with preparation, but most importantly, you can demonstrate your enthusiasm for acupuncture in your own words based on experiences you've had in your specialty application.

Contact AAMA Executive Administrator James Dowden with the programs you are planning to attend so he can provide brochures or other materials.

Most of our membership comes from the disciplines of family medicine, physiatry and anesthesiology-pain. The Academy routinely has an exhibit booth at the national meetings of the principal professional society of these specialties.

Another way to help is to volunteer to spend some time in the Academy booth at these meetings to help answer questions and provide insight to the physicians who stop by for information. We always need seasoned acupuncturists to promote the discipline and encourage appropriate training. An exposure at military medicine, sports medicine, osteopathic manipulative medicine, and holistic/integrative medicine would also make good sense.

We look forward to and thank you in advance for your participating with other members in planting the seeds for the next generation of responsible physician acupuncturists.

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