CMAAC NEWSLETTER

Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Association of Canada

154 Wellington Street London, ON, N6B 2K8 Tel: (519) 642-1970 Fax: (519) 642-2932 cmaac@execulink.com www.cmaac.ca
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Volume 19 Issue 7

August 2013

Summary of the Orientation with the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of Ontario (CTCMPAO)
Monday, June 25, 2013 10.00am- 12.00pm Toronto, Ontario Note: this is a summary from a CMAAC members perspective for your reference only. We strongly suggest information to be affirmed with the CTCMPAO www.ctcmpao.on.ca. There were about 500 registered practitioners in attendance, mostly coming from Toronto, Guelph, and even as far as Ottawa. The tone of the orientation was pleasant and the College representatives were on hand to answer questions for the members before and after the orientation. Emily Cheung was the main speaker. She summarized and differentiated the roles of the Association vs. the roles of the College. Colleges duty is to serve and protect the public. She went over the structure of how the Board of Directors of the College is going to work: 9 R.TCMP or R.Ac. members + 8 public members appointed by government .She mentioned that one of their priorities is to try to increase the number of TCM professionals because they feel Ontario is underserved (which is encouraging for our TCM profession). There is also an Executive Committee that works closely with the staff of the College. We were provided with a hard copy of the Practitioner s Handbook by the CTCMPAO which is basically an organized form of all of the documents found on their website: TCM Act, 2006, Registration Regulation, Professional Misconduct Regulation, Quality Assurance Program Regulation, Quality Assurance Program, and Standards of Practice. We were strongly advised to go through ALL policies of the TCM profession in Ontario and make sure we are in compliance ie. record keeping, liability insurance, selfassessment. We were also advised to look through Section 3.1 Health Procedural Code of the Regulated Health Professionals Act, as we are now part of the College and we are expected to know what is required under the law. Section 3.1 and the TCM Act 2006 determines the direction and policy of the College. Section 2.1 was also mentioned as it explains how the College must interact with the Minister of Health. She talked about how they are aware that many of the deadlines have been tight, and said that it was because of the Ministry putting tight deadlines on the College.

Inside This Issue:

1. Summary of the Orientation with the College(CTCMPAO ) 2. Blue Cross Mobile App for Plan Members 3. () 4. News from HUB International HKMB 5. Letter to member 6. HST update 7. member benefit

The use of titles: Legally, we are only to use R.Ac. or R.TCMP in advertising. We cannot advertise that we specialize in treating cancer or cancer specialist; however, there is a way around by stating we can treat cancer patients or TCM can treat cancer. Other such titles must be reviewed before they can be used. The College warned that one of their next steps is to start checking up on how members are advertising on the phone book and website so please double check your wording! We were told that we had better make sure we are in compliance because if there are complaints and misconduct claims, lawyers will need to be involved, albeit increase in our membership fees! On specialties: Members who wish to specialize cannot do so now, but they will be looking at setting up criteria for specialties in the future. Once they have set up criteria this may be re-examined. On WSIB: They are meeting with WSIB soon to set up how members can work with WSIB claims. Apparently they have recognized the profession and they are just working out the details. On working as a member of more than one Colleges: ie. RMT, Chiro, Physios who are also members of CTCMPAO Make sure your liability is set to standards and covers you for TCM. Make sure you are billing separately and clearly for both services. Make sure your patients know which treatment they will be receiving and that they have given separate consent for each. Keep separate records on the same pt if they are doing more than one therapy. On Selling Herbs: You can prescribe and sell herbs (only if you are R.TCMP, not R.Ac.). Inform your patients that you are prescribing certain herbs, and they are welcome to buy them from you, or from wherever they choose. It is not the selling part that they are worried about, it is the conflict of interest of people believing that they have to buy the herbs from you. Also, billing must be clear and itemized: consultation fee, diagnosing fee, herbs, dispensing fee etc. Also, the cost should be reasonable and within the same range of what others are selling herbs for. No gouging. Renewal date: June 1st every year Ensure you have your insurance documents renewed before June 1st. The College expects each member to be responsible for reminding themselves of what documents are required for the
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Pan-Canadian Examination : Now open to the General Class and new graduates. This is not run by the CTCMPAO. It is the national exam in collaboration of Colleges across Canada and is only done once a year. Registration deadline: July 31, 2013. Quality Assurance: 15 hours a year. Keep records and dates. You will have to submit records of what you have done every year with your st renewal June 1 every year. Emily gave some examples of what you can do: Besides attending classes, she said you can read a book (My suggestion would be to keep a file, write a brief review or something and put it in to prove that you read the book), study from webinar. Any courses on communication, ESL, professional courses, courses on record keeping, even doing committee work or volunteer work could be counted as QA. She even said you could claim that you spent 15 hours studying the TCM Act and the policies on the College website (not a joke). On peer evaluation: They will be training peer evaluators soon. I assume the process is not complete yet, but you can be selected at any time to undergo a peer evaluation. PLAR: Grandparented members will have to do the PLAR. The process is not completed yet (no idea what the cost will be). They have consultants working on it. What we know so far is that first you need another 1200 pt visits. Then, it will be one of 2 things. Either 1) get all of your transcripts, certificates etc. together. Have them certified and apply for the PLAR OR 2) there will be a case study process and you will need to show that you can do all of the things listed in the competencies section on the website. The College estimated there will be 2000 registered members as soon as the registration process is complete. Right now the College is supported financially by the Ministry of Health. By Mar. 31, 2015, the financial support from the Ministry will cease and the College will run dependently on members fees. , 6 25 500 6 25

(R.TCMP) (R.Ac) WSIB WSIB 6 1 7 1 15 ESL 15 PLAR 3 1200 1 2 2000 2015 3 31

To: Members of the Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Association of Canada From: Saskatchewan Blue Cross Provider Relations Team Coming Soon Blue Cross Mobile App for Plan Members We are pleased to announce that beginning in mid-July Blue Cross Plans across Canada will be offering a mobile app for plan members to access information about their benefits. This app will be available in app stores in July and it will be first launched to plan members with Medavie Blue Cross coverage. A launch to Saskatchewan Blue Cross plan members is expected in the fall. The mobile app will be available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry 10 devices. It will include the ability for plan members to search for providers in their area, see the results plotted on a map, and have the option of adding a provider to a list of favourites or their phones contact list. The contact information we have on file will be displayed in a provider listing on the mobile app. Blue Cross does not currently have the address of all of the acupuncturists in the province listed on our Provider Registry Network. If you would like to find out if you are registered on our database or opt out of having your contact information displayed on the app, please contact our Provider Relations department using the contact information below. By Email: ProviderRelations@sk.bluecross.ca By Fax: 306-667-5495 By Phone: Call our Contact Centre at 1-800-667-6853.

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8 22, 10 24, 11 28 8 3, 10 19, 11 23 ( ) 6 9 $15/, $5

To all the Members with an August Birthday! 8

News from HUB International HKMB

I am pleased to announce that HUB and Novex Insurance (Intact Ins Co,.) are offering reduced pricing for the Professional Liability Insurance. We expect to be able to implement the reduced pricing from August 1, 2013. When a member is registered with the CTCMPAO, they are eligible to apply for Prof Liab Insurance for the Min. Limit of $1M at a price of $325 p.a. There is no Policy Fee so our price is lower than the competitions in the marketplace. HUB International 325HUB International Anita Kwan, Partner, HUB International HKMB 675 Cochrane Drive, Ste. 200, East Tower Markham, Ont. L3R 0B8 Direct Line: 905-948-2857 Fax:1-866-694-498

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9 26, 11 21 9 2111 16 ( ) 6 9 $20/ $10 - Ontario College of TCM 7130 Warden Ave. Suite 507 Markham, Ontario.L3R 1S2 (905) 604-8855

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1983 30 , Since the establishment of CMAAC in 1983, we have maintained our purpose of serving our members , TCM community and general public at large: helping initiate the development of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture profession; upholding and protecting the duty and right of the TCM practitioners; uniting the TCM community and helping advance the modernization of the knowledge and technology; and to constantly educate on the matter of public health to all Canadians. Our organization will keep running and scheduling seminars regularly to strive for the support of Canadian and Chinese communities and the regulation of the practice of TCM and Acupuncture. We made contact with and liaise various levels of Government officials in assisting to arrange forums and seminars for our members and the public. We also negotiate with the insurance providers in the extended-healthcare insurance claim matters. With the help and support of our members, we walked through hand in hand for 30 years on a rough and bumpy path. In Ontario and Newfoundland & Labrador, the profession of TCM/ Acupuncture is now regulated; most practitioners in the TCM community are either grandparented or registered in the general class to practice in the provinces. We sincerely offer our cordial greetings on your success and wish you all in your advancement of your profession to a higher level, and to make a contribution to the healthcare service for the Canadians. In the new era, we are going to promote the regulation drive in other provinces that the profession yet to be regulated. Till then, a new task is waiting for us all, it is our duty to protect the members right: to ensure a fair and balanced policy is implemented on both registered and yet to be registered members of the College. We will keep track on the Parties support, to race against time to strive for the Doctors title and preserve the use of Chinese language within the profession. As you all know CMAAC is a non-profit organization which relies heavily on its volunteers (chapter presidents, members, and all other contributors of TCM and Acupuncture) and their sacrifices of time and effort to further the causes and missions of CMAAC. CMAAC is proud of the efforts to obtain Regulation in many provinces, most recently Ontario, but assures members they continue to push forward and strive for regulation across Canada. CMAAC hopes that members and chapter presidents continue to be united together to help further the goals and to preserve their faith and hope. CMAAC would like to thank everyone for their efforts and sacrifices and we invite you all to work together for a better and brighter future.

Update: HST Exemption for Acupuncture Services from TCM and Acupuncture Professionals HST
With the signed support from five regulated acupuncture provinces and other provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI), the Canadian Coalition of TCM and Acupuncture Associations (CCTAA) has sent a correspondence on June, 2013 to the Department of Finance Canada, enquiring that acupuncture services performed by licensed acupuncturists be added to the list of Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) exempt health care practitioner services. After one month of waiting (plus a friendly reminder), we have finally received the acknowledgement on July 10, 2013, of the correspondence and our request will be reviewed. In the meantime, we encourage our members and the TCM community to continue to gather more signatures until the law has finally changed. In three months, CMAAC has received 1, 197 signatures from members across Canada! Petitions can be downloaded from our website http://www.cmaac.ca/Documents/HST_Petition_Template. Since the formation of the Coalition(CCTAA) in 2011, CMAAC has been proactive in this HST exemption. We want to give special note to Julie E. Dorval, President, Association des acupuncteurs du Quebec for carrying most of the task in preparing the legal documents and contacts to the Department of Finance Canada. As we are all aware, dealing with the government for changes required a lot persistence and patience! Jane Cheung jane.cheung@cmaac.ca (CCTAA 2011 2 11 ) (BC AB MN SK ON QC NF NB NS PEI) 6 7 10 : 3 CMAAC 1,197 :http://www.cmaac.ca/Documents/HST_Petition_Template. 2011 / :Jane Cheung jane.cheung@cmaac.ca

Other Notes from CMAAC

CMMAC is currently in progress of negotiating terms of member benefits.