Attention: NJ Acupuncturists:

ALL HANDS-ON DECK: The Path to New Jersey Acupuncture Scope Expansion

All Hands On Deck

The Problem

Over the last decade acupuncturists in New Jersey have been struggling with the catastrophic impact of:

Extreme loss in Major Medical Insurance Coverage (and reimbursement) resulting in lost income for those who accept insurance.

State Health Benefits Cuts which have significantly reduced or eliminated acupuncture benefits for state employees in New Jersey.

Encroachment from Physical Therapists who can now legally practice acupuncture (as Dry Needling) in New Jersey with minimal training. This has resulted in lost income as PTs continue to try to poach patients seeking acupuncture

The threat of Chiropractors, Massage Therapists, Athletic Trainers also performing acupuncture dry needling which will continue to further dissolve our profession

No meaningful improvements in our scope expansion in decades. As a result, we are contracting while our allied health care professionals are growing and expanding their scope.

THE POSSIBILITY

One very critical difference in our scope of practice between New Jersey and states like New Mexico and Florida is that in these states, AcuPoint Injection Therapy and IV Vitamin Therapy is legally permitted under their scope of practice. Injection therapy differs in that a hypodermic needle attached to a syringe is used to inject natural substances directly into the body at acupuncture points.

Acupuncture Injection Therapy provides significant benefits to patients and will enable us to provide better care for them.

Together, we can expand our scope here in New Jersey to increase revenue while improving patient outcomes. Increasing our scope will absolutely help:

Create more job opportunities for our colleagues since this scope increases demand for AIT and IV Vitamin Therapy.
Secure increased revenue from these new services to ensure that our colleagues thrive and have lucrative practices.
Allow acupuncturists to order bloodwork and imaging to better serve our patients and be able to refer out to the appropriate allied health care provider when necessary.
Allow us to have much-needed Acupuncture Assistants to help with adjunctive clinical modalities and remove needles from patients. Currently, only Licensed Acupuncturists can remove needles in New Jersey.

THE PATH

We consulted with O’Toole and Scrivo law firm who believe that we have a clear path to scope expansion for New Jersey Acupuncturists.

This will require fundraising for legal and lobbying efforts as well as continuing to get as many New Jersey Acupuncturists as possible to help with this initiative.

THE PLAN

WHO ARE WE?

The Acupuncture Coalition of New Jersey is a group of acupuncturists here in New Jersey who are seeking to expand our scope to include:

Acupuncture Injection Therapy (AIT)
IV Vitamin Therapy
Ordering Bloodwork
Ordering Imaging
Veterinary Acupuncture
Acupuncture Assistants (to pull needles and perform adjunctive therapies)

Keep in mind, even if you have no desire to implement parts of the scope expansion into your practice, we still need your support for those who do. It is best to add all of this now with the legal representation we have to strengthen our profession for the future.

Acupuncture Injection Therapy Overview:

Acupuncture Injection Therapy Before and After:

This is our chance to protect and advance our profession before it's too late. We need to raise 100k.

$100 donations will not bring us to our goal.

Keep in mind, treating ONE patient with homeopathic injections into acupuncture points in the low back--which can be achieved in 10 minutes and will yield a better outcome for your patient (as explained in the video above) would bring in an additional $200 of revenue for your practice. If you plan on doing injections, you will make a $200 donation back with just ONE injection.

It's easy to calculate how quickly you will reap the financial benefits of this scope expansion. What other modality can you add to your practice for $500 or $1000 where you can make that money back within one week? Your donation is not an expense, it's an investment in your future. It will ensure steady income even with PTs --and soon chiropractors --encroaching on our profession with dry needling. It's called dry needling because they're not trained in acupuncture. Therefore AlT is something those professions can NOT encroach upon in the future.

Please donate now so acupuncturist's in NJ can do AcuPoint Injection Therapy, which as stated above, will drastically improve patient outcomes naturally while making sure we can make a living in the future.

summary of our recent activity in 2024:

April 2024

We had a very positive first meeting at the O'TOOLE SCRIVO law firm in Cedar Grove.
We met with Judge Ray Reddin and attorney Jim DiGiulio who are providing elite guidance and council for us throughout this process.
At the meeting we explained in detail our intent to increase our scope for Acupuncturists here in New Jersey.
Over the next few weeks, we explored ways to get this scope expansion accomplished and to identify the clearest path forward.

May 2024

We had our second meeting with our legal team at O'Toole Scrivo and the meeting was extremely positive and productive.
We learned that we DO have a clear path to scope expansion for acupuncturists in New Jersey and have identified key areas that we will need to handle during this process.
We signed an Engagement Agreement so our legal team can begin drafting the White Paper for our request to expand our scope.
A $5,000 retainer was given for legal services
We are also talking to and acquiring a lobbyist who is VERY well connected and can help push this through faster.
We were also told that this is VERY GOOD TIMING to push for our scope expansion initiative because at the end of an administration there's the least amount of resistance; (Governor Murphy's term ending and New Jersey Gubernatorial elections are coming up in 2025.).

JUNE 2024

Meeting with Senator Jon Bramnick who is running for Governor in NJ in 2025 and as the 2025 candidates consolidate, we will continue to try to meet with these candidates for support (or at least so they won't block us).
Attend a fund fundraiser event for Sen. Bramnick on June 5th at 6pm (at Jon's home in Westfield), so if anyone in the Union County area has the time or inclination to join us, please let me know. I'll post more on this event next week.
The more key politicians we can connect with about scope expansion, the better!
We set up a landing page and spotfund page for fundraising for this initiative. Click Here to Donate
We will be meeting with legislators and key stake holders this week/next week to get as much support for this as possible.
We will also be doing a live zoom Town Hall on this scope expansion initiative in June and will post details on that as we firm up a date/time.

How can you help?

There are many ways to help. We need fellow acupuncturists to volunteer their time and use their gifts to help make this initiative a success. We also need as many people as possible to contribute financially to help cover the legal fees required to pass this law. Keep in mind, a donation of hundreds can reap thousands of additional revenue in your practice every year with the ability to offer these services.

DONATE:
Projected cost, $100K for the first year of legal services, $250K for the whole project. (If just 100 people donate a mere $1000 we have the first year covered.)

Ready to take the next Step?

Email: InfoNJ@acucoalitionnj.org

Phone: 201-264-9160