Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture Society of Australia Ltd

1. CEO Update

• Communication with Minister Mark Butler for MBS reimbursement for Chinese Medicine and acupuncture

In September 2022, in my capacity as CMASA CEO, I wrote to Hon Mark Butler, the Commonwealth Minister for Health and Aged Care to request Medicare reimbursement for Chinese Medicine, including Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture. More specifically, I requested the following:

• Seeking an extension to professional eligibility for the provision of Individual Allied Health Services for Chronic Disease Management, to include Chinese medicine practitioners and Chinese medicine services, alongside a range of other allied health professions (see Medicare items 10950-10970)
• Seeking an extension of professional eligibility for the provision of acupuncture services (Medicare items 193, 195, 197 and 199) to include acupuncture services provided by Chinese medicine practitioners who are registered in the Division of Acupuncturists by the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia (CMBA)
• Requesting that the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care establish an MBS Taskforce to review the above-mentioned matters
• Offering the commitment of CMASA, as a leading Chinese medicine professional body, to assisting the Australian Government in addressing these

The letter was also copied to the following:

• Prof Danforn Lim, CMBA Chair,
• the Medicare Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) and
• the MBS Continuous Review Team.

1.2  Collaboration with Guang’anmen Hospital for development of an electronic medical system for Chinese Medicine

In September, I initiated a three-way collaborative project between CMASA, Guang’anmen Hospital of Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing Foreign Enterprise Human Resources Co. Ltd. (FESCO), to develop a bilingual (English-Chinese) electronic medical system specifically designed for Chinese Medicine practice. I had the first meeting

with the collaborative partners on 21 Sept 2022. If successful, this project will assist

requesting CMBA to remove the “conditional registration” and to standardise the medical record keeping and prescribing. I will keep you informed of the progress of the collaboration project.

1.3  Meeting with Prof Leonie Segal, Chair of Health Economics and Social Policy at the University of South Australia regarding communication strategies with private health insurance companies for rebate increase

In Sept 2022, I met with Prof Leonie Segal, Professor of Health Economics and Chair of the Health Economics and Social Policy Group at the Australian Centre for Precision Health (ACPreH), University of South Australia. We had an in-depth discussion from an economic perspective regarding the preferable communication strategies with private health insurance companies requesting an increase of rebates.

1.4  Reminder to CMASA Members for Quality and Safety in Clinical Practice

Recently there was a news release that some Chinese Medicine practitioners, members of other associations were sentenced due to sexual assault/harassment to patients at the clinical practice. More details can be found following the internet links:

• https://www.sydneytoday.com/content-1022458856378006
• https://news.com.au/national/crime/massage-therapist-accused-of-raping-more- women/news-story/5f975d5dffce25d566f3568adcaa2389

I would like to take this opportunity to call attention from all practicing members to be cautious and to avoid these events from happening. Please do not indulge yourself in such a behaviour or provide any opportunity for others causing this type of incidents to occur.

Please keep in mind the importance of ensuring the quality and safety in your clinical practice.

Sincerely,

Dr Guoqing Wei, CEO

2. CMASA Academic Department: 2022 CMASA Academic Summit Announcement

The 8th CMASA Traditional Chinese Medicine Academic Summit will be held on Sunday, 27 November 2022. The Summit aims to promote the Chinese Medicine classics and to pass on Chinese medicine classical literature from generation to generation.

The Summit is led by the CMASA Academic Department, both offline and online simultaneously, with most attendees from Australia and some overseas. The Summit will summarise and demonstrate the academic achievements in various aspects in the past year. Through the Summit, the experiences of the older generation will be passed onto the next generation. It will also highlight the application of the guiding principles described in classical literature to be closely integrated in the clinical practice.

Submissions are now closed. You will be hearing from us with registration details in mid-October. Please stay tuned to further announcement.

This will be an unparalled academic event guaranteed to inspire your practice and research. We encourage all members to participate.

3. Course Announcement: Enrolment for the Fifth Lecture Series in Classics Inheritance

The 2022 NSW “Miraculous Pivot (Lingshu)” course was completed successfully as scheduled. Participated by 80 members, the Fourth Lecture Series contained 20 lectures completed in sixty hours. It covered the law governing the meridian locations, directions, distributions and joints. Interlinked with each other through the internal branches and the reticular branches, all acupoints associated with the Twelve Main Channels and the Eight Extra Channels were taught in Professor Wei’s meticulous and humorous teaching style. One by one, these were carefully explained while vitality was injected into once seemingly ordinary and stagnant acupoints, with flesh, blood and emotions. The targets also turned out to be clearly visible via the detailed multi-dimensional learning. The students started to understand intentions of our ancient ancestors as to the specific location and designation of each acupoint, thus leading to the fundamental knowledge of the inevitable outcomes.  Such learning opportunities are really unattainable otherwise!

With the pavement of the previous four lecture series, we are ushered onto a higher platform. The curriculum design of the Fifth Lecture Series will be more inspiring and practical. Our goal is “There is no deviation from the theory and ensure integration into the clinical practice. The clinical practice is to be enhanced by theories, which in turn reflects the classics!”

For Chinese medicine practitioners, classics are like a lighthouse on the vast sea. Its height and significance are to lead us to find the right direction all the time! Learning the classics is like building a lighthouse within our own hearts. Only in this way can we be fearless of any obstacles along the long journey of clinical practice, and can we make unremitting efforts until the day we see ourselves rescuing the critical conditions to life under the needle, and curing of diseases with effective medicines.

The Fifth Lecture Series will continue to be run at one lecture per month, “Fundamental Questions (Su Wen)” and ” Miraculous Pivot (Ling Shu)” will be delivered simultaneously. This means each lecture will contain two components. The first part will focus on interpretation of the original classical texts, and the second part on explaining in detail the diagnosis and treatment of a common condition by applying the classical theory. This arrangement will allow students to apply what they have learned instantly in their clinical practice!

In the Chinese medicine profession, there is a saying that “Without inheritance, the clinical practice is thousands of mountains away from truth.” How many Chinese medicine practitioners who have been practicing for decades regret that they cannot enter the real “Chinese Medicine Gate” in their lives with exhausting efforts! The students who participated in this course are fortunate. The Fourth Lecture Series have enabled everyone experience the unique perspective of the professor’s analysis of the classics. The Fifth Lecture Series will continue to be coordinated by the NSW Classics Planning and Coordination Team. The lectures are open to all CMASA members across Australia. All lectures are to be delivered by the famous Prof Guoqing Wei. It is well-known that Prof Wei teaches and answers questions with great patience. Prof Wei does not hesitate to put his decades of meticulous research and clinical achievements into his teaching, primarily enabling the learning easier. The integration of theoretical principles and concepts into practical settings is innovative and unique second to none. In the lectures, the content from previous lectures will be repeated continuously.

Whether you are a student from previous lectures or a new student, you will surely achieve the learning goals and find resonance!

These brilliant and interconnected lectures will become the cornerstone of accurate clinical dialectical guiding ideology! Such an opportunity is right in front of us. It is really the blessing for CMASA members. As the Chinse saying goes, “Everything is ready, just waiting for the east wind to blow (the opportunity to arrive)”. This opportunity is in our own hands, whether you are willing to set off this learning enthusiasm in your clinical practice, the opportunity should not be overlooked and will not arrive again!

Delivery of the CMASA Classic Inheritance Lectures is a wise and appropriate approach for the majority of acupuncturists and Tuina members.  The purpose is to:

• Establish the Chinese Medicine thinking,
• Improve clinical skills to solve clinical problems,
• Improve Chinese Medicine academic skills,
• Promote the quality and safety of clinical practice,
• Further develop Chinese Medicine, and
• Increase income and social status of

Through the active participation of most CMASA members, classics learning has become popular. The interaction with lecturers has also built up the members’ confidence and enthusiasm for the profession. We firmly believe that the road to learning classics will grow wider and wider in both the teaching and learning. Your trust and support are greatly appreciated.

Thanks to the CMASA academic leaders who have carefully built this platform for members with an intention to lead everyone to enter the Gate of Chinese Medicine Classics as soon as possible, thus embarking on a genuine and truthful journey of Chinese Medicine.

These courses put emphasis on the quality and the outcome of learning, without speeding to catch up with the progress. Theory and clinical practice are closely integrated to ensure that the participants will not only learn the practical hands-on needling skills, techniques in each movement and style, but also thoroughly understand the classical theory and use it as a guiding principle which can be applied instantly in the clinical practice, leading to improvement of the clinical skills.

A live demonstration will be provided: Tentatively the 5th lesson will provide a live demonstration opportunity. The registration details will be announced via Group WeChat. Each demo will be available to 15 participants, to be offered in the order of registration! Videos will be taken for the

participants for revision and repeated learning, so as to directly sublimate the classic theoretical knowledge and rational understanding taught by the professor into a perceptual understanding that can be utilised in clinical practice. In this way you will truly gain from the teacher’s decades of rich clinical experience!

Registration details for the Five Lectures in the Fifth Lecture Series

4. The CMASA October 2022 South Australia “Great Doctors’ Forum”

The “Great Doctors’ Forum” Program has been designed within the framework of professional development. We are delighted to announce its October 2022 Forum in South Australia. Please refer to the details below.

5.  The First 2023 CMASA Advanced First Aid Certificate Course (NSW)

Please note that there is only a limited number of places available in the First 2023 CMASA Advanced First Aid Certificate Course in NSW.

Specific training requirements:

• Homework and related training materials or content will be emailed to the trainees upon receiving the evidence of your payment.
• When you attend the training, please bring: 1) a pen and your completed homework; and 2) the original copies of the 100-point ID documents to be photocopied for record

Other matters:

• The Advanced First Aid Certificate Course (HLTAID011) is delivered in Mandarin (standard Chinese).
• This certificate is recognised by the Australian Government, valid for 3 years. The certificate will be available on the same
• This certificate is an important credential for engaging in practising massage, acupuncture or other healthcare work, as well as getting private insurance

A reminder that during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to note:

• If you feel unwell and have flu-like symptoms, please do not participate in the training. Please notify Dr Margaret Wu (SMS: 0405 284 012) as soon as
• Please prepare a mask and wear it while attending the first aid

About the 100 points ID:

• Please remember to bring the original 100-point ID with you, and they need to make a copy on the spot.
• Attend the training as the person identified on the ID, and do not be late for the
• 100-point ID proof (please refer to the following details for score calculation):
• Passport (current) – 70 points
• Australian Citizenship – 70 points
• Australian Driver’s License (current) – 40 points
• NSW Photo Card (valid) – 40 points
• Medicare card – 25 points
• Bank Card (Australia) – 25 points
• Bank statement or confirmation of opening a bank account – 25 points
• Registration document for buying a car in Australia – 25 points

One phone bill or one housing utility bill e.g. water bill, gas bill, electricity bill (within the last three months) – 25 points