keywords: credentialing, privileging, hospital sponsor, PCM, KSAs, biomedical training, hospital culture
Author/Editor: Megan Kingsley Gale
Contributing authors:
Fujio McPherson, DAOM, ARNP
If you are a dual-licensee reading this, please chime in on the comments section. Would love to hear form you!
If you are a dual-licensee reading this, please chime in on the comments section. Would love to hear form you!
Dual-licensed
L.Ac.s and strength brought to EAM Hospital Work
A dual-licensed L.Ac. brings great strength to his/her
work in the hospital. Because she also
has a Western medical health care license (MD, DO, DC, ARNP), she has a foot in
both worlds. She understands hospital
culture and can be a wonderful advocate for single-licensed L.Ac.s into
hospital setting. These dual-licensees,
in practice have often been the first L.Ac.s into hospitals. They have been hired under their non-L.Ac.
health care license. Some have slowly
incorporated more EAM work into their clinical practice (when hospital culture
was right, they added acupuncture and EAM procedures to their “delineation of
clinical privileges”). Some, in the case
of some VA/VHA L.Ac.s, were hired under their non-L.Ac. license for the job of
an L.Ac. i.e. an RN-L.Ac. hired to do
full-time L.Ac. work, but no current occupational code existed in hospital
system for hiring L.Ac., so hired and credentialed under RN licensed, but
position description is entirely L.Ac., not RN and practice work is all L.Ac. Same example for PA and DC.
Dual-licensees make great primaries on hospital Integrative Medicine research projects.
Negatives to
dual-license L.Ac.s in hospital practice
When push comes to shove, these L.Ac.s often find
themselves doing more of the non-L.Ac. healthcare work because that is (area of
need) where hospital needs them first.
This is less common with RN-L.Ac.s.
Very common with MD-L.Ac.s and ARNP-L.Ac.s. Non-dual licensees do not have this pull
toward two-jobs-in-one. An L.Ac.-only
can not have his time divided into other health care duties. So, an L.Ac.-only is time and
cost-efficient. Less education expenses
to pay back. Can be counted on to
provide only EAM services (not also injections, PAP smears, surgery, etc) to a
dedicated clinic. Having a dedicated
L.Ac. clinic is essential to consistent patient care and outcomes.
Dual-licensee
distinctions
PCM-L.Ac. and non-PCM-L.Ac.
PCM-L.Ac.
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Non-PCM dual-license L.Ac.
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Ex: MD-L.Ac.,
ARNP-L.Ac., DO-L.Ac,
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These are occasionally PCM, depending on state law:
D.C.-L.Ac, ND-L.Ac, PA-L.Ac.
Definite non-PCM dual-modern medicine licenses that
seem to help in L.Ac. hospital practice:
RN-L.Ac.—RNs are not providers
PsyD-L.Ac.—clinical psychologist who is also an L.Ac.
MPH-L.Ac.—one of most common dual-licenses for
L.Ac.s. Master of Science in Public
Health is a nice fit for EAM providers.
In hospital setting you are likely to work in admin positions or in
positions where you are creating community health programs. Not always clinical work.
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PCMs are clearly providers, based on their non-L.Ac.
license (MD, DO).
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The non-L.Ac. license seems to help these “duall-ees”
understand hospital culture and navigate the system. Sometimes the non-PCM first license has
caused confusion when these duallees want to work clinically as L.Ac.s. The clinical work of an L.Ac., while not
PCM, is provider level 2 work. If the
non-L.Ac. license is not in provider work, it may be counter to duallees
first position description to do L.Ac. clinical work. (example:
RNs do not have acupuncture in their scope of practice. The RN-L.Ac., to do acupuncture, must be
hired under L.Ac. PD to be clearly able to do so. Trouble arising when their PD does not give
credit for their L.Ac. background.
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A PCM-L.Ac. is usually hired under the PCM license and
gets the L.Ac. scope added/granted as part of his/her clinical privileges, sometimes called "extended privileges"
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Recommendation to
L.Ac. education leaders—making Dual-licensees more common!!
We know dual-license L.Ac.s are door-openers for our
field of EAM in:
Research
More jobs
Federal work
Hospital work
Integrative medicine clinics
Specialty clinics
Inpatient work
So, what can we, as a profession, especially at our
education institutions, do to make dual-licensees more common?
The discussion continues in comments section, email list, and in our social media groups. If you found this information helpful or interesting, please considering donating to or sponsoring the project and joining the email list.
acronymns
EAM--East Asian Medicine. I current favor this term over the following to describe our modern practice: TAM (traditional Asian Medicine), AOM (Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine). In May 2016, President Obama signed a bill to eliminate the term "oriental" from all federal documents because the term is derogatory.
VA/VHA--veteran's administration or veteran's health administration
IM--integrative medicine
PCM--primary care manager
L.Ac./EAMP--state license titles for Acupuncturists. "Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac.)" and "East Asian Medicine Practitioner (EAMP)". L.Ac. is the most common state title.
PCMH--patient-centered medical homes
