Seattle Massage News

Here are some random snippets from this panel discussion hosted by the Washington Chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA-WA).

Whitney Lowe, NCBTMB board member
"National Certification: Current Credentialing Programs/Exams & Advanced Credentialing"
Helped sort out some of that acronyms created by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB):

• NCETMB - National Certification Exam in Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (exam you take to get nationally certified)
  

• NCETM - National Certification Exam in Therapeutic Massage (same as NCETMB but without Asian medicine)
  

• NESL - National Exam for State Licensing (same exam as NCETMB but omits the NCBTMB credentialing requirements; it's a test that states can use to assess license applicants' preparation)

• NCTM-A - National Certification in Therapeutic Massage - Advanced (slated for 2006 roll-out - details still being worked out, but it will be a broadly informed, scientifically valid certificate, unlike some medical and therapeutic massage certifications that are offered now, and will probalby require at least 500 hours of education, 3 years or 3,000 session-hours of clinical experience, and a license to practice in your legal jurisdiction; there won't be any CEU requirements, but will be recommendations)

Whitney also talked a bit about the differences between specialty certification (e.g., St. John's NMT, Upledger's CS, etc.) and general advanced certification (like the new NCTM-A). In the Q&A session, someone referred to this difference as "Big C" (national certification) vs. "little c" (certification in a modality).

Jennifer Bressi, Washington State Board of Massage Program Manager
From 1975 till 1987 massage therapists in Washington were known as "massage operators." Since 1987 we have been called "licensed massage practitioners."

Mark Nolting, American Whole Health Network
Talked a bit about the new CMP (Clinical Massage Practitioner, click here for application form) program which will be required by Group Health as of June 2006 and will likely be required by other payers in their network soon thereafter.

Robert May, Alternare
Says that Alternare's acquisition by AWHN is no biggie - they've been acquired a few times before and things have always sorted out. Neither he nor Mark would speculate on implications of the acquisition.

Susan Rosen, founding member of the NCBTMB
Talked about how a "job analysis" - a broad survey of how people actually work in a field - is the foundation for identifying the common elements of a profession. As I understand it, this is how you objectively determine what you should measure before you issue a certification of competence in a field. She also helped me understand some of the different entities fit into our profession:

• the state can issue you a license so that you can legally practice

• networks screen providers for their customers and can credential you and you can contract with them to get access to their customers; they can establish criteria (within certain guidelines)

Susan also pointed out that you don't have to participate in health care networks. If you want to contract with them, that's fine, but it's your choice what kind of practice you want to have.

John Conniff, panel moderator, an attorney who is a former Deputy Insurance Commissioner for Washington State
Pointed out that there are two main reasons for licensing practioners of any kind:

• to protect the public - to assure public safety - the state does its best to ensure that practitioners will do no harm

• to create barriers to entry - to make it hard for competitors to enter the market and take your customers
  

John also pointed out that Washington State law specifically says that insurance companies can be choosey about which providers they select - they can choose some, but aren't required to accept all, eligible providers (I guess this would explain why it's so tough to become a Group Health or Regence provider).