A History of Oriental Medicine Legislation in New Mexico
Relating to Scope of Practice and Insurance

The original New Mexico Acupuncture Practice Act (The Act) was passed in 1981. It was the result of work by a small band of acupuncturists and acupuncture students. It was initiated by Sensei Masahilo Nakazono who started the first school of acupuncture in the state called the Kototama Institute School of Natural Life Medicine. His students and a few others created the Acupuncture Association of New Mexico which became the New Mexico Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and is now called the Oriental Medicine Association of New Mexico (The Association). Sensei Nakazono loaned a group of ten of his students $10,000.00 to hire a lobbyist, Peter Mallery, to attempt to get a law created that would provide for the licensed practice of acupuncture. Each of those ten students agreed to repay Sensei Nakazono $1,000.00. Tom Duckworth, D.O.M., was the primary person who worked with our sponsor, Senator Tito Chavez, and our lobbyist, Peter Mallery, at the Capitol. There was opposition from the New Mexico Medical Society. We were successful! Governor Bruce King signed this bill into law. The original Acupuncture Practice Act created the independent Board of Acupuncture and provided for the licensed practice of acupuncture by a licensed acupuncturist (L.Ac.) without supervision or the need for referral from other health care providers. Great wisdom was demonstrated in making those choices.

The next major event to shape our profession was the passage of Senate Bill 88 in 1989. This legislation changed the definition of "acupuncture" in The Act to include "all allied techniques of oriental medicine both traditional and modern" which enabled L.Acs. to practice oriental medicine rather than just acupuncture. The bill also prevented all other health care practitioners who were not L.Acs. from using the term acupuncture to describe any therapy they performed. Finally, for the first time the services of L.Acs were covered by indemnity health insurance and L.Acs. were defined as "practitioners of the healing arts" along with medical doctors, osteopaths and dentists. Dr. Angelique Cook was the inspiration behind this action. She spent years convincing Dr. Glenn Wilcox that he was the person to lead the profession to change New Mexico laws so that acupuncturists were covered by health insurance. Dr. Wilcox eventually agreed and also decided that expanding the scope of practice was essential. The profession was not supportive and felt that legislatively "rocking the boat" was risky and expensive. So Drs. Angelique Cook, Lou Talento and Glenn Wilcox asked Senator Tito Chavez to sponsor the bill and went to the Capitol to lobby it. A professional lobbyist could not be afforded. The bill was opposed by a group of medical doctors, osteopaths and chiropractors who spent $20,000.00 to hire a top lobbyist to "kill the bill." However, the greenhorns were successful and Governor Gary Carruthers signed the bill into law.

Inspired by the prior success, The Association initiated 3 bills in 1991 that attempted to make more changes to the Act and hired Peter Mallery to lobby them. Senator Tito Chavez was the sponsor for all three. Governor Bruce King vetoed SB 181 as a result of "turf" squabbling between the acupuncturists and the chiropractors. It would have created the Oriental Medicine Practice Act and licensed doctors of oriental medicine. SB 179 which added us to the Medicaid statute and SB 180 which added us to the HMO and Non Profit Health Insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield) statutes were signed into law by Governor King. Drs. Cook, Talento and Wilcox were joined by Drs. Jonas Skardis and Gurusant Khalsa in the effort.

The Association initiated Senate Bill 178 in 1993. It was successful and renamed the Board of Acupuncture as the Board of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, created a separate and expanded definition of "oriental medicine" that included the authority to diagnose and prescribe, changed the official licensure title from "licensed acupuncturist" to "doctor of oriental medicine" and defined D.O.M.s as physicians. Drs. Cook, Talento, Jonas Skardis and Wilcox worked the Round House and The Association hired Peter Mallery to lobby the bill. Once again Senator Tito Chavez was the sponsor and Governor Bruce King signed the bill into law. However, Governor King vetoed SB 328 sponsored by Senator Tito Chavez. This bill would have created the "Freedom of Choice of Primary Care Provider" section in the New Mexico insurance statutes and defined D.O.M.s as PCPs for mostb types of health and vehicle med pay insurance.

In 1995 Governor Gary Johnson vetoed two bills initiated by The Association who hired Peter Mallery to lobby them. They were both sponsored by Senator Tito Chavez. Drs. Cook, Talento and Wilcox went to work again but their labors bore no fruit. Senate Bill 341 would have required the Governor to select professional board members from a list submitted by The Assoication. Senate Bill 476 would have changed the insurance statutes and was exactly the same bill as SB SB 328 vetoed by Governor King in 1993.

In 1996 Senate Bill 294 was initiated by The Association who again hired Peter Mallery to lobby it. It was sponsored by Senator Tito Chavez and vetoed by Governor Johnson. Drs. Cook, Jonas Skardis and Wilcox were joined by Dr. David Canzone to work it. It passed the House and Senate and would have mandated vehicle medical insurance coverage for D.O.M.s had it been signed.

In the years, after the passage of Senate Bill 178 in 1993, the leaders of the profession felt that our scope of practice and prescriptive authority were broadly defined by The Act in such a way that the Board of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine was authorized to determine the fine points by rule. During this time the Board of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine requested input from the profession to define our scope of practice. This was done and among other conclusions it was believed that The Act authorized D.O.M.s to perform injection therapy using a number of substances including procaine. The profession organized classes to teach this. It was also taught in New Mexico Oriental Medicine schools. However, the Board Pharmacy felt that our prescriptive authority was not well defined and recommended that we go back to the legislature to more clearly define our prescriptive authority.

The leaders of the profession decided to go back to the legislature to create a prescriptive authority in the Act that was well defined and clear to the Board of Pharmacy. It was understood that there were risks involved in doing so since success is never guaranteed. However, the alternative was to ask the Attorney General to make an opinion on the issue and that was determined to be the greater risk.

In 1997 Senate Bill 272 was initiated by the New Mexico Board of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and supported by The Association who hired Peter Mallery to lobby the bill. Dr. David Canzone and Dr. Wilcox worked this bill. It defined D.O.M.s as primary care providers, clarified our prescriptive authority and created the Extended Prescriptive Authority which clearly authorized the use of specified dangerous drugs including topical bioidentical hormones, vapocoolants and a number of substances used for injection therapy such as Sarapin, a prescription local anesthetic, and injectable forms of homeopathic medicines, herbal medicines, vitamins, minerals, etc. In order to achieve this Extended Prescriptive Authority to use these dangerous drugs additional training to protect the public was required by the State Legislature and the Governor after encouragement from the New Mexico Medical Society and the Board of Pharmacy. In a last minute amendment by Representative John Heaton, procaine, epinephrine, oxygen and oral bioidentical hormones were removed from the bill. The bill was sponsored by Senator Michael Sanchez and signed into law by Governor Gary Johnson.

Also signed into law by Governor Johnson in 1997 was House Bill 856 which mandated vehicle medical payment insurance for the services of D.O.M.s. It was sponsored by Representative Rick Miera, lobbied by Peter Mallery and worked by Drs. Canzone and Wilcox.

In 1999 Senate Bill 285, sponsored by Senator Michael Sanchez, was initiated by the BAOM but was vetoed by Governor Gary Johnson. It would have added to the D.O.M. Extended Prescriptive Authority the dangerous drugs amended out in 1997. The Association hired Peter Mallery who lobbied the bill with Drs. Canzone and Wilcox.

In 2000 Senate Bill 117, sponsored by Senator Michael Sanchez, was initiated by the BAOM and supported by The Association who hired Peter Mallery to lobby it. It created the Expanded Prescriptive Authority Certification that authorized the use of the dangerous drugs amended out in 1997 such as procaine, epinephrine, oxygen and oral bioidentical hormones. Drs. Canzone and Wilcox were joined by Dr. Celeste Skardis at the State Capitol to work this piece of legislation which was signed into law by Governor Gary Johnson.

In 2001 the final piece in our scope of practice was put in place. Two similar bills were initiated by the BAOM. The Association hired Peter Mallery to lobby them. Dr. Canzone did the honors at the Capitol. House Bill 394, sponsored by Representative Rick Miera, fine tuned the definition of "primary care provider" in The Act as well as increased the fee ceilings. Senate Bill 536, sponsored by Senator Michael Sanchez, was the same as the House Bill but did not change fees. Both were signed by Governor Johnson but since House Bill 394 was signed last, it became law.

And so goes the saga of the creation of the best Oriental Medicine scope of practice and insurance coverage in the land. It is the result of thousands of hours of work by several people who also invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process. So many other people, who are not named here, contributed money, organizational time, lobbying time, legislative committee time and time providing free treatments to legislators and staff. The creation of this scope of practice and these insurance laws was possible because doctors of oriental medicine in New Mexico were inspired by a vision of something greater and worked together towards that vision. Enjoy it, respect it, be responsible with it, grow into it and continue to nurture and evolve it so that all people may experience better health. Remember that Oriental Medicine is an evolving system of health care and the potential of that evolution is as infinite as we are.