I am a state licensed and National Board Certified (NCCAOM, 1996) Acupuncturist, practicing in Florida..  Leslie Stone, the petitioner of the request to amend the educational requirements for acupuncture, was a class mate in acupuncture school, 2 years ahead of me, and is a highly respected colleague in the field of acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.  I think that the Commonwealth of Virginia would be well served to have her almost 20 years of experience, learning and advanced skills available as part of your health care system.

However, as I understand, reading the petition, the core issue here is that there is a discrepancy between how the education of  acupuncturists trained in foreign schools and those trained in the US is considered when each are applying for licensure in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with all other requirements having been met.. This is an issue mainly regarding acupuncturists who were licensed before the widespread use of graduation from an ACAOM school was used as a licensure requirement.  Those in this situation are our long-time-practicing and experienced US acupuncturists.  The value of this experience and of post graduate training programs may be difficult to measure or compare, but is worth considering.

I was also an administrator at the acupuncture school that Leslie and I both attended.  At that time, in the early 1990’s, there were very few ACAOM accredited acupuncture schools, and none in the State of Florida.  The acupuncture school administration was aware that they would starting the accreditation process with the ACAOM, and made it a policy that all educational standards and requirements of the ACAOM would be part of the curriculum.  As the ACAOM requirements changed, so did our  curriculum.  So I can say that the acupuncture education received by Leslie Stone was nearly the same as that in the ACAOM schools of that time, given that all acupuncture schools have a slightly different curriculum.

I hope that this regulation change will be approved. 

Sincerely,  Jere Proctor