Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/72093
NCBTMB to Launch Board Certification Credential Program Beginning in 2013, the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) will institute a new board certification credential process and phase out their current national certification credential. Candidates will need to pass a board certification exam and complete 750 hours of education, 250 hours of hands-on work experience, and a criminal background check. Recertification will be required every two years, and current NCBTMB-certified MTs will need to meet the new eligibility criteria, minus the exam. The NCBTMB has also announced that it will not be developing a National Certification for Advanced Practitioners, and will instead focus on this new effort. "We are committed to creating a career path for massage therapists by delivering the highest quality programs possible," says Mike Williams, NCBTMB CEO. More information is available at www.ncbtmb.org. CAM Consortium Receives $100,000 Integrated Healthcare in Congressional Spotlight On February 2, the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) held two congressional briefings on integrated healthcare. Topics included an introduction to integrated healthcare, a discussion of discrimination against licensed complementary and alternative medicine professions, and how to deploy an effective healthcare workforce. Panel members included Jane Guiltinan, ND; Janet Kahn, PhD, LMT; and Deborah Senn, JD. The IHPC aims to "ensure all people have access to the full range of safe and regulated conventional, complementary, and alternative healthcare professionals, therapies, and products." More information is available at www.ihpc.org. Donation The Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC) received a $100,000 donation from the Westreich Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to "moving the boundaries of the existing field of medicine." ACCAHC's mission is to "create and sustain a network of national complementary and alternative medicine educational organizations and agencies, which will promote mutual understanding, collaborative activities, and interdisciplinary health-care education." Ruth Westreich, president of the foundation, says she is "hoping that this grant will allow [ACCAHC] even more time to create collaborations between complementary and alternative medicine, integrative medicine, and palliative medicine."