As a TCM practitioner, you are uniquely positioned to launch your own line of wellness products into the market. Whether yours is an internal supplement (herbal medicine, amino acids, vitamins, CBD), a topical (dit da jow, skin products), a delicious new superfood (instant morning beverage) – or any of the above, this course will help you get started without breaking the bank!
Topics will include: sourcing, marketing, ecommerce & more.
Develop your own brand story that inspires others.
About the speaker: Kim Neumann is the founder of All Natural Agency, a B2B marketing consultancy for healthy brands. Before pursuing her MSTCM, Kim held corporate positions in marketing, publishing, PR, web design and video production. She draws on her skillset to serve the health & wellness industry.
A roadblock for many acupuncture practitioners is knowing how to implement an effective strategy for growing their network. Often as confusing is understanding why it’s important and then how to leverage it to get what we need for business and practice growth. We often forget that networking is about bringing mutual value. Having a solid network (and knowing how to effectively and ethically communicate to that network) allows for many opportunities. This course will provide a framework for these strategies. Common opportunities from effective networking: increased qualified referrals, speaking and media opportunities and enhanced credibility.
Join us and…
Understand the power of networking for your practice growth.
Learn how to set up a networking strategy, targeted toward your unique goals for your personal and professional growth.
Learn how to ethically communicate your value with different audiences within your network, such as other practitioners, patients or the general public.
About the speaker: Dr. Nell Smircina, DAOM, L.Ac., Dipl. OM is an advocate, educator and practitioner with a focus on the integration of acupuncture into America’s standard of care.
Overview
This class is an introduction to pharmacology for acupuncturists. We will examine basic pharmacological principles that are important for any acupuncturist to know, since many of our patients we treat are simultaneously taking medications.
Join us and…
Articulate the basic principles of pharmacology
Identify the pharmacologic effects and mechanisms of actions for various classes of medication.
Recognize each drug class’s nomenclature and basic use.
About the speaker: Dr. Shin received his degree in Pharmacy from MCPHS. Researched drug discovery for ALS at Drexel College of Medicine. Received MSTCM and DACM from ACTCM. Interned with UCSF Osher Center. Residency at Highland Hospital. Currently pioneering the first acupuncture program for the SFVA.
Overview
This is a one hour lecture to introduce Auricular Medicine. The lecture will discuss Auricular Medicine History, Development, Description of Auricular Medicine Diagnosis, description of Auricular Medicine Treatment, Treatment Application and Efficacy and Cases.
Get a refresher & learn something new about auricular acupuncture. We’ll cover:
What is Auricular Medicine?
How is Auricular Medicine different from Ear Acupuncture or other ear therapies?
What are the Benefits of Auricular Medicine Diagnosis?
What are the Benefits of Auricular Medicine Treatment?
About the speaker: Dr. TruthSayer, DAOM, Dip.OM, LAc, LMFT, is a President Emeritus of the California State Oriental Medical Association, and a former faculty member of the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco. She is Founder and Chief Faculty of the Institute of Auricular and Transcendental Medicine and has lectured around the world on auricular topics.
Most healthcare providers and other business owners know that they must make their physical environment accessible for all members of the public, including those with disabilities, as required under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, some may not be aware that accessibility also extends to the virtual environment; websites must also comply with accessibility requirements under the ADA.
Recently, MIEC has fielded a number of calls from concerned members regarding how they can comply with accessibility requirements for their websites. Many of these calls have come from the acupuncture community, although this issue exists for all types of healthcare providers who maintain a public website.
Furthermore, MIEC has seen a recent trend in claims against acupuncturists involving “surf-by” lawsuits, in which an individual who is not a patient files a lawsuit alleging that the provider’s website failed to meet accessibility requirements under Title III of the ADA.
“Surf-by” claims often start with a single individual who visits a large number of websites specifically for the purpose of evaluating compliance with accessibility requirements for those with disabilities- like having text-based alternatives to content like photographs or graphics, allowing full functionality using just a keyboard, etc. Businesses whose websites lack these features are named in lawsuits which, in California, can also permit the recovery of statutory damages under state law under the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Additionally, these claims can be very difficult to defend, and they often involve limitations in or a complete lack of coverage under malpractice insurance policies.
It is worth noting that a standalone website, if not associated with a physical place of business, may not be subject to ADA requirements. However, for physical businesses offering any website-based services (such as making an appointment online), courts have generally ruled that their websites must also meet public accommodation requirements under the ADA.
Unfortunately, there are few laws or specific regulatory standards that outline the requirements for website accessibility; the ADA was passed in 1990 and it did not address e-commerce, nor has it been updated to address website compliance. Interpretation of the ADA has expanded gradually to address website accessibility, but there has been no official change in the law- a proposal by the U.S. Department of Justice to establish website compliance standards was withdrawn in 2017, and has not been reissued.
In the absence of government standards, healthcare providers and other business owners should follow the private guidelines established by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These standards have often been referenced by courts in determining ADA compliance and remediation, and they provide the best guidelines for those attempting to achieve compliance in website accessibility.
The current standard is WCAG 2.1, available here. There are 3 different levels of WCAG compliance; level AA has generally been the accepted standard for compliance.
Images should include equivalent alternative text (alt text) in the markup/code.
If alt text isn’t provided for images, the image information is inaccessible, for example, to people who cannot see and use a screen reader that reads aloud the information on a page, including the alt text for the visual image.
When equivalent alt text is provided, the information is available to people who are blind, as well as to people who turn off images (for example, in areas with expensive or low bandwidth). It’s also available to technologies that cannot see images, such as search engines.
Keyboard Input
Some people cannot use a mouse, including many older users with limited fine motor control. An accessible website does not rely on the mouse; it makes all functionality available from a keyboard. Then people with disabilities can use assistive technologies that mimic the keyboard, such as speech input.
Transcripts for Audio
Just as images aren’t available to people who can’t see, audio files aren’t available to people who can’t hear. Providing a text transcript makes the audio information accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as to search engines and other technologies that can’t hear.
It’s easy and relatively inexpensive for websites to provide transcripts. There are also transcription services that create text transcripts in HTML format.
Fortunately, healthcare providers have several options for determining whether their website meets the standards set by the WCAG. Auditing sites such as the one hosted by the Bureau of Internet Accessibility provide free compliance reports and links to resources.
Additionally, there are several options for achieving and maintaining compliance with current standards for website accessibility. Large practices with in-house IT support may choose to develop disability access features directly on their web platform; however, this would also necessitate constant monitoring, auditing and updating as standards change or new content is added.
For smaller practices and/or those with websites that are infrequently updated, there are several third-party vendors that offer software solutions. Please note that MIEC has not evaluated and cannot specifically recommend any vendor, but some of the available third-party solutions include:
For healthcare providers selecting a third-party vendor, it would be advisable to choose a vendor that offers a defense and indemnification provision that requires the vendor to defend any claims that arise from website accessibility issues, and to pay any damages that result. If a vendor does not offer any legal protection, ask them to add it to their contract.
It is worth noting that, for some practices, it might be more cost-effective to redesign a WCAG-compliant website than to address individual changes to move an existing website into compliance.
For more information, please contact MIEC’s Patient Safety & Risk Management team at patientsafetyriskmgmt@miec.com or (800) 227-4527.
Join Lhasa OMS as they host Dr. Nell Smircina, Dr. Robyn (Ra) Adcock and David Quackenbush from the CSOMA Leadership team for their FREE webinar, Advocacy Training: Learn the Who, What, Why and How of Advocacy.
In this webinar, CSOMA leadership will share their insights on current legislation affecting acupuncture in California and Nationally through their own firsthand experiences with the California legislative process, as well as how you can get involved.
What Attendees Will Learn:
What the major issues facing our profession are and how does California fit into the big picture of a National advocacy agenda
Pieces of the legislative process and at what point can you truly affect change as an individual or organization
Specific and actionable things you can do to be a part of advocacy for our profession
Who Should Attend:
Practitioners and Students interested in advocacy work
Practitioners and Students with questions about current initiatives in CA and Nationally
Overview
In California, legislation was passed in 2016 to require all small businesses with 5 or more employees to offer a retirement plan by June 30th 2022. The mandate is rolled out over a 3 year period starting with employers of 100+ employees to offer a plan as of September 30th, 2020. The state provided plan is called “Calsavers”. While this state plan costs the employer nothing, the funds within the plan bear a cost and the administration of the state plan comes with significant administrative effort. This seminar will review the Calsavers deadlines and how employee count is calculated, a description of the plan, pro’s and con’s, then a comparison of the state plan to a traditional 401k plan with associated costs.
Join us and…
Learn about Calsavers Requirement
Understand need for company sponsored retirement plans in USA and pros/cons of California Mandated plan in comparison to a traditional 401k
Learn about using a 401k as a tax shelter, even as an officer-only LLC or S-corp
About the speaker: Dan Enriquez has a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Bucknell University. He has 7 Years combined experience in payroll and employer administrative experience. Recent Experience includes 3 years in Company-Sponsored Retirement Benefit Industry, 401(k)’s.
Overview
The trademark process is made up of three stages: clearance, prosecution, and enforcement. While a qualified and experienced trademark attorney is the best bet to deal with these three stages, there are things that every business owner can and should do to protect their trademark. This class will identify tips and tricks for each stage of the trademark process.
Join us and…
Get an overview of trademarks and their timelines
Understand trademark clearance
Learn about trademark prosecution
Learn about trademark enforcement
Learn about trademark maintenance
About the speaker: Ben is a partner at IPLA LLP, the country’s largest trademark specialty law firm. He focuses his practice on building, managing, and protecting domestic and foreign trademark portfolios and prides himself in providing practical and cost-effective advice.
Overview
As acupuncture gains mainstream traction, practitioners are subject to increasing scrutiny regarding HIPAA. Achieving compliance in the online space is no easy feat, as information technology is developing continuously and very little of it even existed when HIPAA came into effect. The scope of this course is to make federal patient privacy laws, as applied to websites, email, scheduling, telehealth, social media and digital marketing, as simple and as accessible as possible. This course will outline the necessary steps for evaluating online platforms and tools for potential use in a practice. Additionally, attendees will learn their role as practitioners in HIPAA-compliant use of various online technologies.
Participants will be able to…
Describe HIPAA requirements as they relate to practice websites, email, scheduling, telehealth, social media and digital marketing.
Evaluate whether an online technology is suitable for use in their practice, with regard to HIPAA.
List the necessary steps to take before using any online technology in their practice, with regard to HIPAA.
Describe appropriate use of online technologies in conjunction with their practice, according to HIPAA.
About the speaker: Marla Moss is the Owner and Founder of Raging River Media, specializing in HIPAA-compliant digital marketing for acupuncturists. She helps practitioners build thriving, sustainable practices with custom automation technology that protects patient privacy while liberating busy healers from the grind.
Overview
One reason why more new patients aren’t coming in is because they don’t know about you and how you can help. If you’d like to educate and teach people, online talks are a great way to attract new patients (or telehealth ones) quickly, even if you get nervous or don’t know what to say.
Join us and…
Learn specific ways to attract a consistent flow of patients virtually
Learn where to find places to speak online and have people show up
Understand the #1 key to choosing the right topic that’s interesting and translates into new patients
Explore other streams of income beyond treating patients
About the speaker: Chen Yen is a sought-after national speaker. She is an expert at helping acupuncturists grow fulfilling 6 and 7-figure practices faster, without having to do it the exhausting extroverted way.
Learn how to create personal and professional empowerment and growth.
Define and create a clear, powerful and inspiring path to lead a more fulfilling and inspiring life, and bring the techniques and wisdom into everything you do.
Leave with 6 steps to create a business plan that is based on dreams beyond your business.
Incorporate the all-encompassing “9 Environments of You,” and start to define the giant WHY of their lives’ Purpose.
About the speaker: Lynnea Hagen is a best-selling author, speaker, trainer, business and leadership coach, Higher Ground Leadership™ consultant, radio host, and success strategist. In 25+ years of coaching and consulting, she has helped build productivity, profits and people for hundreds of entrepreneurs, leaders and teams. Her approach is holistic, strategic, practical, and inspiring.
