Home | Back : NCCAOM Christina Herlihy, Ph.D. 11 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 300 Alexandria, VA 22314 Dear Dr. Herlihy I am writing to encourage the NCCAOM to raise the requirements for business management and ethics in all accredited schools. I have taught business and ethic courses at the International Institute of Chinese Medicine (IICM) and have personal experience in understanding the impact of a lack of knowledge in business. Most recently, I have taught using "The Art of Practice Management" and "The Format" by Cynthia Bestani and "Acupuncture Risk Management" by David Kailin. Students need resources, which they can find in a book when the time comes to make important business decisions. I believe our profession is at great risk for many reasons. First, many schools have instructors teach their business courses who do not have a background in acupuncture or do not have experience with a private practice and therefore often have a difficult time offering students the necessary means to start a practice. Also, the minimal hour requirement does not leave time to explain all aspects of business to become a successful practitioner. Even the most exceptional students of Oriental Medicine will almost always have difficulty receiving and retaining patients without solid business knowledge. As you may know, most Oriental Medicine Practitioners will go into private practice and last year the rate of all small business failure was well above 80%. This relates to most acupuncture businesses closing their doors. Although acupuncture has surpassed chiropractic in medical literature and support from physicians, acupuncture training falls way behind chiropractic in business knowledge. Many chiropractic colleges have increased their business courses to 4 terms and 90 hours, which according to Southern California University, is now being recommended by the Counsel and Chiropractic Education (CCE). I strongly encourage the NCCAOM to take immediate action in raising the minimal requirements in business to a minimum of 60 hours and encourage schools to teach from some books or manuals which can serve as a resource when 1st year practitioners will need it most. Sincerely Jason A. Stein, D.O.M. Program Medical Director of Integrative Medicine HealthSouth Rehab Hospital Aqupuncture@aol.com Website Design by Claire Flint & Cynthia Flint Bestani