Navigating through the sea of medicine

As all of you already know from the news, in 2022 Arizona passed the SB1080 into law, which now defines Acupuncture as a "System of Medicine" . What probably you don’t know is that  the part of that law that enables acupuncturists to order labs and imaging  was my own personal contribution.  But let’s start from the beginning. In the first week of January 2022, there was a meeting at the  Francine Restaurant  in Scottsdale, where several of us discussed the direction of acupuncture in the State. It has been years since the last update in the acupuncture law, and excitement levels were high. Certain directions were considered, such as animal acupuncture and AHCCCS to be included in SB1080. But in the end my suggestion was to go with the absolute necessities first, and therefore labs and imaging found their way into the proposal. On the other hand, animal acupuncture and AHCCCS will be considered for 2023.    I also worked really close with the former PIHMA Lobbyist, to craft t

Today I was at  the Guangzhou TCM University, to participate in the compilation of the extension of the "RIGHT statements for clinical practice guidelines" , specific to acupuncture. With Prof. Gordon Guyatt, the father of Evidence Based Medicine, and many important scholars from all over the world.   I was originally invited to join this team by Prof. Tang Chun-zhi, the Dean of the Acupuncture Department at the Guangzhou TCM University.  It is also a time to say goodbye to many of my good colleagues and friends, as this will be one of the last official tasks I undertake in my capacity as Doctor and Researcher at the Zhongxing Hospital, before moving to the United States later in the summer.  See you all on the other side.