American Massage Therapy Association^®

AMTA Board Makes Decisions for Success

Evanston, IL (November 30, 2004) - At its October meeting, the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Board of Directors made several decisions to help members more easily complete their continuing education hours, open up new ways to generate revenue to expand AMTA programs for members and gain new recognition for those massage therapists who choose to work with the medical community.

"Our Board of Directors has a Strategic Focus and these decisions show our members and the whole massage therapy profession how we approach things,” said Laurel J. Freeman, AMTA President. “We are collaborating with people in every part of the profession and working with organizations that make decisions that affect how massage therapists make a living. This is an exciting time in massage."

Major decisions of the Board include the following:

• Continuing education requirements - By March 2005 AMTA will accept a member’s National Certification and recertification in lieu of reporting continuing education hours. Based on a recommendation from the House of Delegates and suggestions from members, this will make it easier for those AMTA Professional Active members who are Nationally Certified to meet their AMTA continuing education requirements.

• Sponsorship Program - AMTA will expand sponsorship opportunities for advertisers, exhibitors and consumer goods companies as a source of non-dues revenue to expand services and programs for members.

• AMTA’s role in massage therapy education - AMTA wants the level of massage practice and success to continually improve. The Board agreed to work with the stakeholders in the profession to define entry level massage therapy education standards that also will guide other AMTA education initiatives. The Board will examine further strategies for massage therapy education at the March meeting.

• Measuring AMTA’s success - The Board established measures for determining the association’s overall success. These results will guide decisions about areas of focus next year and efficient use of AMTA resources to meet those measurable goals. The measures tell the Board and members if activities and expenses are being used to best accomplish goals.

• AMTA to submit new CPT codes to AMA - The Board accepted the recommendations of Whitney Lowe, AMTA’s representative on the American Medical Association CPT Health Care Professional Advisory Committee (HCPAC), and agreed to propose to the CPT Advisory Panel two new massage therapy codes massage therapists could legally use to seek insurance reimbursement.

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