Advocacy Action Center

Follow our legislative and regulatory tracking, and take action on the issues important to you and your practice. Support the massage profession by participating in AMTA's advocacy efforts. Make your voice heard regarding critical massage related issues facing the profession. By becoming advocates you are helping maintain the highest standards for the massage therapy profession and the highest quality of care for the massage consumer.

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Legislative Updates

AMTA’s commitment to members and the profession

As a nonprofit association, AMTA is committed to giving back to the massage therapy community. We do this by investing your membership dollars in advocacy, research, scholarships and more.

Through advocacy work, AMTA volunteers and staff strive to enhance the reputation and acceptance of massage therapy and the crucial role of professional massage therapists.

While last year was like no other, staff worked to ensure members had the timely updates and information needed around COVID-19, while continuing the important work to raise the profile of the profession among federal and state governments and agencies, the health care community, insurance companies, and consumers.

What happened in 2020?

Here are just some of the things volunteers and staff did on behalf of members and the massage therapy profession in 2020:

AMTA provided continuous updates around COVID-19 and related issues impacting massage therapists, including stimulus bills, small business loan issues, unemployment, accelerated and advance payments, state operational issues, the status of reopening among the states, and Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for both general business and health care through the AMTA website, social media, and more than 200 emails to members.

More than 25,000 advocates took action through our grassroots advocacy network to send over 84,000 letters to elected officials, including 70,000 letters in support of the CARES Act.

We continue to work with NOPAIN Act (H.R. 5172 and S. 3067) key partners and supporters, including the AMA, American Nurses Association, the National Safety Council, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the FDA, to increase patient access to massage therapy as a non-addictive, non-opioid approach to pain management. The bill would require Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to enhance access to integrative therapies such as massage. It would also increase the recognition of massage therapy as a billable benefit.

AMTA, as part of the Alliance to Advance Comprehensive Integrative Pain Management (AACIPM), participated in working groups and on presentations with partner organizations to educate health care providers, payers (insurance companies) and patients on the benefits of integrative therapies including massage, raising the profile of the profession as an alternative to pain management.

The Government Relations team urged the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to include massage therapy in updated guidelines for pain management – the CDC has indicated they have heard the massage community, and are actively considering AMTA suggestions.

Working at the state level with partners and volunteers, state-based legislative wins included bills to improve standards for the massage therapy profession, enhance continuing education requirements, and the legal recognition of massage therapy.