The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal • September - December 2011 • Page 52
The Crazy Wisdom Interview with Brodie Burris on Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Continued from page 51 Heather is also the newly elected president of our state organization (MAAOM). We have a great group of members across the state devoted to providing quality care, expanding public awareness about TCM, and supporting regulatory standards that protect the public. We meet several times throughout the year, which gives all of us the opportunity to connect socially as well as unify our voices politically. Might you be able to briefly give our readers a sense of where acupuncture is, statewide, in terms of accreditation, registration and licensure, and in terms of acupuncture having a voice as a political entity in the statewide health care infrastructure? Can you also tell us about how the acupuncture field is working to maintain standards? Burris: We are currently in an exciting time nationwide, as well as in the state. Acupuncture is enjoying a significant growth in recognition for being a legitimate form of healthcare. We have just completed our efforts to become registered acupuncturists with the state, which protects the title ‘acupuncturist’. What that means, is that people must now have a degree from an accredited school, and have passed the national NCCAOM board exams to call themselves acupuncturists. This ensures that the public can be confident that registered acupuncturists are well educated and have demonstrated a minimum level of competency. As well, this is one of the ways we have worked to maintain high standards in our profession, because to keep our national board certification we must complete 60 hours of continuing education every four years.
Also, I think our readers would find it interesting to get a sense of the differences between California and Michigan in terms of acupuncture practitioners, health insurance, lab requisitions, etc.
Photo by Rachael Waring
Our next effort will be to become licensed practitioners so that we can have a better chance at getting insurance reimbursement, and have the opportunity to practice autonomously, since we currently have to practice under the supervision of an MD or DO to practice legally. Though the MAAOM is a small organization, and we have only a very small voice in the statewide health care infrastructure, our medicine is gaining recognition and momentum, and I believe it is only a matter of time until it is well integrated into what people think of as a regular part of the health care spectrum, right along with physical therapy and other examples of integrated modalities.
they need medical intervention we don’t provide. One of the other major differences is that in California, nearly all insurance companies would cover acupuncture and even herbal medicine. Here in Michigan, the coverage for this medicine is extremely poor. I don’t understand how this works but as an example, it has always confounded me that Blue Cross-Blue Shield in California covers everything I do, but here, won’t cover a penny. I just don’t understand why they would recognize it as a good investment in one state and not in another. I always encourage our patients to talk to their insurance company to ask that acupuncture be covered, since I believe that consumer demand is one way to change things. (Some auto insurance does cover acupuncture and the same is often true for health savings accounts.) From my vantage point, I see acupuncture flowering. Do you agree that acupuncture is “coming of age” in the Ann Arbor region, and if so, why? Burris: I can see what you mean, Bill, there are definitely more and more acupuncturists in the area, and not just in Ann Arbor but all over the state. This medicine is one of the fastest growing alternative modalities out there; in fact, I have heard that there are currently more people in acupuncture school than are practicing. I think this is happening because the mainstream is finally catching up with what many have known for decades, and the Chinese have known for thousands of years. Acupuncture works, and works well. In addition, it is relatively cheap, and very safe. I think that Ann Arbor probably attracts more practitioners than other communities because it’s such a fantastic and diverse community – with something for everyone. I really love living here. You said to me that Western medicine has a difficult time understanding how acupuncture works. You spoke of linear versus quantum understandings. Please elaborate. Burris: I suppose I meant that I think acupuncture is hard to understand from a western perspective because I believe that its actions are functioning more like quantum mechanics which are very subtle and difficult to observe as opposed to the cleaner, easierto-observe actions of Newtonian models --- like ball A hits ball B at a certain angle and velocity to produce a predictable result. Modern medical research, for the most part, still operates in a very linear, reductionistic way, looking to break things down into their parts and examine how the mechanics of their actions work. So they want to be able to observe a meridian, or determine what chemical cascades are being triggered, believing that there is a physical root to the effects of acupuncture. Unfortunately, these examinations produce only limited explanations or require instruments of observation which have sensitivities beyond our current ability to produce. I believe that the actions of acupuncture start at a very subtle energetic layer, which we might compare to the quantum levels of reality, which are very real, but difficult to observe directly. We need a new model of examination which can discern the energetic actions of whole dynamic systems, not just discrete pieces. I know that it’s easy for me to say that, and not to say, of course, that the classic scientific approach hasn’t served us very well, and it has drastically improved our understanding of the body. It’s just that the subtle energetic mechanics of acupuncture don’t lend themselves to easy study by that method.
Burris: Honestly, I have lost touch “If you were to go to see an old Chinese master of with the current laws regarding acupuncture in the state of California, acupuncture and begin to tell him why you were but I expect that things are not that there, he would probably tell you to be quiet and much different than when I lived there. show him your tongue, check your pulses, and then At the time, after I completed the state know better than you what you need.” licensure boards, I would have been a primary care provider. That means I feel a responsibility to mention that I know very little about anything and that people could come to me as their sole medical provider, and I would the fact is, none of us really do. There is a lot of really great work being done have the responsibility not only to treat them with my medicine, but also out there, like that of my colleague, Dr. Rick Harris, right here at U of M, who to recognize when they might need other tools than I have, and refer them is exploring the effects of acupuncture on the receptors in our brain which to the appropriate specialist. We don’t officially have those responsibilities control pain. This is really great work which advances our understanding of here in Michigan. Since we have to work under the supervision of an MD acupuncture’s effects on the body. It’s just that the subtle question of why or DO, all of our patients should already have medical care established acupuncture affects us in this way, and in a host of other seemingly unrelated for their condition, and we are simply an adjunctive therapy. It is still our ways -- that lies beyond our reach. responsibility to some extent to direct people to the appropriate care if