Big changes are in the works as we head toward the amalgamation of our regulatory college, the CTMCA, with the regulatory colleges of the naturopaths, chiropractors, and massage therapists. Currently called C4, as of June 28th, 2024, our new joined regulatory college will be called the College of Complementary Health Professionals of British Columbia.

 

 

The word “Complementary” is another example of why we need to have the voices of our profession heard, as all four colleges stated that we did not want that in our name, having asked for “Integrative” instead. As the C4 learn to support one another and work together, we hope to find ways to ensure that our medicines and therapies can continue to grow as part of BC healthcare.

 

 

Over the past several weeks, the ATCMA executive team (co-presidents Dr. Chris Vallee, Dr.TCM and Wu Di, R.TCM.P., and vice president Dr. Melissa Carr, Dr.TCM) have been hard at work, volunteering their time to meet with elected provincial government officials to represent the TCM profession and highlight areas of concern for ATCMA members.

 

 

Last month, the ATCMA executive leaders attended a roundtable meeting with MLA Henry Yao to discuss the TCM Regulations document and scope of practice. At this meeting in Richmond, alongside other TCM leaders, we shared our frustration with the proposed regulations document as put forth by our government. Even though the leaders had some differing views, we all agreed that the proposed regulations were not representative of our profession. MLA Henry Yao expressed agreement that our scope of practice should be expanded, as we have requested for about a decade, as the physiotherapists were given an expanded scope of practice in their recent updates.

 

 

This month, Dr. Vallee and Dr. Carr met with Health Minister Adrian Dix at his 60th birthday party gathering, along with a relatively small group that included his family and friends. Our introduction to Minister Dix was a pleasant exchange and opportunity for us to present the ATCMA as an organization that can help the government understand and support TCM as a healthcare profession to improve healthcare in BC. Minister Dix let us know that he is familiar with the ATCMA and the work we have been doing, saying “You guys [TCM health practitioners] have made a lot of noise,” and that they have removed the proposed regulations so that they can have further conversations with the profession, including the ATCMA.

 

 

Eight years after four ATCMA board members met in Victoria to present to the Ministry of Health about an updated, modernized regulations document and scope of practice, we finally got to have our first conversation with Minister Dix. Small steps lead to big goals. In the past 12 years, we have gotten acupuncture covered by MSP, ICBC, and WCB. We are not singularly focused on point injection therapy (PIT), but we are driven to work to ensure a fair and encompassing scope of practice and a TCM regulations document that includes the language and uniqueness of our profession.

 

 

We want to encourage members to continue to reach out to your MLAs to voice your concerns for our four points:

  1. Keep Chinese herbs as a restricted activity
  2. Retain Chinese language in TCM regulations, i.e., pinyin
  3. Maintain the definitions of our regulatory titles
  4. Modernize our scope of practice, including PIT

For everyone that has emailed, phoned, and communicated with the government over the last two months, THANK YOU!

 

 

You are being heard, and we will continue to be heard as the ATCMA represents your voices for TCM in BC. We still have meetings with MLAs coming up this month and we look forward to sharing good news soon.

 

 

ATCMA Executive Board

Dr. Chris Vallee, Dr.TCM, Co-President

Wu Di, R.TCM.P, Co-President

Dr. Melissa Carr, Dr.TCM, Vice President