Dear Colleagues,
For many years, California has had restrictive laws concerning virtually any issue that could be remotely related to medical practice. Many complementary healing practitioners have been in technical violation of California's Medical Practices acts, but there were not sufficient funds to prosecute alternative practitioners except in extreme cases of violation of the Act. However, with the medical establishment's awareness of the increase of major advertising abuses, new State funds have recently been appropriated to prosecute alternative practitioners. Common abuses have included: massage therapists who claim state licensure and hypnotherapists who claim medical and dental certification or affiliation. In addition, attempts were underway to develop further restrictive legislation.
Here is the good news. The ACHE has joined forces with many complementary practitioners who developed alliances to transform this attempted negative legislation into landmark legislation that is very positive with the recent passage of Senate Bill 577.
In SB577, the Legislature declares that millions of Californians are presently utilizing complementary health care services, and that in spite of the possible technical violations of the Medical Practices Act there is no demonstration that these practices are harmful. The basis of the new law is simple: anyone who is otherwise law-abiding and does not perform a listed set of potentially dangerous practices should not be considered in violation of the Medical Practices Act.
The law goes into effect January 1, 2003. Starting at that time, those therapists who are not licensed in the healing arts are required to have new clients read and sign a disclosure form. The client receives a copy and the therapist is required to keep the signed copy for three years. The disclosure must include a statement that the therapist is not a licensed physician, that the session is complementary to healing arts services licensed by the state, and that the therapist's services are not licensed by the state. Therapist must describe the theory upon which the services are based, the nature of the services, and therapist's education, training, and experience. See sample disclosure which ACHE has developed to provide this information in a positive, effective and professional way.
A significant aspect of the law is that those who are non-licensed must disclose in their advertising that they are not licensed by the state as a healing arts practitioners. We can elaborate on this issue in our literature by making the following statement:
"Hypnotherapy is a self-regulated profession and does not qualify for State licensing. The American Council Of Hypnotist Examiners is a non-profit professional organization, chartered by the State of California, to establish training standards, standards of professional practice, and a code of ethics. The ACHE's Ethics Committee can suspend or revoke certification. Certification is awarded to those who attend ACHE approved schools, with ACHE approved hypnotherapy instuctors. Although the state does not regulate curriculum or a required number of hours of training, the American Council of Hypnotism Examiners has the highest requirements for certification of any major Hypnotherapy organization in the USA. The ACHE logo is the Hallmark of Quality for the Hypnotherapy profession. Be sure to look for it."
The new law is a major step forward in the legal recognition of hypnotherapy and other complementary healing arts practices. California is one of the first states to develop such a law, and we predict many other states will enact similar laws in the years ahead.
With respect to all,
Gil Boyne, Executive Director, ACHE
Randal Churchill, President, ACHE
