Ohio legal reform.

[AlwaysDepressed]

Fellow bodyworkers, as a student of massotherapy, I am unsurprisingly preoccupied with my impending graduation, and thus with state boards in particular. This has lead me to several disturbing revelations, such as the facts that not only is Ohio far behind the rest of the country in the materials we are being tested on (we are still using the Kellogg text for state boards), but even if another student receives their license in another state and passes their National Certification Exam (NCE), the state of Ohio does not recognize their accomplishments, and instead makes them begin their schooling from the beginning. My questions are:

1: What procedures would I, or a group such as the AMTA, have to go through in order to change the regulations in Ohio, so that they would begin to accept students who had passed the National Certification Exam in another state?

2: Is it possible to drag the state of Ohio out of the dark ages, and start using another text that was written later than the beginning out the 20th century? And if so, how would I go about initiating this change in policy?

Thank you, and I look forward to any and all comments or suggestions on either of these two matters.

 

[???????? Vixen ????????]

Both VA and DC offer licensing by "endorsement" from states with substantially similar requirements to their own which have already granted the applicant a license.

But even then, such statutes fall short. A NY licensee - with their 1000 hours of training, but lacking the NCBTMB exam, which is not required in NY - have to take the exam and apply like a recent graduate.

Licensure by Endorsement is a start, but there is still a ways to go!

 

[theMayne]

There really needs to be some sort of National Licensure/organization that oversees the entire country and makes the testing and licensure the same across the board. it is silly to have every state just do whatever they want and the NCTMB is a joke since their exam isn't really "national" at all.

Patrick

 

[harrry]

Noah_II -

You must be from NE Ohio.... massaotherapy is how massage therapy is referred to in that area.... but, I digress.....

Good luck with changing the medical board. Have been licensed in Ohio for over 12 years now and many attempts have been made by AMTA, ABMP, etc to get even minor changes made in our licensure, scope of practice, etc. Takes more than an act of God to get the medical board to do anything that doesn't jeopardized its stranglehold on the profession.
I held the office of state AMTA President and our representatives to the medical board meetings had nothing but difficulty in dealing with the powerful physicians who comprise the board itself. It was a major accomplishment just to have the MTAC board developed. The med. board has been the overseer for massage therapy in Ohio since 1914. Do you really think it will give up its oversight? Not very bloody likely even in the 21st century.

If you really want to work toward the changes you suggest, become involved with the massage therapy lobbyists that are working to repeal the sales taxes we are force to collect [the only medically licensed profession in the state required to do so]. Get involved with the professional organizations and see what you can get done there. Having said that, however, you need to be prepared to live in the real world as it pertains to the med. board...... having spoken to most of the LMTs in my county at one time or another about all my concerns regarding the profession in this state and how we should all get proactive, etc. I can tell you this much, getting LMTs off the dime and into action is like trying to herd cats........... you get tired of cajoling and pleading, no one cooperates for long with anyone else either out of stubbornness, or just plain loss of interest, and the development of a cat herd just doesn't happen.

Yes, it would be wonderful if the Ohio medical board accepted other states' educational criteria, which, if you read the law and the administrative rules it may choose to do at its discretion. It is not, however, in the board's financial interest to do so and thus it will be a very long hard slog uphill to change anything. When I was graduating from school [1996] we were told by the med. board that we were no longer allowed to take the NCTMB exam before the state boards as a "tune up" for the state exam. The reasoning -- if you pass NCTMB then you are legally licensed in other states, thus ineligible to sit the state exam......... don't know if that is still the case, but, that's the way it was "back in the day". Four people from my class, who came to Ohio for the quality of education they wanted/needed to become LMTs, opted to take the national exam because they were moving back home after graduation. The rest of us chose to abide by the state board requirements and didn't test nationally, if at all, until after taking the state exam and getting back the results nearly 1 1/2 months later. Yes, it sucks! Big time..........

I wish you the best with your pending exam. It will be the hardest 4 hours you have ever experienced, but, in the long run, very much worth the struggle to be sharp and focused throughout the exam.


One more thought, yes, Kellogg is archaic, but, quite a bit of his research and technique is still quite applicable even in the 21st century. I'm not saying it's the best text ever, far from it. The language may be Englilsh, but, the syntax and grammatical structure are foreign to our more "modern" eyes and minds.

edited because I can't spell this morning