The Future of Bodywork Symposium: Surviving Corporate Health Care

On October 4th  a fundraiser was held to raise funds for the  Washington State Massage Therapy Association. On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Washington State Massage Therapy Association I want to Thank You for your attendance at the recent “Future Of Bodywork- Part 2 Symposium”. You were an engaged, enthusiastic and brilliant crowd of passionate massage therapists. We learned just as much from you as you learned from our panel! If you were not able to attend we missed you but we don’t want you to miss out on all that we learned.

As promised, here are some specific links and Actions that you can take.

• How to join WSMTA  - Join on our website at www.mywsmta.org.  Our goal in having the Lifetime membership is to raise enough money to really get this organization going.  It is limited to the first 100 people. That would be $36,000 that would give us a running start.  We are now at 35 charter members meaning there are 65 spots left as of 10/06/2017
  
  

• How to contribute to our PAC. Deborah Senn recommended that one of the best ways to get to the table and be a part of policy making is to contribute to the Political Action Committee.  Our PAC is the Washington Massage Alliance for Health and contributions are taken online at www.wamah.org   (Hint:  The Chiropractors PAC raises about $75,000 a year.  The most we have ever raised is $11,000).  WAMAH is looking for volunteers specifically someone in each district to work on raising contributions in their area and connecting with legislators there.  We also are looking for a treasurer to help with reporting contributions to the Public Disclosure Committee.  You would need to attend a class in Olympia for 4 hours or work on the phone with a PDC representative to learn how to use their reporting system.  Once a week, contributions need to be reported to them and once a month a report needs to be filed.  Contact WAMAH through the website.  
  
  

• How to get on the BOM listserv.  The listserve is the email announcement service of the Board of Massage.  They announce their meetings and open comment periods around the Rule (WAC) writing process.  As you may know many new/revised WACs that affect massage therapists went into effect July 1 of this year, and the Board has just started a second round of WAC reviews/updates.   It is important to be involved in the process to be able to provide your expertise as a massage therapist “in the field”.  (Last year, they almost required that we use a sheet that was of specific measurements for draping if it was not for the many attendees to the BOM meetings.)   You can sign up here:  https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WADOH/subscriber/new
  
  
  

• This is the video that Senn referred to regarding the Health care committee looking into the prior authorization process with Regence and Premera Officers
  https://www.tvw.org/watch/?eventID=2017031358

(You may have to switch browsers to access the video)

• Deboarh Senns Slides
  
  

• Diana Thompsons Slides

• Marybeth Berney's History of Massage in WA