The Acupuncture Board California Protect, Benefit & Inform Californians

By Author: larrypaul
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The prime responsibility of the board is to protect consumers from unqualified and fraudulent practitioners and it works to ensure that the residents of the state of California receive acupuncture therapy only from the licensed acupuncturist and over the past decade the number of licensed acupuncturists in California has increased many times.
Since acupuncture is now considered as an essential benefit, The Acupuncture Board California plays an important role regulating standards of acupuncture education and training programs for producing competent acupuncture practitioners as part of the health care system.
“The board issued 10706 active acupuncturist licenses in the financial year 2012 -13”, stated a member of the board when asked about the licensee population. “Further, there are also out-of-state, out-of-country and delinquent licensees besides the active ones”, he further added.
The board works through four committees. The Executive Committee, Examination Committee, Enforcement Committee and Executive committee sharing among them all issues related to educational standard, school approval, examinations, ...
... scope of practice, complaints, disciplinary actions, and all administrative issues.
Applicants aspiring to be eligible for obtaining a license in California, have to pass the California Acupuncture Licensing Examination (CALE) either graduating from a school approved by the Board or taking equivalent training and clinical experience or completing a tutorial program approved by the Board.
Acupuncture Board California administers CALE and the students can take the exam in English, Korean and Mandarin languages. “The exam is based on occupational analysis and passing score is determined by experts using criterion reference for scoring. The exam content is composed of the disciplines like Patient Assessment, Developing and Diagnostic Impression, Providing Acupuncture Treatment, Prescribing Herbal Therapy, and Regulation for Public Health & Safety”, revealed another spokesman on behalf of the Board.
Citations and fines are used by the Acupuncture Board California as a deterrent to future administrative violations when there is no harm to the public and cost recovery is sought when a licensee is found guilty of unprofessional conduct.
The website of the Board is used for educating and informing the public and the Board encourages comments from the public on regulations that has been pending for long or on change of regulations. Anyone can send their valued comments through mail, fax and e-mail to the Board.