Washington State Massage Therapy Association GR News

WSMTA's Call to Action for ESSB 5845, Modernizing and clarifying timely payment requirements for health carriers

Robbin Blake — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 08:48:22 GMT

Calling all LMTs: Please contact your Legislators to support ESSB 5845 for more timely insurance payouts and notification of billing issues as well as to reduce the time insurance carriers have to take back previous payments (aka "clawbacks").

Things are coming down to the wire on Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5845:

it has until Friday March 6 to pass out of the House or it dies.
It has until Friday March 13 to be re-voted on the Senate Floor or it dies.

Even if you are not an insurance provider, we need everyone's support for this bill to get it over the finish line.

ESSB 5845 has had bipartisan support with unanimous votes in the State Senate and in the State House Appropriations Committee. We need your voices to show support for this bill to make it over the final humps -- it's sooooo close.

What can you do to help this process, right now?

Contact your House Representatives and Senator and tell them about the need

If you already have a personal relationship with your Representatives and Senator, reach out to them. Ask them to support ESSB 5845 and vote yes on it. The details about the bill are below.
If you don’t know your House Representatives or Senator, find them by clicking on the link: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/5845 and type in your home address.
WSMTA asks that you click on the button for “Support” after you fill in your contact information.
You can tell your House Representatives and Senator why this bill is important to you or you can copy in the short memo below and personalize it as you will.

What to say or write about ESSB 5845:

Support ESSB 5845

I am writing to request your support for ESSB 5845--Modernizing and clarifying timely payment requirements for health carriers. This bipartisan bill is important to health care providers, including massage therapists. It strengthens timely reimbursement standards and reduces the period during which insurers may recoup previously paid claims. These changes promote predictability, fairness, financial stability and reduces administrative burden for both providers and insurers across Washington.

Massage therapists who accept insurance typically operate solo practices or work in small clinics with limited reserves. When insurers pay late, do not provide information about unclean bills in a reasonable time period, or demand repayment for services rendered up to 24 months earlier, it becomes difficult to focus on patient care. For massage therapists and other small outpatient providers, even a single multi-visit clawback can significantly disrupt cash flow. Shortening the clawback window to 12 months from 24 months (when a single insurance carrier is involved) improves financial predictability, encourages timely claim review, and reduces the administrative burden of reconstructing records years later.

ESSB 5845 passed the House Appropriations Committee unanimously. The fiscal note shows no impact to the state general fund, as costs are supported through the Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s Regulatory Account.

Please support ESSB 5845. Thank you.

What is ESSB 5845 -- Modernizing and clarifying timely payment requirements for health carriers?

Requires health insurance carriers to pay 100% of “clean claims” from providers or facilities within 30 days, instead of only 95%.
Requires carriers to notify providers or facilities within 21 days if a claim is denied or if claims are not clean.
Reduces the time insurers can request "clawbacks" for claims from 24 months to 12 months when only one insurance carrier is involved, with limited exceptions.
When more than one insurance carrier is involved and they need to coordinate claims, they must request refunds in writing within 18 months of the original payment (previously 30 months), except in cases involving mental health services or fraud.
Removes ambiguity by creating definitions.

Level of urgency:

Please reach out to your House Representatives as soon as you read this article, time is very urgent as we only have until the end of day Friday March 6 to get this bill out of the House and back to the Senate.

What else can you do?

Reach out to your colleagues, regardless of profession, and let them know of the urgency of getting this bill passed. The number of voices that legislators hear from is very important.

Please support ESSB 5845 create better regulations around the payments to providers and facilities. Thank you!

The WSMTA Government Relations team Is dedicated to updating and keeping you informed on issues related to legislation and regulation that impact Washington massage therapists. WSMTA advocates for massage therapy to be a recognized and respected healthcare profession. We work to protect LMTs' rights, promote fair laws and regulations, and ensure the industry’s growth and integrity.

Keep Your Eyes On Substitute Senate Bills 6071 and 5845

Robbin Blake — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 09:30:30 GMT

Currently, there are several bills in the Washington State Legislature that affect massage therapists, these two affect LMTs who are insurance providers.

Substitute Senate Bill 6071: This bill would limit the amount of time that health insurance carriers can do “clawbacks. Currently, health insurance carriers can request repayment for up to 24 months after payment was made to a provider, or up to 30 months if the carrier had to coordinate benefits with another carrier.

The substitute bill changes the 24 months to 12 months and the 30 months to 18 months. This reduction in time allows for better stability for providers. The original bill requested a 6-month limit on clawbacks in both situations, but it was changed in the substitute bill.

This bill passed out of its original committee and now resides in the Senate Rules Committee. For full details go to: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=6071&Year=2025

Substitute Senate Bill 5845: Health insurance carriers are required to make payment of “clean” claims within 30 days of receipt and all claims must be paid or denied within 60 days.

This bill requires health insurance carriers to make payment of clean claims within 30 days and carriers have 21 days to request additional or missing documentation to process a claim. When the documentation is supplied, the carrier then has 30 days to pay. If a carrier fails to process claims according to the timeline, then the carrier must pay interest on these claims. The substitute bill also provides for better clarity of process and definitions of terms.

This bill passed out of its original committee and now resides in the Senate Rules Committee. For full details go to: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?Year=2025&BillNumber=5845

At the time of this blog posting, both bills are still in process in the Senate -- they have until February 17 to be passed by the Senate.

Regulations on the Display of Licenses or Certifications

Robbin Blake — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 07:15:03 GMT

Created by Marybeth Berney, LMT and Robbin Blake, LMT

Are You Aware of RCW 18.108.045 Display of license or certification--Availability of photo identification? This RCW states:

(1) A massage therapist licensed under this chapter or a reflexologist certified under this chapter must conspicuously display his or her credential in his or her principal place of business. If the licensed massage therapist or certified reflexologist does not have a principal place of business or conducts business in any other location, he or she must have a copy of his or her credential available for inspection while performing services within his or her authorized scope of practice.
(2) A massage therapist licensed under this chapter or a reflexologist certified under this chapter must have government-issued photo identification on his or her person or have it be available for inspection by city, county, or state law enforcement or department personnel at all times he or she practices massage therapy or reflexology. The name of the massage therapist or reflexologist on the government-issued photo identification must match the name on the massage therapy license or reflexology certification.

To read the RCW, click on the this link: RCW 18.108.045 Display of license or certification

You also need to be aware of and follow any local regulations that you might be subject to. In the last few years many Washington cities have/are updating their ordinances. Many of these ordinances specifically define what “conspicuously display” means. For example:

"Conspicuously display" shall mean the display of licenses and certificates in a manner that can be viewed and read by a person immediately upon entry into the initial common area of massage business or reflexology business without having to request to see the license or certification.
In situations where a massage business or reflexology business is a mobile service which travels to where the massage therapy service or reflexology service will be conducted, conspicuously display shall mean the display of licenses and certificates in a manner that can be viewed and read by a person immediately upon approaching the massage table, massage chair or furniture used to do massage therapy or reflexology.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us at gr@mywsmta.org.

Sales Taxes on Live Presentations

Robbin Blake — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 06:45:14 GMT

On May 20, 2025, Governor Ferguson signed off on Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5814 to make it law. This bill had narrowly passed in both the State House and Senate.

Around 8/19/25, the Washington Department of Revenue emailed businesses stating that 7 new categories of services were going to be responsible for charging sales taxes on their services beginning on 10/1/25.

These 7 new service categories were:

Advertising services
Custom website development
Custom software & customization
Information technology (IT) services
Investigation, security, and armored car services
Live presentations
Temporary staffing

For most small continuing education businesses and instructors in the massage world this was the first that anyone had heard of this new law. Sales Taxes on the 7 services were to go live on October 1, 2025, which meant that most services affected by this law had approximately 41-42 days to implement this sale tax and start charging customers. Many businesses heard about this through word of mouth as they did not receive prior notification by the Dept. of Revenue. This law is part of our state government’s effort to raise enough taxes to the state’s budget deficit.

The part that affects massage therapists the most is that sales tax was to be collected on “Live Presentations”, also known as continuing education. There have been several “Interim Guidances” created by the Dept. of Revenue to help businesses understand the law. The remaining excerpts are taken from the primary interim guidance on Live Presentations.

~~~~~

What is a “Live Presentation?

To be a “live presentation,” it is sufficient that the presenter or instructor and/or audience are allowed to give, receive, and discuss information with one another in real time, whether this occurs in-person or electronically. A taxable live presentation requires a fee, charge, or any other exchange of consideration between any parties involved.

The following considerations can be used to help determine if you are providing a live presentation:

The purpose of the activity is to inform, explain, persuade, or educate on a particular subject;
The structure of the activity is in the form of a seminar, lecture, workshop, course, or any similar event;
The activity must allow for more than one attendee.

NOTE: The determination of whether a service meets the definition of a “live presentation” is based on the specific facts and circumstances of a particular transaction. While the considerations above are generally features of a live presentation, the specific tax results of a particular transaction may vary.

Live presentations include, but are not limited to, the following types of activities:

Courses, classes, seminars, workshops, or other programs for personal or professional enrichment such as art, music, choir, pottery, business and marketing, cooking, and CPR classes or lessons.
Continuing professional education including: continuing legal education, continuing medical education, continuing education for trades, continuing education for teachers, etc.
Driving education courses or lessons.
In-person and online instructional classes, lessons, workshops, seminars, or other programs that are provided in real time.

Note: With respect to any of the activities identified directly above, the activities would not be a live presentation if the activity is provided by and as part of a learning program by a public or private elementary or secondary school, or as part of a learning program encompassed within the accreditation of a higher education institution.

What is not included in a live presentation is one-on-one instructional activities such as tutoring, consulting, or music lessons.

Dept of Revenue Interim Guidance on “Live Presentations: Interim guidance statement regarding changes made by ESSB 5814 for live presentations as of September 12, 2025.

Correction--Call to Action For E2SHB 1589 (Contract Fairness) -- This 2025 Call to Action is no longer active

Robbin Blake — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 08:45:35 GMT

Calling all LMTs: Sign in today to support Engrossed 2nd Substitute House Bill (E2SHB) 1589, Deadline: Tuesday 3/25/25 by 9:30am

Correction: The deadline date is Tuesday 3/25/25 by 9:30am and not Monday 3/24/25 as previously stated in the prior blog posting.

The Washington State Massage Therapy Association (WSMTA) strongly supports E2SHB 1589 and encourages all LMTs to do the same. This bill gives healthcare providers greater opportunity to review and negotiate their health insurance provider contracts (to include their reimbursement rate) -- as independent providers, massage therapists are currently forced into “take-it-or-leave-it” contracts without negotiation.

Current Situation:

E2SHB 1589, will have a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Health & Long-Term Care this Monday. The Coalition Lobbyists have been working hard to keep this bill moving. At the Public Hearing, select members of the Coalition's Lobbyists will testify in support of this bill. We need you sign in before 9:30am on Tuesday 3/25/25 to indicate your support for this bill!

How do you show support for E2SHB 1589?

We encourage everyone to indicate a "pro" position to support the bill.
Go to the Washington State Legislature's website by clicking on this link: E2SHB 1589 webpage
On the right-hand side of the page is a green box that says, I would like to testify/submit written testimony, click on it.
When the next page pops up, scroll down and click the button for "E2SHB 1589 Health carriers & contractors" and pick:

I would like my position noted for the legislative record

We encourage you to please choose not to testify in person or remotely. The coalition has organized and coordinated this effort.

We encourage every LMT in Washington to sign in immediately and make your position known to the legislators. The more who sign in to support the bill, the more attention the bill will receive. All bill support must be made by 1 hour prior to the public hearing to be counted.

Recent History:

This bill passed out of the House on March 8 with a vote of 73 yeas and 23 nays last week. As time passes on this bill, the Insurance carriers are working harder to prevent this bill from going through. There is a coalition of 20 healthcare professions including massage therapy, chiropractic, physical therapy, speech therapy and more who have been advocating for this bill. Now we need every LMT to support this bill, yet again.

What does E2SHB 1589 do for LMTs and other healthcare providers?

This bill preserves clients’ access to care by requiring insurance companies to engage in good faith negotiations with independent health care providers. “Good faith” means the insurer must:

Offer a meaningful opportunity to negotiate the terms of the contract
Provide a contact person for negotiations
Indicate how the contract is different from the previous contract
Share an easily accessible proposed fee schedule prior to contracting

SHB 1589 also prohibits:

Requiring providers to take discounts that are not part of the original contract
Take-it-or-leave-it clauses

Please support SHB 1589 to protect client access to necessary and cost-effective Massage Therapy care! Thank you.

Call to Action For E2SHB 1589 (Contract Fairness) -- This 2025 call to action is no longer active.

Robbin Blake — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 08:17:04 GMT

Calling all LMTs: Sign in today to support Engrossed 2nd Substitute House Bill (E2SHB) 1589, Deadline: Monday 3/24/25 by 9:30am

Current Situation:

E2SHB 1589, will have a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Health & Long-Term Care this Monday. The Coalition Lobbyists have been working hard to keep this bill moving. At the Public Hearing, select members of the Coalition's Lobbyists will testify in support of this bill. We need you sign in before 9:30am on Monday 3/24/25 to indicate your support for this bill!

How do you show support for E2SHB 1589?

We encourage everyone to indicate a "pro" position to support the bill.
Go to the Washington State Legislature's website by clicking on this link: E2SHB 1589 webpage
On the right-hand side of the page is a green box that says, I would like to testify/submit written testimony, click on it.
When the next page pops up, scroll down and click the button for "E2SHB 1589 Health carriers & contractors" and pick:

I would like my position noted for the legislative record

We encourage you to please choose not to testify in person or remotely. The coalition has organized and coordinated this effort.

We encourage every LMT in Washington to sign in immediately and make your position known to the legislators. The more who sign in to support the bill, the more attention the bill will receive. All bill support must be made by 1 hour prior to the public hearing to be counted.

Recent History:

What does E2SHB 1589 do for LMTs and other healthcare providers?

This bill preserves clients’ access to care by requiring insurance companies to engage in good faith negotiations with independent health care providers. “Good faith” means the insurer must:

Offer a meaningful opportunity to negotiate the terms of the contract
Provide a contact person for negotiations
Indicate how the contract is different from the previous contract
Share an easily accessible proposed fee schedule prior to contracting

SHB 1589 also prohibits:

Requiring providers to take discounts that are not part of the original contract
Take-it-or-leave-it clauses

Please support SHB 1589 to protect client access to necessary and cost-effective Massage Therapy care! Thank you.

Call to Action For 2SHB 1589 (Contract Fairness) -- This 2025 call to action is no longer active.

Robbin Blake — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 19:29:06 GMT

Calling all LMTs: Sign in ASAP to support 2nd Substitute House Bill (2SHB) 1589

Things are coming down to the wire on 2SHB 1589. Tuesday night, this bill moved out of the House Rules Committee to be read in and placed into status for a 2nd Reading. We ask that you contact your House Representatives and ask them to help pull it to the House Floor for a vote. It has to be voted out of the House by March 12, which is next Wednesday.

What can you do to help this process, right now?

The coalition is lobbying to move this bill along; however, we really need the help of all LMTs to get this bill through the House floor. To do this we ask that you contact your House Representatives and tell them about the need for contract fairness in order for individual providers to be able to negotiate with insurance carriers in a fair and meaningful way.

There are two ways you can do this.

If you already have a personal relationship with your House Representatives, set up a meeting and meet with them by phone, zoom or in person. Ask them to pull 2HSB 1589 to the House floor for a vote.
If you don’t know your House Representatives, find your House Representatives (not your Senate Representative) by clicking on the link: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/1589 and type in your home address.
- WSMTA would ask that you click on the button for “support” after you fill in your contact information.
- You can indicate if you would like contact back from your House Representatives.
- Ask them to pull 2HSB 1589 to the House floor for a vote. You can tell your House Representatives why this bill is important to you if you currently are an insurance provider. Or, if you have dropped, or are considering dropping being an insurance provider, let them know about any reasons for this related to contract fairness. If you are not an insurance provider, state how it impacts your profession and your clients/patients by not having the ability to negotiate a fair contract and by not having enough massage therapy insurance providers.
- You can also ask to talk to your House Representatives, just state this in the comment section.

Level of urgency:

Please reach out to your House Representatives as soon as you read this article, time is very urgent as the deadlines to move things along in the legislature are constantly approaching.

What else can you do?

Reach out to your colleagues, regardless of profession, and let them know of the urgency of getting this bill passed. The number of voices that legislators hear from is very important.

What are the talking points for 2SHB 1589 -- concerning the relationships between health carriers and contracting providers? (referred to as “Contract Fairness”)

2SHB 1589 preserves clients’ access to care by requiring insurance companies to engage in good faith negotiations with independent health care providers. “Good faith” means the insurer must:

Offer a meaningful opportunity to negotiate the terms of the contract
Provide a contact person for negotiations
Indicate how the contract is different from the previous contract
Share an easily accessible proposed fee schedule prior to contracting

2SHB 1589 also prohibits:

Requiring providers to take discounts that are not part of the original contract
Take-it-or-leave-it clauses

There is a coalition of 20 healthcare professions including massage therapy, chiropractic, physical therapy, speech therapy and more who have been advocating for this bill. Now we need every LMT to support this bill

Thank you to everyone who has made your opinion known on this bill!

WSMTA is thankful for everyone who has followed up on a call-to-action to make your opinion known on what was originally HB 1589, but is now known as 2^nd Substitute House Bill 1589 or 2SHB 1589. Your actions are very important and have helped to move this bill forward. But we need your continued help to pull it further along the process.

Please support 2SHB 1589 to protect client access to necessary and cost-effective Massage Therapy care! Thank you.

We Need Your Continued Help For 2SHB 1589 (Contract Fairness)

Robbin Blake — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 20:39:46 GMT

The Washington State Massage Therapy Association (WSMTA) strongly supports 2nd Substitute House Bill (2SHB) 1589 and encourages all LMTs to do the same. This bill gives healthcare providers greater opportunity to review and negotiate their health insurance provider contracts -- as independent providers, massage therapists are currently forced into “take-it-or-leave-it” contracts without negotiation. To see the details of this bill, click HERE.

For background information on how a bill becomes a law in Washington State, please read this blog, “How Bills Are Processed Through The Legislature”

Thank you to everyone who has made your opinion known on this bill!

Update on 2SHB 1589

Substitute House Bill 1589 had been moved to the House Appropriations Committee for a public hearing on 2/25/25 and was voted out as “due pass” in its 2/27/25 Appropriations Committee Executive Meeting. At each step of the way, this bill has received strong support. It was passed out of the Appropriations Committee as 2SHB 1589 with 27 Ayes and 4 Nays which means that it had strong support across party lines.

Next steps for 2SHB 1589

2SHB 1589 will now go through a House Rules Review. During this process the House Rules committee decides which bills to present to the house floor for a vote. But before movement can occur it first needs to be “read in”. This bill has until March 12th to make it through the House. If it doesn’t get passed from the House to the Senate by then it will die.

What can you do to help this process, right now?

The coalition is lobbying to move this bill along; however, we need the help of all LMTs to get this bill through the House floor. To do this we ask that you contact your House Representatives and tell them about the need for contract fairness in order for individual providers to be able to negotiate with insurance carriers in a fair and meaningful way.

There are two ways you can do this.

If you already have a personal relationship with your House Representatives, set up a meeting and meet with them by phone, zoom or in person.
If you don’t know your House Representatives, find your House Representatives (not your Senate Representative) by clicking on the link: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/1589 and type in your home address.
- WSMTA would ask that you click on the button for “support” after you fill in your contact information.
- You can indicate if you would like contact back from your House Representatives.
- You can tell your House Representatives why this bill is important to you if you currently are an insurance provider. Or, if you have dropped, or are considering dropping being an insurance provider, let them know about any reasons for this related to contract fairness. If you are not an insurance provider, state how it impacts your profession and your clients/patients by not having the ability to negotiate a fair contract and by not having enough massage therapy insurance providers.
- You can also ask to talk to your House Representatives, just state this in the comment section.

Level of urgency:

Please reach out to your House Representatives as soon as you read this article, time is very urgent as the deadlines to move things along in the legislature are constantly approaching.

What else can you do?

Reach out to your colleagues, regardless of profession, and let them know of the urgency of getting this bill passed. The number of voices that legislators hear from is very important.

What are the talking points for 2SHB 1589 -- concerning the relationships between health carriers and contracting providers? (referred to as “Contract Fairness”)

2SHB 1589 preserves clients’ access to care by requiring insurance companies to engage in good faith negotiations with independent health care providers. “Good faith” means the insurer must:

Offer a meaningful opportunity to negotiate the terms of the contract
Provide a contact person for negotiations
Indicate how the contract is different from the previous contract
Share an easily accessible proposed fee schedule prior to contracting

2SHB 1589 also prohibits:

Requiring providers to take discounts that are not part of the original contract
Take-it-or-leave-it clauses

Please support 2SHB 1589 to protect client access to necessary and cost-effective Massage Therapy care! Thank you.

Urgent! Show Your Support for SHB 1589 -- Insurance Contract Fairness

Robbin Blake — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 04:24:47 GMT

Calling all LMTs: Sign in today to support Substitute House Bill (SHB) 1589, Deadline: Tuesday 2/25/25 by Noon

The Washington State Massage Therapy Association (WSMTA) strongly supports Substitute House Bill (SHB) 1589 and encourages all LMTs to do the same. This bill gives healthcare providers greater opportunity to review and negotiate their health insurance provider contracts -- as independent providers, massage therapists are currently forced into “take-it-or-leave-it” contracts without negotiation.

Current Situation:

SHB 1589, last week passed the House Health Care & Wellness Committee with a solid vote of 16-2 and 1 excused. The bill is now scheduled for a public hearing in the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, February 25 at 1:30pm and we need you to sign-in in support of the bill. We need you sign in before noon on Tuesday 2/25/25!

How do you show support for SHB 1589?

We encourage everyone to indicate a "pro" position to support the bill.
Go to the Washington State Legislature's website by clicking on this link: SHB 1589 webpage
On the right-hand side of the page is a green box that says, I would like to testify/submit written testimony, click on it.
When the next page pops up, scroll down and click the button for "SHB 1589 Health carriers & contractors" and pick:

I would like my position noted for the legislative record

We encourage you to please choose not to testify in person or remotely. The coalition has organized and coordinated this effort.

We encourage every LMT in Washington to sign in immediately and make your position known to the legislators. The more who sign in to support the bill, the more attention the bill will receive. All bill support must be made by 1 hour prior to the public hearing to be counted.

What does SHB 1589 do for LMTs and other healthcare providers?

SHB 1589 preserves clients’ access to care by requiring insurance companies to engage in good faith negotiations with independent health care providers. “Good faith” means the insurer must:

Offer a meaningful opportunity to negotiate the terms of the contract
Provide a contact person for negotiations
Indicate how the contract is different from the previous contract
Share an easily accessible proposed fee schedule prior to contracting

SHB 1589 also prohibits:

Requiring providers to take discounts that are not part of the original contract
Take-it-or-leave-it clauses

Please support SHB 1589 to protect client access to necessary and cost-effective Massage Therapy care! Thank you.

Urgent! Show Your Support for SB 5507 -- Providing Massage to Medicaid Patients

Robbin Blake — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 18:33:00 GMT

Calling all LMTs: Sign in today to support Senate Bill (SB) 5507, Deadline: Friday 2/14/25 7:00am

The Washington State Massage Therapy Association (WSMTA) strongly supports Senate Bill (SB) 5507 and encourages all LMTs to do the same.

What is SB 5507 About?

Washington State Senate Bill 5507 aims to expand Medicaid (Apple Health) to cover medically necessary massage therapy as a non-pharmacological treatment for pain management. This legislation is critical in addressing the opioid crisis, ensuring that low-income patients have access to safe, effective, and evidence-based pain relief. While chiropractic and acupuncture services are now covered by Medicaid, massage therapy—despite its proven benefits—remains an out-of-pocket expense for Medicaid patients, creating a significant barrier to equitable healthcare.

Who Originated the Bill Content for SB 5507?

The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Washington Chapter developed the idea for the bill and did the hard work to get it introduced in to the Senate (along with it's companion House Bill (HB) 1093). WSMTA fully endorses their work on this bill and encourages all Washington LMTs to support it as well. We are providing AMTA-WA's information about the bill to maintain consistency of message.

Why is This Bill Important?

Massage therapy is widely recognized as a clinically effective treatment for chronic pain, including back pain, osteoarthritis, migraines, fibromyalgia, and post-surgical recovery. Numerous healthcare organizations, including the Veterans Health Administration and Mayo Clinic, support its role in integrative pain management. Research has shown that access to massage therapy can significantly reduce opioid dependency, lower healthcare costs, and improve patient outcomes.

SB 5507 will ensure that, beginning January 1, 2027, Medicaid will cover massage therapy when prescribed by an authorized provider. This bill is a critical step in expanding access to non-pharmacological pain management, reducing reliance on opioids, and improving health equity for Washington’s most vulnerable residents. We ask that you to support this bill to provide essential pain relief options to Medicaid patients.

What Can You Do to Support This Bill?

The bill is having a public hearing on Friday Feb 14, 2025 in the Senate Health & Long-Term Care at 8:00 AM. AMTA-WA has set up people to testify for the bill hearing and they need your support on the bill before Friday at 7am. You can sign up on the bill page to let the Senate Committee and make help make it known that this bill is supported by our profession.

How Do You Show Your Support for SB 5507?

We encourage everyone to indicate a "pro" position to support the bill.
Go to the Washington State Legislature's website by clicking on this link: SB 5507 webpage
On the right-hand side of the page is a green box that says, I would like to testify/submit written testimony, click on it.
When the next page pops up, scroll down and click the button for "SB 5507 Massage Therapy Coverage" and pick either:

I would like my position noted for the legislative record

I would like to submit written testimony: We do encourage everyone who feels strongly about providing massage to medicaid clients to tell your story about why this is important to you.

We encourage you to please choose not to testify in person or remotely. AMTA-WA has organized and coordinated this effort.

We encourage every LMT in Washington to sign in immediately and make your position known to the legislators. The more who sign in to support the bill, the more attention the bill will receive. All written testimony and bill support must be made by 1 hour prior to the public hearing to be counted.
You can read the bill language by clicking HERE to open a PDF.

Please support SB 5507 whether you would personally choose to work with Medicaid patients or not. Help create a pathway for Medicaid patients to receive massage therapy services! Thank you.

How Bills Are Processed Through The State Legislature

Robbin Blake — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 17:38:10 GMT

Here is a summary of the process a bill goes through to become a law in Washington State:

Lobbyists and citizens approach a legislator(s) with a problem or bill language already created.
If a legislator(s) in either the House or Senate supports the bill, the language is formalized into bill language, they file it and the bill receives a number.
The bill is read into the chamber it is introduced in (House or Senate) and then assigned to a committee. Most, but not all healthcare bills are assigned to either the House Committee on Health Care & Wellness or the Senate Committee on Health & Long-Term Care.
If the bill will affect the state government’s budget, then it also must be assigned to a fiscal committee for review as well.
If it has enough support, a public hearing may be held in which anyone can show their support for or against a bill, both written and public testimony is heard.
There are two sets of reviews, if the bill receives enough support it is eventually voted out of committee to the full floor of the house (House or Senate) it is in.
Once a bill makes it to the full floor of the House or Senate there are a series of debates and readings in which a bill may be amended or continue unchanged.
If it is approved on the floor, then the bill is moved to the other house (the House sends the bill to the Senate, or the Senate sends the bill to the House).
The bill then goes through a similar process in the other house. However, sometimes companion bills are co-introduced in both houses at roughly the same time and both work their way through their respective houses at the same time.
If both the House and the Senate approve the bill, then it goes to the Governor for approval and signature.
There are specific deadlines which bills must meet, or the bill “dies” and does not move forward.

For a more detailed process you can visit the Legislature’s website at: https://leg.wa.gov/learn-and-participate/how-a-bill-becomes-a-law/

For the state legislature’s calendar click this link for deadline dates: https://leg.wa.gov/bills-meetings-and-session/session/

2025 Update: Massage Compact

WSMTA — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 16:24:10 GMT

It is important for all massage therapists in our state to learn about the Interstate Massage Compact. As Washington nurses experienced in 2023, it's not always a profession's choice to enter a compact. Washington nurses were entered into their Nurse Licensure Compact against their will because the lobbyists for large employers of nurses (e.g. hospitals and large clinics) had greater influence and money than their own. WSMTA believes that what happened to the nurses in Washington in 2023 could happen to massage therapists as well. We would like LMTs in our state to know what the details of the Interstate Massage Compact are as well as the issues, so you can make informed decisions.

Current system in Washington: The system that is currently in place for licensed massage therapists wanting to move from other states to Washington is called, “Licensing By Endorsement for Out-of-State Applicants”. WAC 246-830-035 provides for licensed massage therapists from other states that have substantially equivalent requirements to be granted a license in Washington. If the massage therapist comes from a state that does not have substantially equivalent requirements there is WAC 246-830-037 Transfer Programs, that will guide the massage therapist in getting the additional education they need to qualify for a Washington massage license. If an out of state massage therapist wanted to work temporarily (180 days) in Washington they could use RCW .130.075 Temporary Practice Permits. Almost all states have a “licensing by endorsement” process to admit qualified out-of-state LMTs to their state.

Why do we have Occupational Licensure Compacts? Through licensure compacts, states establish uniform standards to lower barriers to multi-state practice. A state still maintains their own laws and regulations regarding its professions, but by joining a licensure compact, multistate compact licensees are allowed to practice within other compact member states. States that meet the eligibility criteria join interstate compacts by agreeing to the uniform provisions through the legislative process. Essentially, the goal is to create a more streamlined process for licensed professionals to work in multiple states without having to obtain a license in each state that they want to work in. Washington state currently participates in five Healthcare Compacts: Nurse Licensure Compact, Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, Physical Therapy Compact, Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact and Occupational Therapy Compact.

One of the most misunderstood things about all Professional Compacts is that a Compact License, also known as a Multi-State License does NOT help you to move, it only helps you to temporarily work in another Compact Member State. You must continue to maintain a residence and a single state license (your current state massage license) from your Home State at all times.

Massage Licensure Compact: The Interstate Massage Compact was created via a partnership between the Department of Defense (DoD), Council of State Governments (CSG) and the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB). This Compact does not become effective until seven states pass legislation to enter into the Compact agreement. At the time of this writing, two states passed Massage Compact legislation, (Nevada and Ohio) and nine states have pending legislation, (Montana, Virginia, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Georgia, New York, Maine and Alabama). Currently, there is no Massage Compact legislation pending in Washington.

Issues related to joining the Compact:

Healthcare provider vs personal service provider: In Washington, massage therapists are somewhat unique in that they are classified as healthcare providers. In most states, massage therapists are personal service providers.
- WSMTA has learned from Washington massage schools that have transfer programs, that massage therapists coming to work in Washington from another state where they were trained as a personal service provider often have some very large gaps in their educational background and their understanding of the regulatory minefield of being a healthcare provider.
Lowering the educational standards of Multi-State Licensees while raising Washington’s own educational standards: Washington currently requires 625 hours of education, with a very specific breakdown of subject matter, from a Board approved massage school to qualify to receive a massage license. The Board of Massage is currently in discussion about increasing this minimum requirement to 750 hours due to the fact that massage therapists are healthcare providers. A Multi-State licensee must have 625 hours of education, but they are allowed to cobble together these hours from a massage program and continuing education hours.
Multi-State Licensees more than likely will not be aware of all of Washington's massage laws and regulations: The Compact’s legislative language does not require that a Multi-State licensee take a Jurisprudence exam. So, it is highly probable that a Multi-State licensee will NOT be familiar with Washington massage regulation. The Compact language also allows for a Multi-State licensee to work in Washington and not report that they are here to the Department of Health. So, if there are regulatory changes they would never receive any notification of the changes.
Costs for joining the compact that will impact state licensing fees: There will be expenses to the Department of Health and Board of Massage to join the Compact, such as the expenses to implement the requirements of the Compact, and an annual fee levied by the Compact for being a member state (as stated in the Compact’s legislative language). In addition, our state would be responsible for disciplinary costs to manage complaints against Compact licensees while temporarily working in our state. In Washington, the Board of Massage, by law, must be self-supporting. So, if its expenses go up, licensing fees go up for Washington massage therapists.

WSMTA’s biggest concerns relate to public safety as well as the impact to our profession in our state. Would massage therapists working in our state through the Massage Compact work and conduct themselves in a way that could undermine the decades that many of us in Washington have dedicated to raising the professionalism of massage therapy as healthcare? In Washington, we have finally won the respect of other healthcare providers and massage consumers. We have shown that we can help people to relax and unwind and we can successfully treat their musculoskeletal issues too!

Conclusion: WSMTA is a big supporter of greater portability in the massage profession. We wholeheartedly endorse the idea of greater standardization in the regulation of the massage profession. But let's make sure that it benefits and uplifts the professionalism of massage as both wellness and treatment.

WSMTA has published a wealth of information about the Massage Compact. All that information can be found on our website.https://www.mywsmta.org/page-1075510 and https://www.mywsmta.org/Interstate-Compact-Blog-Entry

Be on the look out for a second Interstate Massage Compact 2025 Update in the coming weeks. This Update will discuss some of the known structural issues of the Nurses Compact (which is the Compact that the Massage Compact is based on), that have been problematic for nurses as well as some other potential issues to be aware of.

Urgent! Show Your Support for HB 1589 -- Insurance Contract Fairness

Robbin Blake — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 06:51:20 GMT

Thank you to everyone who showed their support for HB 1589 by signing in and showing your "pro" support. The "call-to-action" in this blog posting is now expired. We will keep you posted with future blogs about this bill.

Calling all LMTs: Sign in today to support House Bill (HB) 1589, Deadline: 2/4/25 12:30pm

The Washington State Massage Therapy Association (WSMTA) strongly supports House Bill (HB) 1589 and encourages all LMTs to do the same. This bill gives healthcare providers greater opportunity to review and negotiate their health insurance provider contracts -- as independent providers, massage therapists are currently forced into “take-it-or-leave-it” contracts without negotiation.

What does HB 1589 do for LMTs and other healthcare providers?

HB 1589 preserves clients’ access to care by requiring insurance companies to engage in good faith negotiations with independent health care providers. “Good faith” means the insurer must:

Offer a meaningful opportunity to negotiate the terms of the contract
Provide a contact person for negotiations
Indicate how the contract is different from the previous contract
Share an easily accessible proposed fee schedule prior to contracting

HB 1589 also prohibits:

Requiring providers to take discounts that are not part of the original contract
Take-it-or-leave-it clauses

What can you do to support HB 1589?

We need every Washington LMT to support this bill by going to HB 1589's webpage and indicating your support for it. On February 4, this bill will have a public hearing in the House's Healthcare and Wellness Committee at 1:30pm (time is subject to change).

How do you show support for HB 1589?

We encourage everyone to indicate a "pro" position to support the bill.
Go to the Washington State Legislature's website by clicking on this link: HB 1589 webpage
On the right-hand side of the page is a green box that says, I would like to testify/submit written testimony, click on it.
When the next page pops up, scroll down and click the button for "HB 1589 Health carriers & contractors" and pick either:

I would like my position noted for the legislative record

I would like to submit written testimony: We do encourage everyone who is, or who has been, a health insurance provider to provide written testimony and provide your story about your personal experience with health insurance contracts.

We encourage you to please choose not to testify in person or remotely. The coalition has organized and coordinated this effort.

We encourage every LMT in Washington to sign in immediately and make your position known to the legislators. The more who sign in to support the bill, the more attention the bill will receive. All written testimony and bill support must be made by 1 hour prior to the public hearing to be counted.
If you need more support to figure out how to sign in, please click on the following link to see a PDF showing step-by-step directions including what each page looks like, click HERE.
You can read the bill language by clicking HERE to open a PDF.

Please support HB 1589 to protect client access to necessary and cost-effective Massage Therapy care! Thank you.

Keeping You Informed: HR 9755 (Fingerprinting LMTs)

WSMTA — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:04:16 GMT

Keeping You Informed: HR 9755 (Fingerprinting LMTs)

Usually, the WSMTA Government Relations (GR) team works to keep you in the know about state level legislation and regulations. Today, I want to bring your attention to a bill at the Federal level. If this bill is passed in the “other Washington”, it would have far reaching implications for Washington State massage therapists.

HR 9755 is a bill that was introduced on the floor of the United States House of Representative by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO-3) on September 23, 2024. The name of the bill is the Human Trafficking Fingerprint Background Check Protection Act of 2024 (click the link to read the HR 9755 bill language).

What is HR 9755?

“The stated purpose of the bill is to require owners and employees of massage wellness spas to undergo fingerprint-based background checks to mitigate the risk of human trafficking and enhance public safety.”

“The term “massage wellness spa” is defined as a business establishment where various forms of massage therapy are offered. A facility where licensed massage therapists provide therapeutic treatments designed to promote relaxation, relieve stress, alleviate pain, and improve overall health and well-being. This definition includes massage parlors, massage facilities, massage spa, and any other facility where the core service is to provide massage services of any kind.”

How Does HR 9755 Affect LMT’s?

What this means is that ALL of us would have to submit to a fingerprint-based background check. Owners, employees, independent contractors would have to pass the background check before being allowed to continue our work.

New owners would have to pass the background check prior to being able to open a massage business, employees would have to pass before becoming employed, independent contractors would have to pass before being allowed to lease a space in a massage business.

HR 9755 Creates Additional Burdens for Clinic Owners

If you are the owner of a massage facility, YOU will be the person responsible for making sure that all of your employees or independent contractors have passed the background check. You and your employees will also have to undergo mandatory training in recognizing and reporting human trafficking. Anyone who does not follow the rule will be subject to fines, license suspension or perhaps license revocation.

WSMTA’s Stance on HR 9755

The WSMTA GR team and Board of Directors have carefully reviewed the proposed bill and have chosen to oppose it after consulting with one of our trusted experts on human trafficking within massage therapy, who has extensively worked to combat this issue. Our consultant’s assessment is that the bill is both repressive and will be ineffective in achieving its intended purpose. WSMTA remains committed to advocating for measures that truly enhance safety and accountability while respecting and supporting our members and their professional integrity.

What’s Next?

The next article in this series will explore why HR 9755 is an ineffective tool in the fight against human trafficking and we will review a similar topic being discussed by our Board of Massage. Watch your inbox for future information about HR 9755.

__________________________

The WSMTA Government Relations team Is dedicated to updating and keeping you informed on issues related to legislation and regulation that impact Washington massage therapists. WSMTA advocates for massage therapy to be a recognized and respected healthcare profession by actively engaging with lawmakers and influencing legislation that affect our profession. We work to protect LMTs' rights, promote fair laws and regulations, and ensure the industry’s growth and integrity.

Department of Health 2025 Legislative Priorities

WSMTA — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 21:10:46 GMT

Each year about this time, the Department of Health (DOH) has to submit to the Office of Financial Management (OFM) their list of “financial asks” for the following year. This draft information is presented to DOH partners to comment on. Here are the highlights, specific to LMTs, from that meeting.

Overall fiscal environment: OFM has told state agencies to focus on only submitting requests for continuing work and to limit requests for any new work or enhancements to existing work. This is due primarily to Washington having a new Governor by next year, who will have their own priorities, and some Initiatives on the upcoming ballot that could have a significant impact on the overall state budget.

The two items that most directly affect massage therapists are in the category of Health Systems. Improvement of Credentialing Timelines:

Long wait times for license issuance is common across all provider types. This is due to a new licensing system, a shortfall in workforce at DOH and a need to get providers working as fast as possible to help with the shortage of healthcare providers
HELMS, Healthcare Enforcement and Licensing Management System. Additional monies are needed to complete the transition to HELMS and to support HELMS. For more info about HELMS, click on the following link:

https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/healthcare-enforcement-and-licensing-management-system-helms

You can find the entire list of proposals here. They are due to OFM by September 10 2024.

Little Known Massage Law

WSMTA — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 14:31:30 GMT

Did You Know: RCW 35A.82.025 Authority to Regulate Massage Therapists

RCW 35A.82.02 https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?Cite=35A.82.025#:~:text=RCW%2035A.,to%20regulate%20massage%20th erapists%E2%80%94Limitations.#:~:text=RCW%2035A.,to%20regulate%20massage%20therapists%E2%80%94Limitations. is a very little known law to many massage therapists as well as city officials.

In a nutshell, this RCW says two things that some cities in Washington are likely violating. It states that “a city may charge a licensing or operating fee but the fee that they charge a licensed massage therapist shall not be greater than the fee charged to similar healthcare providers (like a physical therapist) in the same city”.

It also states that a licensed massage therapist is not to be subjected to additional licensing requirements not currently imposed on similar healthcare providers (like physical therapists).

The WSMTA Government Relation Program would like you to take a look at the municipal ordinances/codes related to massage where you practice. Generally this can be found online, though sometimes it takes some persistence to find them. Your best bet is to search by typing in the name of your city/town and the words “municipal codes”. Once in the location of your codes search “massage” (not massage therapy). If your search doesn’t turn up anything, there may not be any codes that are specific to massage in your area. On the other hand if you find violations of this RCW in your codes let us know about it (mailto:gr@mywsmta.org), we would like to create some data on this issue, and then contact your local municipality and bring this to their attention.

Thank you!

WSMTA Government Relation Program

Program Director, Robbin Blake

Marybeth Berney

Stephanie Dickey

Contact Your Representatives Now -- Before 5pm Today!!!

WSMTA — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 18:09:24 GMT

Call to Action needed before 5pm Today!

Thank you to all massage therapists who have responded over the past couple of weeks in support of legislation requiring health carriers to provide annual cost of living adjustments. We now have another time-sensative ask.

HB 1655* passed out of the House Health Care and Wellness Committee on 1/31/24. That's great news -- but the bill must also pass out of the Appropriations Committee by Monday 2/5/24 in order to keep the bill alive.

Click the link below to find your representative's contact info, then email them with the following message. We need you do this today before 5pm.

"I am reaching out to respectfully ask that HB 1655 has a hearing in the Appropriations Committee today. I am very thankful for your support of this bill, which would require insurers to include annual cost-of-living increases in their provider agreements. This legislation is critical for many massage therapists who struggle to keep up with the increasing costs of rent and other overhead expenses, but whose insurance carrier reimbursements have either never changed in 20 years or have only improved several times in 20 years."

Find Your Legislator's Contact Info

*You may now see HB 1655 referred to as SHB 1655. SHB stands for "Substitute House Bill" as there was an amendment to the original bill that was approved.

Urgent! Sign in Today to Support SB 6161! Hearing Tomorrow

WSMTA — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 22:00:13 GMT

Sign in today to support SB 6161 -- act before midnight tonight!

SB 6161, the Senate's companion bill to the House's HB 1655 requiring cost-of-living adjustments in health insurance provider fee schedules, is scheduled for a public hearing tomorrow, January 30 at 8:00am.

This bill affects massage therapists!

To note your position for the record, click the link below. Once there:

In the "Position" dropdown menu, select "Pro".
Complete the remaining fields marked with an asterisk.
Click the CAPTCHA box, then click "Submit Registration.

Support 6161 by Clicking HERE to Sign in

What Else Can You Do: Reach out to your colleagues, regardless of profession, and let them know of the urgency showing your support.

Thank you for your patience with our recent emails this past week: WSMTA has sent out several emails in support of HB 1655 and SB 6161 over the last week or so. These bills are important for enabling LMTs to remain or become insurance providers in our state. We know it's a lot of emails and we thank you for your patience with them.

Call to Action #2 -- Please Support HB 1655 / SB 6161

WSMTA — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 20:31:51 GMT

Call to Action #2! Act before midnight 1/29/24!

Please support HB 1655 / SB 6161: Concerning Provider Contract Compensation

Requires provider compensation increases commensurate with consumer price index increases for contracts between a health carrier and a health care provider who is not employed or affiliated with a hospital or large hospital system.

HB 1655 and SB 6161 provide a much-needed annual increase in reimbursement for private practices.

Problem

Some carriers have never raised their rates in their entire history of working with massage therapists in over 25+ years while others have only done so once or twice.
Carriers claim that provider contracts are negotiated; but, independent providers and small clinics can only accept them or stop being a provider for them.

HB 1655 – Status

On 1/24/24, numerous lobbyists had coordinated efforts and testified before the House Health Care & Wellness Committee about the need for HB 1655. There were more than 2,300 people who signed in to the hearing in support of HB 1655. Chiropractors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, acupuncturists/eastern medicine providers, speech therapists, massage therapists and many more professions who provide services as insurance providers are affected by this bill.
On 1/30/24, the bill will be heard in executive session where representatives in the House Health Care & Wellness Committee will take a vote to move the bill forward on to the house floor, or not.

HB 1655 – What to Do By the End of Day 1/29/24

If you know your Representatives, set up a meeting and meet with them by phone, zoom or in person.
If you do not know your Representatives, find your Representatives by clicking on the link: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/1655 and type in your address and click on the button “support” after you fill in your contact information.

SB 6161 – Status

On 1/30/24 at 8am, the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee will have their first hearing on this bill and will listen to testimony.

SB 6161 – What to Do By End of Day 1/29/24

If you know your Senator, set up a meeting and meet with them by phone, zoom or in person.
If you don’t know your Senator, find your Senator by clicking on the link: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/6161 and type in your address. Click on the button “support” after you fill in your contact information. You can tell your Senator why this bill is important to you, your profession and your clients/patients. If you are considering dropping your healthcare providership(s) for financial reasons, let them know (if you are considering dropping for other reasons as well, please leave that out of the discussion so as not to confuse things).
In addition, to indicate your support for the bill during the Senate Committee Hearing, please go to the bill’s website at: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=6161&Year=2023
- click on the green button in the upper right-hand corner (or top of webpage) that says:
- Scroll down and click on the link in the green field that says: “I would like my position noted for the legislative record”.
- Select “Pro” for your position and then answer the remaining questions. Please do not ask to testify.

Level of Urgency

Please reach out to your Representatives and Senator as soon as you read this article, time is very urgent as the deadlines to move things along in the legislature are fast approaching.
If you know your Representatives or Senator personally, reach out directly via email or phone.

What Else Can You Do

Reach out to your colleagues, regardless of profession, and let them know of the urgency of getting these bills passed. The number of voices that legislators hear from is very important.

For Bill Details

HB 1655 -- https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1655&Year=2023
SB 6161 -- https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=6161&Year=2023

Call to Action -- Please support HB 1655/SB 6161: Concerning Provider Contract Compensation

WSMTA — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 21:45:36 GMT

Call to Action!

Please support HB 1655 / SB 6161: Concerning Provider Contract Compensation

HB 1655 and SB 6161 provide a much-needed annual increase in reimbursement for private practices.

These bills are a first step in ensuring patients can access health care services from independent private practices.

Problem

Some carriers have never raised their rates in their entire history of working with massage therapists of over 25+ years while others have only done so once or twice.
Carriers claim that provider contracts are negotiated; but, independent providers and small clinics can only accept them or stop being a provider for them.

Action

In the House: Before the end of day 1/23/24, contact your Representatives and ask them to support HB 1655.
- Contact your Representative at: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/1655 Please do not ask to testify, this is being coordinated by the lobbyists.
In the Senate: As soon as you can, but before 1/30/24, contact your Senator and ask them to support SB 6161. Tell them why it is important to you, your profession and your clients/patients. If you are considering dropping your healthcare providership(s) for financial reasons, let them know (if you are considering dropping for other reasons as well, please leave that out of the discussion so as not to confuse things).
- Contact your Senator at: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/6161 Please do not ask to testify, this is being coordinated by the lobbyists.

Level of Urgency

Please reach out to your Representatives and Senator as soon as you read this article, time is very urgent as the deadlines to move things along in the legislature are fast approaching.
If you know your Representatives or Senator personally, reach out directly via email or phone.

What Else Can You Do

Reach out to your colleagues and let them know of the urgency of getting these bills passed. The number of voices that legislators hear from is very important.

For Bill Details

HB 1655 -- https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1655&Year=2023
SB 6161 -- https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=6161&Year=2023

Health Equity CE Details

Robbin Blake — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 05:10:21 GMT

On 9/18/23, the Department of Health (DOH) processed the CR-103 which made it possible for them to send out official details about the new Health Equity CE requirement. DOH created a new section dedicated to the Health Equity CE requirement on the Massage Therapist FAQs page. For details, click the link below and scroll down to the Health Equity section towards the bottom of the page:

DOH Health Equity FAQs for Massage Therapists

Starting in your first, full continuing education (CE) reporting cycle after January 1, 2024, all LMTs must complete a minimum of two hours of CE training in health equity per reporting period. See Part 15 of chapter 246-12 WAC. (Part 15 is very last section at the bottom of the page)

The biggest misunderstanding we hear about is when your first Health Equity CE is due. LMTs must complete 2 hours of health equity starting their first full CE reporting cycle after January 1, 2024. For example, if a person's CE is due on 3/1/24, then their first health equity 2 hour requirement would be due by their first full reporting period which would be 3/1/26.

Currently there are limited health equity classes available. But over the next year there should be quite a bit more offered and more geared towards massage therapists versus classes aimed at the generic healthcare professional. The Department of Health is required to offer a limited amount of free Health Equity CE by the same law that created the health equity requirement for DOH regulated professions. To see what free Health Equity classes the DOH is offering, click the link below:

Free Health Equity Courses

Creating Clarity for the 8-Hour In Person Directly Supervised Massage Technique CE Requirement

Robbin Blake — Sat, 14 Oct 2023 05:43:57 GMT

Since the start of this year, we are seeing that some LMTs are sometimes incorrectly interpreting the 8-hour "in person" massage technique requirement to include any class taught in a physical classroom, to include lecture classes. Since a lecture by definition does not involve the direct application of massage technique, a lecture class does not satisfy the 8-hour in person, directly supervised application of massage technique continuing education requirement.

WAC 246-830-475 Subsection 2a states:

(2) The following categories of continuing education are mandatory:

(a) A minimum of eight hours must be in person and directly supervised involving the participation of the direct application of massage therapy as defined in RCW 18.108.010; and

In essence, 246-830-475 Subsection 2a is stating

that all LMTs are required to complete 8 hours of in person (in a physical classroom, not online)

directly supervised (an instructor teaches and remains in the classroom)

involving the participation of the direct application of massage therapy as defined in RCW 18.108.010 (directly applying a massage technique).

After you fully read a class description of a CE class, if you are unsure if the class you want to take is lecture or qualifies as a massage "hands-on" class, we recommend that you ask the instructor or host of the class to get clarity.

However, in person lecture classes related to the topic of massage can be used to satisfy the "remaining" hours portion of our 24 hour CE requirement. 24 total CE hours minus 8 hours in person "hands on" minus 4 hours ethics minus up to 4 hours CPR still leaves at least 8 remaining hours of CE class.

For complete continuing education WAC details, click on the link below:

WAC 246-830-475 Continuing Education

Masking Still Required in Healthcare Settings -- To Include Massage

Robbin Blake — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 05:42:02 GMT

When Governor Inslee ended the COVID state of emergency in Washington State at the close of October 2022, the masking requirement has continued to remain in effect for healthcare providers, to include massage therapists.

The proclamation on masking was issued by the Department of Health Secretary, Dr. Umair Shah, and was amended on 10/27/22 to continue masking requirements for healthcare. Regardless of whether you practice in your home, a private office, a gym, a spa, a hotel or any other environment, when your room is being used for massage, everyone within the room is required to be masked -- yourself, your client and any third party that may be sitting in the room (family member, interpreter, etc). The few exceptions are detailed in the proclamation. To read the Secretary of Health's proclamation on masking for healthcare, click on this link: https://doh.wa.gov/emergencies/covid-19/masks-and-face-coverings. Once you are on the page, just click on the link titled, The "Secretary of Health Mask Order" in the second paragraph to read the actual proclamation, which is a pdf.

Questions? If you, your employer, or landlord have questions about masking and social distancing for health care providers/facilities, please contact: John Stebbins, CSP, CIH -- L&I -- Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) -- (206) 515-2870.

"Verify Your License"

Robbin Blake — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 05:05:07 GMT

The Department of Health (DOH) has a "verify your license" program that you can access from the "Massage Therapist" page on the DOH website. You can generally find this page by doing a search for "wa state board of massage" in your favorite browser. However, the link for the page is:https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/massage-therapist

At the top of the Massage Therapist page, is a section called "We Can Help You". Click on the link for "Verify Your License (Provider Credential Search)" which is: https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/provider-credential-search

If you forget when your CE is due, you can use this link to look it up. If you want to check to see if a massage license is active, expired or if there has been some form of enforcement action attached to a healthcare provider's license, you can find it on this website.

Board of Massage -- Expanded from 5 to 7 Members

Robbin Blake — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 03:19:13 GMT

Historically, there have been 5 members on the Board of Massage -- 4 licensed massage therapists and 1 public member. The number of members was recently increased by state legislation to include another licensed massage therapist and a massage school educator (potentially a massage school owner or instructor). Meetings are currently held every other month and generally last 3-6 hours.

To read what the Board of Massage does, click on this link: https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/massage-therapist/board-information and then click on the first link, titled again, "Board Information". To read more about the Board of Massage, continue to read through the remaining links.

Update to Billing for PPE

WSMTA — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 19:30:05 GMT

Update to Substitute Senate Bill 5169 (Billing for PPE)

We first brought you information about your ability to bill for PPE in the spring of 2021. The bill that allowed for this, called out an automatic end point to the ability to bill this code. At this time, the Federal Public Health Emergency has been slated to end on October 13, 2022. So, your ability to bill this code will end on that date.

The bill language can be found here. https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/5169-S.PL.pdf?q=20220927123546

Accommodations During Pregnancy

Robbin Blake — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 05:50:54 GMT

Being pregnant while working generally requires changes to be made around the workplace during the pregnancy. Employers have certain responsibilities to provide reasonable accommodations during pregnancy, so know your rights in the workplace.

The following link will take you to the Washington State Labor & Industries website for more details: https://lni.wa.gov/workers-rights/workplace-policies/pregnancy-accommodations

Who Pays for Uniforms?

Robbin Blake — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 05:41:02 GMT

Many massage businesses require their employees to wear uniforms or uniform shirts. If the uniform meets certain criteria specified by Washington State Labor and Industries (LNI) then the employer is responsible for paying for the uniform. If the the employer requires clothing to match colors within a color code, such as all employees must dress in a black shirt and pants, then the employee is responsible for the expense of the clothing.

For full details about uniforms, please click on the following link: https://lni.wa.gov/workers-rights/workplace-policies/uniforms

DOH's Mask/Face Covering Guidance During COVID-19

Robbin Blake — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 06:44:43 GMT

This blog is a continuation of our posting, "March 12 Changes to Mask Mandate". For signage and a flyer with details, click on the above link.

The Department of Health (DOH) posted a pdf on their website titled, "Mask/Face Covering Guidance During COVID-19" (click the document title to read the article). This document contains verification that wherever LMTs practice, that is healthcare and masking is required in a healthcare setting.

There are a lot of links in this document from the DOH, the link that describes what qualifies as healthcare can be found at the bottom of the first page -- there are three bullets with the first bullet stating "Healthcare Settings". Click on the link in the first bullet and it will take you to "Appendix A: Glossary" at the top of page 6. If you scroll down, you'll see that massage therapy has a specific listing.

Non-Competition Agreements

Marybeth Berney — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 22:52:22 GMT

Non-Competition Agreements in the Profession of Massage Therapy

By Annika Samuelsen, LMT

If you are a licensed massage therapist and work as either an employee or independent contractor here in the state of Washington, your employer may have required you to sign a non-competition agreement upon hire. Read on to inform yourself on recent changes to the enforcement of non-competition agreements that might apply to you.

For anyone not familiar with the term, a non-competition agreement (also called “non-compete agreement'') is a contract between an employer and their employee. For massage therapists, this is likely a clause detailed in a subsection of your terms of employment. This type of agreement prohibits an employee from working at or starting a business that is or would be in direct competition with their employer’s business. The agreement may also specify that once employment has been ended, that the employee must not work or start a business within a certain distance of the employer, at least not until a certain amount of time has passed, otherwise they will incur a monetary penalty.

Non-competes are used in many different professions to protect employers from losing business to their current or former employees. Washington legislators who viewed non-competition agreements as prohibitive to economic growth and development proposed bill SB 5478, which was signed into law on May 8^th 2019 and went into effect on January 1^st 2020. The revised code RCW 42.62.020 details:

"A noncompetition covenant is void and unenforceable against the employee: [...] unless the employee's earnings from the party seeking enforcement, when annualized, exceed one hundred thousand dollars per year."

For independent contractors, annual earnings must be greater than $250,000 per year for the non-compete to be enforceable. Furthermore, these dollar amounts are tied to the rate of inflation, and are therefore adjusted annually.

Note: A contract that prohibits an employee or independent contractor from actively soliciting an employer’s clients to see them at another location of business (i.e. non-solicitation agreements) is a different topic.

What does this mean for licensed massage therapists?

If you signed a non-competition agreement with an employer, whether prior to or after the date this code went into effect, and your earnings are below the enforceable thresholds, your employer can no longer impose restrictions on where you work now or in the future because the contract you signed has become void and unenforceable.

If an employer asks you to sign a non-competition agreement even though your annual earnings are below the enforceable threshold, consider directing them to the revised code and the sources listed below when you are negotiating your terms of employment.

We want our members to be informed about the legislation that protects them so they can be satisfied with their terms of employment. Please let us know if this information has been helpful to you, and if you would like to read more content on employment and workplace rights.

References:

Washington Labor and Industries has a page on non-compete agreements in their section on workplace policies (link).

Chapter 49.62 of the revised code of Washington (RCW) details the information on non-compete agreements (link).

RCW bill history of SB 5478 (link).

March 12 Changes to Mask Mandate

Robbin Blake — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 08:44:05 GMT

This post was updated on 3/11/22. Click on the link for "WSMTA--Masking for LMTs Starting 031222" for new information.

Over the past several weeks, Governor Inslee has announced changes to his August 23, 2021 mask mandate. However, for healthcare providers, there will be no change for us regarding masking. Masking for healthcare is still required in our treatment rooms or clinics. Please click on the following link for a one page summary of what the new masking requirements entail and how this applies to massage therapists. Should you still have questions, at the bottom of the document is the contact information for the L&I contact person to follow up with.

WSMTA--Masking for LMTs Starting 031222

For a sign that can be posted in your massage room or clinic, please click on the following link:

Sign -- Face Masks Still Required

Remembering Deborah Senn

Marybeth Berney — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 22:35:33 GMT

Remembering Deborah Senn:

Washington’s massage therapy community lost a great friend and supporter with the passing of former Washington State Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn. A true champion of integrative and consumer-focused health care, Commissioner Senn introduced the "every category of provider" provision to Washington State Insurance Law in the 1990s which granted significant recognition and protection to massage therapists in this state. This provision not only paved the way for inclusion of massage therapists within private and state-run insurance plans, but it also provided the framework used by the federal government in the drafting of the "every category of provider" clause within the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

As a consummate consumer advocate, she transformed the Office of the Insurance Commissioner from insurance company-friendly to a consumer-centric one when she won her first term in 1992, becoming the first woman to serve in that statewide elected position.

She died at Swedish Medical Center on February 18 from complications related to pancreatic cancer. Senn is survived by her husband, Rudi Bertschi, as well as a brother and a sister.

Is Temperature Taking Still Required and Can Clients Take Off Their Masks When Getting Massage?

Robbin Blake — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 05:33:00 GMT

1. Is Temperature Taking Still Required?

Here is the history and the current guidelines for healthcare providers in a healthcare setting:

The requirement for taking temperatures was originally mandated for all healthcare providers in healthcare settings (includes massage regardless of where it is done) on 5/18/20 by the governor in Proclamation 20-24.1 Reducing Restrictions on, and Safe Expansion of, Non-Urgent Medical and Dental Procedures: https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/proclamations/20-24.1%20-%20COVID-19%20Non-Urgent%20Medical%20Procedures%20Ext%20%28tmp%29.pdf

In this proclamation, it is specifically required in the 5th bullet from the bottom on page 4:

Use on-site fever screening and self-reporting of COVID-19 symptom screening for all patients, visitors and staff prior to (the preferred approach), or immediately upon, entering a facility or practice.

On 11/25/20 the governor updated this proclamation to 20-24.2 Requirements for Non-Urgent Medical and Dental Procedures which you can read at: https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/proclamations/proc_20-24.2.pdf. This proclamation is still in effect.

Unlike proclamation 20-24.1, 20-24.2 does not specifically call out temperature taking. Instead, it states at the bottom of page 4:

Follow CDC Guidance on Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Healthcare Personnel During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic, including any subsequent amendments, for COVID-19 symptom screening for all patients, visitors, contractors, volunteers, and staff prior to, or immediately upon, entering a facility or practice.

Temperature taking is a part of COVID-19 symptom screening for all patients, but it's no longer specifically called out, to include on the CDC website. So either you would need to know that your clients are taking their own temperatures and are truthfully stating that they do or do not have a fever, or you would need to take it as it's the only measurable sign/symptom.

2. Can Clients Take Their Masks Off When Receiving Massage?

As of 12/8/21 when this article was published, the answer is still no, neither the massage therapist or the client can take off their mask when a massage is being provided unless they qualify for an exemption that is listed in the Secretary of Health’s exemptions which is found in his Order 20-3.6 on mask wearing.

The current mandate requiring mask wearing is the Governor’s Proclamation 20-25.15 which went into effect on 8/23/21. You can find this at: https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/proclamations/20-25.15%20-%20COVID-19%20Washington%20Ready.pdf

The Secretary of Health’s order on masks 20-03.6 can be found at: https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/Secretary_of_Health_Order_20-03_Statewide_Face_Coverings.pdf

WAC Change Regarding Teachers of Massage CE

Robbin Blake — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 06:24:44 GMT

WAC 246-830-475 Continuing Education Requirements states:

1) To renew a license, a massage therapist must complete twenty-four hours of continuing education every two years, as provided in chapter 246-12 WAC, Part 7. Continuing education must be provided by an individual who has at least three years of professional experience in the subject area being taught. Massage therapists have a duty to ensure the continuing education they complete meets the requirements in this section.

There are many changes to the massage CE WAC. We've blogged about CPR and changes to CE certificate requirements. However, there are two important changes that are more subtle, I've highlighted them in the above WAC language.

The yellow section indicates that the instructor has to have "...at least three years of professional experience in the subject area being taught". Prior to the WAC update on 9/1/21, anyone could have taught anything with or without the experience to do so. Now, there is an experience requirement that CE teachers need to meet. This means that if you travel to another state, take a class from an out-of-state instructor or take a class from a local instructor you need to make sure that they have the experience to be eligible to give CE credit for you to take their class to have it count in Washington State for license renewal. The three year's experience requirement does not mean that a CE instructor has to have taught the subject matter for three years, but that they must have learned the material and be experienced in it for three years worth of time. If someone only has one or two years experience in a subject, it does not mean that you can't take their class to learn the material, it just means that you can't use the class to count as part of your CE hours to renew your Washington State massage license.

The blue section indicates that it is every LMT's responsibility to make sure that the CE they take meets the state CE requirements. This means knowing if your instructor has appropriate experience (check their website or contact them if you can't exactly determine if they do or not), that you've met the correct CE categories and hours and that the certificates that you receive have all of the information required on them to be acceptable.

Inactive License

Robbin Blake — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 05:55:22 GMT

Before making a decision to do something different with your massage license (letting it expire, putting it into inactive status, etc) you should contact the Department of Health at 360-236-4700 to find out what you need to do.

If you are thinking about taking time off from doing massage and your renewal is coming up, you can put your license into inactive status instead of just letting it expire. At the time of your renewal, instead of renewing at the $166 rate (current renewal fee at the time of this posting), you would renew at $66 (current inactive license renewal fee) to maintain an inactive license.

If you continue to stay inactive over several years, you only pay the reduced inactive renewal fee at each renewal point.

If you want to renew your license at some point after going inactive, you can reactive your license by contacting the Department of Health, satisfying any CE requirements and paying the difference of $166 (or whatever the current renewal fee is) and $66 (or whatever the last inactive renewal fee that you paid was) --- that is, you don't need to pay the full renewal fee, just the difference between the two fees.

PPE Available from the State

Robbin Blake — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 05:40:35 GMT

This email is directly copied from an email sent from the Department of Health on 8/20/21.

The state personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpile (referred to as “the backstop”) has been available to help support state agencies, counties, tribes and other partners through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state backstop will be available to meet COVID-19 PPE requests through Oct. 31, 2021. Now is the time to submit requests for PPE through your county emergency managers.

State, local, and tribal agencies, partner associations, health care providers, including long-term services and supports providers (e.g. adult family homes, supported living agencies, home care agencies, assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities), and businesses are encouraged to order PPE to return state backstops to pre-COVID levels and allow entities to utilize existing available PPE before it expires.

After Oct. 31, availability of PPE from the state backstop and the process for ordering will change. These future processes are currently under development and will be communicated to partners broadly.

How to Order:

Contact your local county emergency management agency to determine how orders should be placed with them; they are able to answer questions about the forms and ordering process.
Complete the forms/process provided from the local emergency management.
If local emergency management is able to fill this request from their supply, they will let you know how that process will be completed.
If local emergency management is not able to fill this request, they will send the request to the state for fulfillment.

For more information, please visit the Department of Health PPE website.

DOH 2022 Draft Legislative Proposals

Marybeth Berney — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 14:32:01 GMT

Washington State Department of Health 2022 Draft Legislative Agenda

The Department of Health (DOH) recently released the draft of their legislative requests for 2022. In this first document (power point) you can see the types of requests that are being proposed and from where within the state budget the dollars would come from.

Department of Health_2022 Webinar 8-23_Slides.pdf

In this next document you can see a brief explanation of each proposed piece of legislation that DOH is moving forward with at this time. There are three items that are likely most interesting to us as massage therapists.

Enhanced Capacity and Diversity of Health Profession Boards and Commissions.

This proposal modifies boards and commission statutes in order to achieve consistency, allow for more diversity, and increase effectiveness by:

expanding the size of membership and number of public members;
removing the membership restrictions, such as congressional district or specialty requirements;
increasing compensation so all boards and commissions are reimbursed at a Class 5 rate ($250 a day).
removing specific quorum requirements for disciplinary actions and aligning terms requirements.

Improve Credentialing Performance.

This would have the effect of adding staff to the credentialing unit in order to be able to meet the goal of issuing credentials within 7 calendar days of receiving a complete application.

Complete the HELMS Project.

The new Healthcare Enforcement and Licensing System (HELMS) has had some unexpected delays which will increase costs.

Department of Health_2022 Budget and Legislative Requests_August2021_v4.pdf

Marybeth Berney WSMTA President

Compliance with Proclamation 21-14 form

Marybeth Berney — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 22:46:52 GMT

Compliance with Proclamation 21-14 Vax Washington

The Washington Chiropractic Association (WSCA) has been kind enough to allow WSMTA to share with you the compliance tool that they created for complying with Governor Inslee’s Proclamation 21-14. Please make sure to download both pages.

WSCA -- Proclamation_21_14_Compliance_Document.pdf

First some background on the validity of governor Proclamations. The validity and enforceability of governor issued Proclamations has been upheld in the courts many times over many decades. Those court decisions have, in a nutshell, said that states have the right to infringe on individual liberties in some cases and especially in the case of public health matters. There are several Washington healthcare provider associations and unions that have expressed displeasure with the proclamation, as written, to the Governor’s office. But many attorneys have agreed that any type of prospective legal challenge would have zero chance of success as there is no standing to challenge. Once enforcement begins that may provide some type of standing for a legal challenge.

Please read the disclaimer on page 2 carefully as it contains steps that will help you to fill out the forms completely. This disclaimer page applies to WSCA and WSMTA. If you have questions beyond the scope of this article, please consult your attorney.

Who needs to fill out/maintain these documents

Every employee, contractor, and volunteer performing any kind of work in the facility where healthcare/massage is offered--whether directly interfacing with patients or not--must disclose the information requested in this document.
If you operate a massage facility and you have MTs that are independent contractors renting space inside your massage facility you, as the healthcare facility operator, must maintain these documents for those contractors.
If you employ your child/children to clean, do landscape maintenance or anything else at your healthcare facility they must have this document filled out and maintained by you.
In short anyone who is in your healthcare facility and is under your control needs to fill out this document and you need to maintain it.
Any new employees, contractors, volunteers that come to work in your healthcare facility on or after Oct 18, 2021, must fill out this document and you need to maintain it.
If any of the information/conditions reflected in these documents changes at any time undated documents and supporting documents must be filled out to replace the outdated documents
If you are self-employed and are vaccinated, you need only have your vaccination record. If you are self-employed and are filing a medical or religious exemption/accommodation, fill out the form and sign both as the employer and the employee.

How do I need to maintain the compliance document and supporting documents

This document and all supporting documents need to be maintained by you until the COVID-19 State of Emergency is ended or Proclamation 21-14 is amended or rescinded.
These documents should be maintained with the same security as healthcare records.
This document and all supporting documents need to be maintained at your healthcare facility and be readily available to any inspectors from the Department of Health, Labor and Industries, or any law enforcement agency.

Section 1

If you are self-employed, you will put your name in as employee and employer,

Section 2

You have 4 choices. If you/your employee, contractor, volunteer check the “fully vaccinated” box, then move to Section 3.
If you/your employee, contractor, volunteer check “request a medical exemption” then skip to Section 4.
If you/your employee, contractor, volunteer check “request a religious exemption” then skip to Section 5.
If you/your employee, contractor, volunteer check “will not comply with the Proclamation” then skip to Section 6.

Section 3 - only if fully vaccinated

Fill in the appropriate dates of vaccination, brand of vaccination and what proof of vaccination was received. Keep a copy of the proof of vaccination with this document.

Section 4 - only when requesting medical accommodation

This section should be filled out by the employee, contractor, or volunteer. Attach supporting documentation from a medical provider with all the information that is indicated on the form.
Make sure that the employee, contractor, or volunteer signs and dates this section.

Section 5 - only when requesting religious accommodation

This section should be filled out by the employee, contractor, or volunteer. Attach supporting documentation that provides all the information that is indicated on the form.
The religion does not need to be a “named” religion, written documentation from clergy is not required.

Section 6 - only when not complying with the Proclamation

Make sure that it is understood what the consequences are, have this section signed and dated by the employee, contractor, or volunteer.

Section 7 - to be completed by Employer/healthcare facility operator

Make sure this section is filled out completely and signed and dated by both parties.

Enforcement

We really will have no idea as to what enforcement is going to look like until it begins to happen. The Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) has the authority to issue fines and shut you down until you come into compliance. The Department of Health has the authority to issue fines and provide other sanctions against your license. Law enforcement has the authority to charge you with a gross misdemeanor.

The Department of Health has indicated that enforcement will be complaint driven, much like it is with any regulatory issue. Will the Department of Health or Labor and Industries come knocking on your door? We believe this is highly unlikely, but it could happen. Do you have other complaints against you, have you been flagged as a non-complier, then this could be more likely to happen to you. Will law enforcement come knocking on your door? Again, we think this is highly unlikely, but it is possible. If you have all your documentation for yourself, employees, contractors, and volunteers at the ready and you have made a good faith attempt to fully comply with the Proclamation you should be on firm ground from a legal/regulatory perspective.

Miscellaneous

The Proclamation allows the healthcare facility operator to handle exemptions, in good faith. This means the forms must be completely true and accurate to the best knowledge of those signing the documents.
When you issue a qualified exemption/accommodation you can impose conditions. For example, if you employ a biller who has requested a religious exemption/accommodation you can have that biller work off-site instead of on-site, or if you have a provider in your facility who is an independent contractor and you have issued a qualified medical exemption/accommodation you could impose the condition of being tested for COVID-19 on a regular basis.
It is not discrimination to not hire/not contract with someone who is not vaccinated.

We hope that you find this information to be helpful.

Marybeth Berney LMT

WSMTA President

CPR -- More Info on the New CE Requirement

Robbin Blake — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 22:36:39 GMT

As I've mentioned in a prior GR blog, CPR is required for anyone renewing their massage license after September 1, 2021. The new requirement states, "Maintenance of certification in American Heart Association CPR or equivalent".

WSMTA has received questions about a) whether the class has to be in-person or not and b) what does equivalent mean?

The Format of the CPR Class:

Like the ethics requirement, the CPR requirement does not call out a specific mode of education which means that you can fulfill the requirement by taking an in-person class, an online class or a hybrid of in-person and online. If there are other formats for taking CPR, then it would be acceptable as well.

What Does Equivalent Mean?

The American Heart Association’s CPR is based on the resuscitation knowledge of the “International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation”. The American Red Cross is an equivalent organization and their CPR methods are based on the "International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation". If you take a CPR class from another organization, find out what their CPR methods are based on. More than likely you’ll find that it’s based on one of these two sets of guidelines. If it is, then it will be equivalent. Often you can find this information on the website’s FAQs page or on the page that talks about their CPR. If not, then call them. If it is not based on one of these two organizations’ resuscitation methods then you’ll need to do some homework to determine if it is equivalent or not.

To read our other blog article on CPR, please click on the following link: https://www.mywsmta.org/gr-news/10443398

Vaccine Mandate Information

Marybeth Berney — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 14:00:33 GMT

WSMTA wants to make sure that you have access to reliable information with which you can create an educated and informed response for yourself, your massage business, your family, friends and your community.

By now most of you are likely aware of Proclamation 21-14 COVID-19 Vax Washington. Here is a link to the Proclamation: https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/proclamations/21-14%20-%20COVID-19%20Vax%20Washington%20%28tmp%29.pdf

We encourage you to read the Proclamation in its entirety, paying particular attention to pages 6-7 which reference massage therapists in particular.

Another document that we encourage you to read in its entity is the FAQ that was just recently released by the WA Department of Health. Here is a link to the FAQ: https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/505-160-VaccinationRequirementFAQs.pdf

If you receive email notifications directly from DOH you should have seen these documents in your inbox.

Since there are differing views amongst the WSMTA board as well as many of our members regarding this topic, WSMTA is choosing a neutral stance. We encourage our membership to avoid the temptation to rely on hearsay and false narratives and to do the research for themselves using reliable and science based resources which will empower them to make the best decision for themselves, their business, their families, friends and communities.

WSMTA Government Relations Program

WA Cares Fund

Robbin Blake — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 00:25:32 GMT

There is a little known tax that will start for all Washington state employees on January 1, 2022 for the “WA Cares Fund”. Each employee will be taxed $.58 of every $100 for long-term care insurance. This is an employee tax, something that comes out of your paycheck, not an employer tax.

Starting January 1, 2025, employees who have been paying into this fund will be eligible for benefits. To be eligible, you must be vested in the fund and there are quite a few requirements. The maximum benefits that any employee can receive is up to $36,500 – about 3-6 months of care, depending on the facility or level of care provided. It is possible to opt out, but to do so you need to have your own personal long-term care insurance plan in place by November 1, 2021. If you are self employed and want to opt in, you can do that as well. For further details, go to: http://www.wacaresfund.wa.gov/

063021 Masking and Social Distancing for Massage Therapists

Robbin Blake — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 18:33:11 GMT

As Washington State reopens, there are a lot changes that have happened. However, for healthcare providers, there has been no change for us regarding masking and social distancing. Masking for healthcare providers is still required in our treatment rooms or clinics as is social distancing. When the new requirements came out earlier in June in preparation for the June 30th reopening, we started to work with the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) to get clarity. Please click on the following link for a one page summary of what the masking and social distancing requirements are and how this applies to massage therapists. Should you still have questions, at the bottom of the document is the contact information for the L&I contact person to follow up with.

06/30/21 State Masking/Social Distancing Requirements for LMTs

For a sign that can be posted in your massage room or clinic, please click on the following link:

Sign -- Face Masks Still Required

Signage -- 063021 Masking Still Required

Robbin Blake — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:30:56 GMT

Please click on the link below for a sign that can be posted in your office for your clients/patients to see. It indicates why face masks and social distancing are still required in the massage room or clinic.

Sign -- Face Masks Still Required

For more information on masking and social distance requirements, please click on this link:

063021 Masking and Social Distancing for Massage Therapists

OIC Posts Provides Info For 99072 PPE Billing

Robbin Blake — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 02:42:39 GMT

The Office of the Insurance Company (OIC) has published information on their website to help healthcare providers make contact with a health carrier to determine which of their plans are eligible or ineligible for 99072 PPE reimbursement. It still requires us to make contact with the health carrier, so there are no short cuts. To look at the page, click on this link:

How to determine health plan fully-insured status

Some insurance carriers are starting to make payments on just submitted billings for 99072 and some are even going back and paying on older submissions. If you haven't seen it yet, they are also changing their denial of claims for 99072 to specifically state that denial was due to ineligibility.

For our last blog on CPT Code 99072 PPE Reimbursement, please click on this link:

Part 2 – PPE Reimbursement (CALL TO ACTION)

Part 2 – PPE Reimbursement (CALL TO ACTION)

Robbin Blake — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 06:12:37 GMT

If you have been using CPT code 99072 to be reimbursed for PPE, you will probably have noticed that you are not being paid for it. If you look at the EOB’s, you will generally see a rejection notice that states: “payment is included in the allowance for another service/procedure”, or something similar to this. Healthcare providers across professions are not being reimbursed at this time.

Senate Substitute Bill 5169 (SSB5169) enables all healthcare providers to seek reimbursement for personal protective equipment during the state of emergency related to COVID-19. This bill became law and went into effect on April 16, 2021 when the governor signed it. Healthcare providers treating patients in state-regulated commercial health plans who have incurred costs for PPE are able to bill the newly created CPT code 99072 and be reimbursed $6.57 per patient encounter.

The two important things to remember about using 99072 to bill are:

It only applies to state-regulated commercial health plans which do not include: PIP, ERISA (federal plans such as medicare supplemental plans, or self-insured plans like Boeing or Microsoft), Taft-Hartley plans (trade-union bargained plans) or L&I.
Only bill exactly $6.57. Billing anything else gives the insurance companies an excuse to deny payment.

If you are unsure as to whether a client/patient’s plan is eligible for PPE reimbursement, ask your client/patient to contact their insurance company for a “summary plan description” which will indicate the set of laws that regulate it. By law, the insurance company has to respond to the patient’s request, but it does not have to respond to the same request if it comes from the healthcare provider.

CALL TO ACTION!

If you are being denied the PPE payment, our only recourse is to file complaints with the Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC). Without these complaints, nothing will be done by the OIC to require commercial health insurance companies to pay. Each healthcare profession is asking its members to file. To file a complaint, go to:

www.oic.wa.gov

On the left of this page, below the picture is a link in a green field for “File a complaint or check complaint status”, click on that and then click on the “File Complaint” button on the next screen. To file a complaint, you need to provide specific information about your complaint. Provide claim number and date of service, never include the patient name as the complaint becomes public record. Complaints with patient names will be rejected. Provide a statement of having billed 99072 for $6.57, that it was rejected and provide the rejection reason. State that the insurance company is not following the SSB5167 signed into law on 4/16/21 and ask the Insurance Commissioner to make the insurance company follow the law and reimburse you.

Once you have filled out your first complaint and submitted it, if you file others, the form will remember the information from your prior complaint and fill it in, so all you have to do is update the information (claim number, service date, insurance company name etc) for the next complaint. The more complaints you file, the greater the weight is on the Insurance Commissioner to act. Please only include information for one massage service provided on each complaint.

Thank you for supporting your profession!

To learn more about the details of SSB5167, read a prior posting by clicking HERE.

Annual Meeting & Continuing Education

Robbin Blake — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 03:38:53 GMT

Annual Business Meeting and Continuing Education

June 27 2021 at 9:30AM - 2:30 PM
Zoom attendance is limited to 100 participants.
Free to members, must be a member to attend. To become a member JOIN HERE
4 Continuing Education Credits

Annual Business Meeting

Results of the 2021 election of Directors.
Reports from WSMTA Clinical Practices, Government Relations, Membership Programs, and Treasurer. Our team of volunteers have been working especially hard for you and the profession this last year.

4 Continuing Education Presentations

Topic: Sustaining and Growing Your Business in Tough Times: Thinking Outside the Box During the Pandemic

In this live, interactive webinar our presenters will present creative healthcare business models. Thinking outside the box, they will share the benefits and risks of various models as well as the underlying values that inspire them.

Our presenters, from an array of healthcare practices, will inspire you to consider new ideas to grow your practice or recover from the effects of the pandemic with these topics:

Direct Primary Care (Concierge Service) by Dr. Richie
Understanding the Alphabet Soup of Supplemental Insurance Benefit Options - Taking Control of How Your Healthcare Dollars are Spent by Jessica Bradley
Widening Your Horizons and Adding Additional Services to Your Practice with Leslie Korn
Developing and Running a Membership-Based Wellness Spa by Nicole Chryst, LMT

For full event details, click HERE.

Part 2 -- New and Revised Massage Therapy WACs Effective 9/1/21 -- (CPR)

Robbin Blake — Wed, 05 May 2021 07:24:21 GMT

On 9/1/21, revisions and additions to the regulations in the Massage Therapy WAC Chapter 246-830 will go into effect. One of the changes that will affect licensed massage therapists the most is that CPR will be part of our CE requirement to renew our licenses.

Historically, we only needed to have completed CPR in massage school to obtain our initial massage license. However, starting 9/1/21, it will also be a requirement to renew our massage license. You can see the new CPR CE requirement at: WAC 246-830-475. The new CPR subsection states:

(2)(c) Maintenance of certification in American Heart Association CPR or equivalent. A maximum of four hours is allowed per reporting period.

It is also a requirement in many insurance contracts, if you are an insurance provider. We have always been able to use CPR for CE, but now it is a requirement.

At the time this article was written, online, classroom and online-classroom hybrid options were available and were easy to find on the internet. If you live in a more rural area, check with your local fire stations and hospitals to see if they have resumed in-person CPR classes.

One thing about CPR classes, at the end of class you get a card showing that you passed, but it doesn’t indicate the number of hours you attended to obtain your certificate. Our suggestion is to create a form and take it with you. Make sure it has all of these details pre-filled in as indicated in CE WAC 246-830-475 subsection:

(4) A massage therapist must provide acceptable documentation of continuing education upon request or audit. Acceptable forms of documentation include, but are not limited to:

(d) Other formal documentation that includes the following:

(i) Participant’s name;
(ii) Course title;
(iii) Course description;
(iv) Date or dates of course;
(v) Number of hours;
(vi) Indication of being an in-person course, self-study as referenced in subsection (3)(c) of this section, or distance learning as referenced in subsection (3)(f) of this section;
(vii) Instructor’s name or sponsor organization name or names;
(viii) Instructor or sponsor contact information; and
(ix) Signature of the program sponsor or course instructor. The self-study allowed in subsection (3)(c) of this section is exempt from this requirement.

At the end of class, all you need to do is to have your instructor write in the number of hours and then sign and date it.

Legislative Alert from the Unemployment Law Project

Marybeth Berney — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 20:54:55 GMT

ALERT: Legislature to Vote Soon on Unemployment Claims Processing Reform!

Dear friend of ULP:

The final hurdles have been crossed and SB 5193, an important bill, backed by ULP, which will improve many aspects of unemployment claims processing at the Employment Security Department (ESD), will be voted on at any time.

Key committees in the House of Representatives have okayed the measure and any day now, it will go to the floor for a vote before the full chamber.

The Senate already voted Yes on an earlier version of the bill. Some differences between the bills remain to be ironed out and then, with a Yes vote in the House, Washington will have several new provisions to protect claimants from the snarls, dead ends, and delays many encountered over the last 12 months when they were desperately in need of the unemployment benefits they had earned through their work.

SB 5193 requires ESD to:

Launch a training program to create a pool of adjudicators to have in reserve when unemployment claims levels surge.
Use plain language, tested on claimants for comprehensibility, in all letters, alerts, and notices;
Clearly explain the law behind determinations and redeterminations, the relevant facts, the reasoning, the decision and the result;
Explore: thresholds that trigger automatic adjustments in staffing, a pilot to provide a caseworker approach to benefit claims, and increased language access;
Dedicate a toll-free number for claimants with limited computer access or computer skills;
Maintain an online data dashboard, and provide quarterly reports with performance metrics that include updates of unemployment rates, claims data, claims center phone statistics, staffing ratios, overpayment data, and other information.
Report quarterly to the legislature on various other claims processing issues.

Please help SB 5193 cross the finish line!

Contact your legislators today and request their support for this measure urgently needed to protect Washington's more than 3 million workers.

To find your state representatives and senator, use this link: https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/.

Thank you for your help in ensuring that our unemployment benefits system provides support that Washington workers and their families can count on.

Sincerely,
Anne Paxton
Attorney & Policy Director
Unemployment Law Project

New and Revised Massage Therapy WACs Effective 9/1/21

Robbin Blake — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 06:33:04 GMT

On 9/1/21, revisions and additions to the regulations in the Massage Therapy WAC Chapter 246-830 will go into effect. One of the biggest changes that will go into effect on 9/1/21, will be that 625 massage school hours will be the new minimum requirement to obtain a new massage therapy license in Washington state. Historically, 500 hours has been the minimum hours required. If you are already licensed in Washington State, this will not affect you, but it will affect massage schools and massage therapists transferring in from another state.

Back in 2012, the Coalition of National Massage Therapy Associations initiated the Entry-Level Analysis Project (ELAP) which analyzed our profession to determine the minimum level of coursework for a basic massage program that would keep the public safe and provide safe and competent massage therapists. ELAP proposed a program which in total added up to 625 hours. After much public discussion, including from WSMTA, the Board of Massage made some changes to the ELAP content to make it work for Washington State, but kept to the recommended 625 hours.

Although more and more states are moving to 625 hours as the new minimum number of massage school hours, most states have not. Because many states still require only a minimum of 500 hours, credentialed massage therapists from other states can transfer in to Washington State if they meet the following new revised requirements found in WAC 246-830-035 Licensing by endorsement for out-of-state applicants (just click on the link, make sure to look at the revised wording effective 9/1/21).

Over the upcoming weeks, we will bring you more details about the WAC revisions and updates. The Department of Health has the CR-103 language (shows the revisions) posted on the Massage Therapist landing page which you can read at: https://www.doh.wa.gov/LicensesPermitsandCertificates/ProfessionsNewReneworUpdate/MassageTherapist (just scroll down the landing page to the third bullet under “Current Topics” titled “Rule Making Activity” and click on the link for the CR-103 document). If you would like to see the current WACs listed with full language next to the revised language that is effective 9/1/20, click on this link, Massage Therapy WAC Chapter 246-830, and open one of the sections, such as “Definitions”. First, the current language will be listed and then the revised language. Not all sections were revised, so you might see some sections that do not have revisions.

Board of Massage Notes 01/22/21

Marybeth Berney — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 02:56:54 GMT

To see the latest news from the most recent Board of Massage meeting click here.

RCW 48.43.016 (Prior Authorizations)

Robbin Blake — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 06:50:19 GMT

RCW 48.43.016 “Prior Authorization Standards and Criteria—Health carrier Requirements—Definitions”. On March 22, 2020, the Governor signed into law ESB 5887 which amends RCW 48.43.016. This is the RCW amendment which went into effect in June 2018 which provided for 6 consecutive treatment visits for massage therapy and other occupational therapies for plans requiring preauthorization. This 2018 amendment was meant to create stability of care with Premera and Regence patients/clients processed through eviCore. Unfortunately, health insurance companies managed to create their own interpretation of this law which created havoc when trying to provide the continuity of care for our patients/clients using these plans, for the past two years.

With this new 2020 bill, each patient may have “six treatment visits with a contracting provider in a new episode of care for each of the following: Chiropractic, physical therapy, occupational therapy, acupuncture, Eastern medicine, massage therapy, or speech and hearing therapies”. Whereas the health carriers were interpreting this as “six sessions total” regardless of which profession provided service, it now clearly states 6 sessions per profession. The other major change is the health carrier cannot “deny or limit coverage on the basis of medical necessity or appropriateness or retroactively deny care or refuse payment for the visits”. If you go to https://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=48.43.016, you can review the current RCW and there is a link to see the new language which went into effect on 6/11/20.

Information on Senate Bill 5169

Marybeth Berney — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 17:05:19 GMT

Information on SB 5169

The WSMTA Government Relations Program wants to make you aware of a bill working its way through the current WA state legislative session. Senate Bill 5169 is, “AN ACT Relating to provider reimbursement for personal protective equipment during the state of emergency related to COVID-19; adding a new section to chapter 48.43 RCW; creating new sections; providing a contingent expiration date; and declaring an emergency”.

You can read the full text of the bill here, https://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/

Here are the highlights of this bill.

The bill's primary driver is the WA State Medical Association.
The bill provides a code to bill for insurance reimbursement for PPE. The code is 99072. The max dollar reimbursement amount is $6.57 per patient encounter.
The bill covers “all healthcare providers”.
The bill will only be in effect as long as the declaration of a state of emergence continues.
It is prospective and not retroactive.

There will likely be amendments (coming from the health carriers) to the bill, as this is alluded to in the testimony before the Long Term Health Committee. You can watch that hearing here, https://www.tvw.org/watch/?eventID=2021011450

Likely amendments so far are (nothing has been made public as of the writing of the update).

Only in-person patient encounters will qualify.
The provider must have actually incurred cost. For example, you have cost for a new mask for each patient vs you reuse the same mask for multiple patient encounters.
Tying the mandate to the federal state of emergency rather than WA’s state of emergency.

Summary - Governors Operating Budget

WSMTA — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 04:13:17 GMT

Governor’s Proposed Operating Budget – Summary

December 2020

DOH 21 Suppl _ 21-23 Bien Gov Ops Budget.pdf

Governors DOH Budget

WSMTA — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 04:09:19 GMT

Governor’s Budget-DOH Information 12/18/2020

DOH Summary of Governor’s Budget. 2021 Supplemental budget as well as 21-23 Biennial Budget.(see attached)
The governor’s biennial budget is proposing almost everything that DOH has asked for.
WA COVID-19 response and vaccination program will be funded primarily through state funds, unless Congress passes additional funds for local governments.
There are NO proposed reductions to public health in the Governor’s budget. Despite the Governor originally asking for 15% cuts from all state agency budgets.
There are proposed DOH staff salary items, 1 furlough day per month and no cost of living increases.
Once the Legislature convenes (1/11/2021), the House and Senate will each propose their own version of a budget and then work toward common ground.
Sunday, 12/20/2020 will be the last official day for Secretary of Health, John Wiesman. On Monday the new Secretary of Health, Dr. Umair A. Shah MD MPH will officially take the reins of DOH.

Interpretation of ESHB 1608 for Massage Therapists

Carl Wilson — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 23:43:08 GMT

You may have received a notice from a DOH listserve about this Bill, if you are signed-up for certain listservs with the DOH. WSMTA has become aware that some massage therapists are confused about what/if this means for massage. I hope this helps.

Interpretation of ESHB 1608 for Massage Therapists: An Act relating to protecting patient care…

The primary intent of this Bill is aimed at healthcare providers that have the ability, in their scope of practice, to provide differential diagnosis. It is primarily about their “right” to counsel and provide information about the full array of treatment alternatives that are available in the community, without the risk of being fired or losing privileges. For example, a provider working at a Catholic Hospital who is afraid they could lose their privileges if they counsel a patient on the Death with Dignity Act, abortion, or birth control. The full text of the Bill can be found here, http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2019-20/Pdf/Bills/House%20Passed%20Legislature/1608-S.PL.pdf?q=20200813114524

What does this Bill mean for LMTs? Let us take the language of this bill and really break it down. How do we as licensed healthcare providers in WA practice according to the letter of the law and in our patients/clients’ best interest.

As healthcare providers we have the right and responsibility to provide accurate information to our patients/clients. This bill is spelling out that we MUST present information in a way that…

Is with-in our scope of practice, education, training, and experience.
With-in the accepted standard of care.
Medically accurate

So, let’s look at the definitions that are in WA state statute.

"Health care provider" means a person who is licensed, certified, registered, or otherwise authorized by the law of this state to provide health care in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession. RCW 70.02.010

"Massage" and "massage therapy" mean a health care service involving the external manipulation or pressure of soft tissue for therapeutic purposes. Massage therapy includes techniques such as tapping, compressions, friction, reflexology, Swedish gymnastics or movements, gliding, kneading, shaking, and fascial or connective tissue stretching, with or without the aids of superficial heat, cold, water, lubricants, or salts. Massage therapy does not include diagnosis or attempts to adjust or manipulate any articulations of the body or spine or mobilization of these articulations by the use of a thrusting force, nor does it include genital manipulation.

“Medically accurate” means information that is verified or supported by research in compliance with scientific methods, published in peer-review journals, recognized as accurate and objective by professional organizations.

We know this Bill applies to us, as we meet the definition of healthcare provider. If we are going to provide information to, or counsel our patients/clients, we need to make sure that information and counsel stays within scope and is medically accurate. Our scope of practice is limited to external manipulation or pressure of soft tissues for therapeutic purposes and within that limit we need to make sure we focus on passing along information that is supported by research and recognized as accurate.

This Bill does not speak to this but, remember, you can always suggest that your patient go back to their physician, get a second opinion or try another provider type if they are not making progress.

I hope this helps to clear up any questions that you might have had about this new statute. If you have further questions about your scope of practice limitations, please contact Megan Maxey, Program Manager for Board of Massage at Megan.Maxey@doh.wa.gov.

Marybeth Berney

WSMTA President

WSMTA Legislative Update

Government Relations — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 02:55:22 GMT

The regular session of the 2020 Washington State Legislature officially ended on March 12. With our state being hit hard by Covid-19, I would not be surprised to see the Governor call a special session at some point. If a special session is called, it will not affect the bills that WSMTA has been following this session. Here is an update on those bills.

SSB 5097: This bill passed both the House and the Senate and is awaiting the Governors signature. This bill will amend RCW 18.108.045. It will require all licensed massage therapists and certified reflexologist to have available for inspection some form of government issued photo identification. The name on the identification must match the name on the massage license or reflexology certificate. The exact language is below.

A massage therapist licensed under this chapter or a reflexologist certified under this chapter must have government issued photo identification on his or her person or have it be available for inspection by city, county, or state law enforcement or department personnel at all times he or she practices massage therapy or reflexology. The name of the massage therapist or reflexologist on the government-issued photo identification must match the name on the massage therapy license or reflexology certification.

HB 1082: This was a companion bill to SSB 5097. The language was essentially the same as SSB 5097. So, when SSB 5097 passed the House and Senate, HB 1082 no longer needs to continue its journey.

HB 2294: This was a bill that would have expanded the definition of who is covered by RCW 9A.36.031 to include all healthcare providers. Previously, only doctors and nurses in a hospital setting were covered healthcare providers in this RCW. This bill died in the House Public Safety Committee. The Committee members were very reluctant to expand the definition of this RCW to include more special groups. The exact language is below.

A person is guilty of assault in the third degree (a class C felony, instead of simple assault which is a gross misdemeanor) if he or she, under circumstances not amounting to assault in the first or second degree: (i) Assaults a healthcare provider regulated under Title 18 RCW who was performing health care duties at the time of the assault.

Board Of Massage Meeting Notes

Government Relations — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 22:13:43 GMT

022120 Board of Massage Meeting Notes.pdf

Bremerton Massage Ordinance - Part 4

Government Relations — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 17:00:00 GMT

Congratulations to everyone! WSMTA attended the August 21, 2019 City of Bremerton Council meeting and the City Council passed the Bremerton City Ordinance 5373 -- Chapter 5.14 Massage and Reflexology Businesses ordinance without any changes. Click here for the final language of the ordinance.

WSMTA thanks the City of Bremerton City Council, Chief of Police and City Attorney for all of their work. WSMTA would also like to especially acknowledge the efforts of the Chief of Police in helping develop the current City of Bremerton Chapter 5.14 Massage and Reflexology Businesses ordinance language and getting it into the City Council's system so quickly. He also really went out of his way to meet and talk with some of the members of the local Bremerton massage therapy community who had expressed concerns, he kept them informed of what was happening with the ordinance and listened to their input.

Bremerton Massage Ordinance - Part 3

Government Relations — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 17:00:00 GMT

Monday Morning, August 5, 2019 the Bremerton Chief of Police contacted WSMTA about its proposal. After a discussion, by the afternoon of that same day, the Chief of Police had drafted new ordinance language based on our proposal. At that point, we involved the AMTA-WA in the discussion and notified the Washington Reflexology Association about the discussion and kept them informed throughout the process. During that week we (Chief of Police, WSMTA and AMTA-WA) massaged the language (pun intended) of the revised massage and reflexology business ordinance.

Even though the original proposed massage ordinance had been withdrawn from the August 7 City of Bremerton City Council Agenda, WSMTA attended and thanked the Council for listening to the massage profession and allowing the original language to be pulled. We also thanked the Chief of Police for his efforts in putting the new proposed ordinance language together. There were also 5 or 6 other local massage therapists who attended as well.

By August 13, 2019 the final draft of the revised ordinance had been completed by the Bremerton City Attorney -- the language was approved by all of the involved parties. The Chief of Police was able to get the revised ordinance accepted to the City of Bremerton City Council agenda at their August 14, 2019 study session. WSMTA attended the meeting along with two local massage therapists. The City Council members were very amenable to the new revised ordinance language and accepted the ordinance on to the agenda without any changes to it.

Bremerton Massage Ordinance - Part 2

Government Relations — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 17:00:00 GMT

WSMTA has emailed its proposal to the City of Bremerton City Council, City Attorney, Mayor and Chief of Police on Sunday August 4th. To read WSMTA's proposal, click here.

Last week we did a lot of research. During the January 2019 WA State Board of Massage meeting, an assistant city attorney and a detective from the City of Kent had been invited to present to the Board of Massage what they did in November 2018 to shut down 18 suspected prostitution and human trafficking entities posing as massage clinics in their city and how they have continued to keep them out. Fortunately, one of our members had been present at this Board of Massage meeting to hear their full presentation. What Kent did and how it used it's ordinances became part of the basis for our proposal. We contacted the City of Kent assistant city attorney who had presented to get more details and then contacted our advisor on prostitution and human trafficking, Lavon Watson, for information on other municipalities which had been successful at keeping out illegal massage businesses within their city limits. We also researched a lot of municipal ordinances in western Washington.

As a result of our research, we decided to use the City of Bellevue ordinances as the model. Boiling down the language, the ordinance is simple: only licensed massage therapists can do massage in city limits and if the persons doing massage are not licensed massage therapists then that is a misdemeanor offence. Business owners who employee non-licensed massage therapists also receive a misdemeanor and business licenses can then be revoked because of the misdemeanor. We provided other supporting state regulations along with steps that the City of Kent had done to enforce its regulations and to work with the business community after these illegal businesses were shut down.

Bremerton Massage Ordinance - Part 1

Government Relations — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 17:00:00 GMT

Close to midnight on Friday July 26, WSMTA received notification from one of its members about the August 7 City of Bremerton City Council Meeting and the massage ordinance language that had been proposed (Bremerton City Ordinance 5373 -- Chapter 5.14 Massage Businesses). The ordinance language is the City of Bremerton's attempt to have regulations by which they could limit and shut down prostitution and human traffic entities that were posing as massage clinics. In trying to manage this, the language is very restrictive and punitive on law-abiding massage therapists and creates an unsafe working environment for them. For a copy of the proposed ordinance click here.

Over the weekend, WSMTA strategized how we should approach this ordinance: should we spend our efforts opposing it or should we spend our efforts in trying to research what works for other municipalities and propose that information to City of Bremerton City Council?

Since social media outlets started to talk about the proposed City of Bremerton ordinance on Massage Businesses on Saturday July 27th, WSMTA assumed that there would be plenty of feedback to the City of Bremerton about what was wrong with the ordinance by individual massage therapists and by organizations, so WSMTA has decided to research what other municipalities have done to keep organized prostitution and human trafficking entities which are posing as massage clinics out of their city limits and what their city ordinances are that support there ability to do so.