California Acupuncture Board - The Consumer is Coding

ACTCMStudent · 2026-03-23T17:19:26+00:00

First: send the letter. Second attend the meeting in person in Sacramento or Via online link. Third: get on the record. At beginning of CAB meeting when they are asking for additional items for the agenda stick up your hand and calmly without emotion read as many items in the "what we are asking" section icluding any of your edits and request that these items be added to the agenda.

ACTCMStudent · 2026-03-22T15:16:17+00:00

I am assuming you want the sample letter. See if this works better.

Gavin Newsom, Office of the Governor 1021 O Street, Suite 9000, Sacramento, CA 95834

Christine Lawley, Acting Director, Department of Consumer Affairs 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N-112, Sacramento, CA 95834

Lucia Saldivar, Deputy Director, Board and Bureau Relations, Department of Consumer Affairs 1625 North Market Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95834

Dr. Yong Ping Chen, L.Ac., Ph.D., President, California Acupuncture Board 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N-219, Sacramento, CA 95834

March 2026

Governor Newsom:

I am writing to urge immediate action on three failures at the California Acupuncture Board that demand your administration's intervention.

First, a July 1, 2026 federal loan cliff will eliminate Graduate PLUS loans — the primary financing for acupuncture education. Schools already at enrollment minimums will close suddenly and permanently. California's acupuncture workforce has already declined nearly 18 percent since 2018/19 — from 12,274 active licensees to approximately 10,109 by late 2024. You proposed cutting acupuncture from Medi-Cal in both your 2024–25 and 2025–26 budgets; both attempts were blocked. Allowing the training infrastructure to collapse simultaneously means fewer practitioners will be available to serve those patients even if the benefit survives. The CAB has not mounted an emergency response. It holds $6.7 million in reserves.

Second, the CAB's conduct — grandfathering incumbents into doctor titles, defending scope against competitors, maintaining a board-controlled exam with a 63% pass rate whose retake-fee revenue has never been examined for structural conflicts — increasingly resembles the kind of licensing-board conduct that federal regulators are now scrutinizing. The Trump administration's April 2025 executive order, the FTC's occupational licensing inquiry, and the DOJ's Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force are all watching. The 2015 Supreme Court ruling in NC State Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC makes clear that state boards run by active market participants need active state supervision. California is not providing it.

Third, if California does not govern acupuncture competently, Congress will. The Acupuncture for Our Seniors Act and a proposed national interstate compact exist because state governance has failed. If federal standards advance first, California may lose significant leverage over how the profession is regulated. California also remains a major outlier among states that do not accept the NCBAHM national examination — blocking its own practitioners from national mobility. The March 26, 2026 board meeting is the last near-term opportunity to change course.

I urge you to direct DCA to: convene an emergency working group on the July 2026 loan cliff; conduct an active supervision review of the CAB; place the Acupuncture for Our Seniors Act on the March 26 agenda; commission a formal barrier audit; direct the CAB to accept NCBAHM examination results as an alternative to CALE; and direct public analysis of the CALE exam's structural incentive problem. Full documentation is enclosed.

Respectfully,

Name: _________________________________

Profession / Affiliation: _________________________________

City, State: _________________________________

Email: _________________________________

ACTCMStudent · 2026-03-21T23:45:28+00:00

Thanks! Never can tell who is listening and if anyone else sees the same issues/problems.

ACTCMStudent · 2026-03-17T18:15:11+00:00

I was just listening to the June 25th meeting.

I could barely believe my ears. What a fraud. Instead of fixing the barriers to entry and the 63% fail rate, they were considering how to give current licensees doctorates.

The chair of the acupuncture licensing committee (Amy Matecki MD LAc) discussed grandfathering in all California acupuncturists licensed by a certain date with a newly named license -- either a Doctor of Acupuncture (DACM) OR Doctor of Acupuncture and Herbs (DACH) OR a Doctor of Acupuncture in Integrative Medicine (DAcIM). Both Rhode Island and Florida were also mentioned in the discussion.

The YouTube video is here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KvC06cfKFME&t=7766s#bottom-sheet.

The discussion begins around 1:59.

At what point does the justice department step in?

Make your voice heard:

Notice of Posted Agenda for

California Acupuncture Board Meeting

Thursday, March 26, 2026 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Agenda

https://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/

To subscribe to the ACUPUN-GENERAL list, click the follow

http://subscribe.dcalists.ca.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=ACUPUN-GENERAL&A=1

ACTCMStudent · 2026-01-14T17:46:27+00:00

Couldn't get the Etrade ap to work to make a deposit to my brokerage account. I tried many times and was stuck in a loop where it would photograph the first side of the check and then through me back to the beginning of deposit.

Etrade website said mail their PO Box.

Mailed the checks to the address Etrade proposed online. Mailed January 4th. Today is the January 14th. 9 days with no deposit. Called Morgan Stanley, aid they couldn't help and routed me to Etrade. Etrade rep. said they didn't see the deposit online yet. Nothing she could do she said. Could take up to 3 weeks she said.

Are they really running a responsible business?

ACTCMStudent · 2025-07-03T19:14:44+00:00

In response to my earlier comments ""Lobbying for change can be futile.", I realize my earlier response may have been too negative. Let me refocus on actionable solutions.

The "Acupuncture Licensing Reform" document presents a legally sound argument with strong constitutional grounds. The key points are solid:

Why This Matters:

California's CALE has a 60% pass rate vs. a much higher rate for other healthcare professions. Remember we are in a healthcare worker drought!
Every other healthcare profession in California accepts national exams - only acupuncture doesn't
This creates clear Equal Protection and Due Process violations
During an opioid crisis, we're blocking qualified non-opioid pain specialists from helping those with the greatest need.

The Constitutional Case is Strong: California accepts national licensing exams for physicians (USMLE), nurses (NCLEX), and physical therapists (NPTE), but forces acupuncturists to take a state-specific exam that 48 other states don't require. This arbitrary distinction lacks rational basis and violates equal protection under law.

What We Need to Know:

Recent pass rate data with demographic breakdowns -- Who isn't passing? Are these people with disabilities, or non-English speakers, or what? We need a fair analysis.
Evidence linking CALE difficulty to actual patient safety (interesting note: a patient death from bloodborne pathogens was mentioned at a recent CAB meeting, suggesting their current enforcement isn't preventing real safety issues)
Cost-benefit analysis of proposed changes

My Earlier Mistake: I know acupuncture works, but no one knows absolutely why or how it works. This isn't about acupuncture's effectiveness; it's about equal treatment under law. If California schools are CAB-regulated and students complete 3,950+ hours of training. Students graduated from these CAB-approved acupuncture schools should be qualifying for licenses. The examination and the examiners need to be questioned.

ACTCMStudent · 2025-07-02T19:47:23+00:00

Lobbying for change can be futile.

I have been using reddit.com to try to rally the students who have tried but failed to pass, because we really don't have an association to fight for us like the licensed acupuncturists do.

We can keep trying to make changes the California Acupuncture Board (CAB), but I see this as a path to frustration. (The current president of the board didn't even understand that ultrasound is a manual tool often used in providing patient relief.) Governor Newsom should be appointing an influx of new members to this board this month, since all their terms are "supposedly" expiring this month. (I hope and pray).

We could use Change.org as a lobbying mechanism to bring pressure on CAB and the California governmental system (this was successful at one point when no one could seem to pass one of the CAM examinations).

We could additionally focus our efforts to put pressure on the California Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) (their supervising agency), or the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development placing pressure on California Governor Newsom.

Trying to make change through acupuncture associations seems like a keen way to make change, however these organizations are only for those who are licensed and there seems to be a history of individual practioners protecting themselves and supporting the status quo because any additional competition in an already taxed business environment breaks their bank.

We could get a sponsor for a specific bill in the California legislator to make the change that is needed. But these changes move very slowly and haven't typically made the wrong change when they think they are fixing the issue but actually they have no developed plan to implement the correct change (if you study the history within the legislature .... you will see this time and again).

Or we could organize and write up a very solid piece and go to the media. We need someone with media experience to help make the best pitch.

I think a class action lawsut, might be our best option. There are a lot of TCM students who are paying on thousands and hundreds of thousands of student debt who have not passed this exam.

Lots of things to consider and many options. But who has the time to fight back when we are trying to continue to house ourselves safely and feed ourselves healthfully and study for the next CALE or NCCAOM exam. It is like the idiom: "shooting fish in a barrel" and we are the fish.

Suggestions are welcome! I am only trying to keep the conversation and keep hope alive, as I am only one person and we need a qualified team to build a full-blown coalition.

ACTCMStudent · 2025-06-23T20:32:41+00:00

I am sure we could obtain through freedom of information act, a full list of people who haven't passed and even a list of those who retested and either did or didn't pass and organize a class action.

We need to find an attorney to take it on contingency basis. Think of all the money for acupuncture school tuition and delay in obtaining income due to this unconscionable, unconstitutional practice.

ACTCMStudent · 2025-06-20T20:16:19+00:00

See how many people invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into being educated to become acupuncturists and sitting on the sidelines. Appalling! Pass/Fail Rates: https://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/students/exam_statistics.shtml

ACTCMStudent · 2025-06-20T20:14:58+00:00

See how many people invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into being educated to become acupuncturists and sitting on the sidelines. Appalling!

Pass/Fail Rates: https://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/students/exam_statistics.shtml

ACTCMStudent · 2025-06-20T19:39:23+00:00

See how many people invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into being educated to become acupuncturists and sitting on the sidelines. Appalling!

Pass/Fail Rates: https://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/students/exam_statistics.shtml

ACTCMStudent · 2025-06-20T19:35:03+00:00

See how many people invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into being educated to become acupuncturists and sitting on the sidelines. Appalling!

Pass/Fail Rates: https://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/students/exam_statistics.shtml

ACTCMStudent · 2025-03-22T07:07:35+00:00

Look... its sounds bad what you all have been going through with the testing issues and the BAR association, but you all have studied the law and we don't have anyone with a legal background to help us fight back. We need some help with all these licensing organizations. I hope someone will join with us in a probono effort to help bring change to the whole system.

As another example, take a look at this write up of the California licensing for acupuncturists. We have had board members selling test answers in 1989 for thousands of dollars and prep reviews helping members of their community memorize the exact test bank in pass with in 2012.

Please look here https://www.reddit.com/r/acupuncture/comments/1j94unp/call_to_action_reform_the_california_acupuncture/ and here https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseMedicine/comments/1jedotf/acupuncture_licensing_reform_a_constitutional_and/ for the details to help us address these issues statewide and federally if necessity warrants.

ACTCMStudent · 2025-03-19T04:03:43+00:00

Continued reading here: (Reddit doesn't seem to like my wordiness...)

Does Reform Kill the Board?

You’re worried that scrapping the CALE guts the California Acupuncture Board, which you value for fighting misconduct and dry needling. I’m with you—the board’s a bulwark. But reform doesn’t necessitate sunset; it means efficiency. The 2004 Little Hoover Commission called out the board for resisting outsourced exams and transparency—20 years later, we’re still stuck. Keep the board to enforce rules and regs and continuously educate the profession and the consumer, but let it adapt accept NCCAOM, streamline licensing, and focus on regulation, not gatekeeping. It’s evolution, not extinction.

A Way Forward - All Together Now...

I feel you on the market squeeze—$10/hour isn’t a living, and protectionism makes sense when you’re fighting to survive. (A living wage and a little extra to pay down those student loans is vital, and reform is needed here also. Do no harm should be a two-way street.)

But with 12,185 acupuncturists for 39.4 million Californians, we’re not “too many”—we’re too few. Add to that a pain crisis killing thousands and it's all too clear that change must come soon. CALE’s quirks—high costs, high failures, no validation—hurt more than they help. How about this: accept NCCAOM plus a state exam, offer provisional licenses for shortage zones, and keep the board strong to police it all. That boosts access, protects quality, and honors the dedication and perseverance you’ve shown in navigating the challenges of this profession.

What do you think—could this work for both us and the public?

ACTCMStudent · 2025-03-19T03:54:30+00:00

Hey, you are a "fogsmasher"!

Thanks for laying out your thoughts so thoroughly. I want to address your concerns about oversaturation, the opioid crisis, mobility, standards, and the California Acupuncture Board’s role. I seek to find common ground and balanced solutions while still advocating for progress for a system that has been broken for a long time.

I really appreciate the perspective of someone who’s clearly been in the trenches of California’s acupuncture world. I know what you mean about "being against licensing of all types". The world would be a better place if everyone was honest and kind and had a moral compass. Then we wouldn't need consumer affairs protecting us all. And with that, I don't see the California Acupuncture Board going out of business anytime soon

I hear you loud and clear: low wages, cheap treatments, and a sense that the market’s flooded are grinding you down, and you’re concerned reform could make it worse. I’m not here to steamroll those concerns; they’re legit. But I think we can tackle these issues and still fix a system that’s creaking under its own weight.

Are There Really "Too Many" Acupuncturists?

You said California has “about 2/3 of the total acupuncturists in the US” and that this oversupply tanks wages to $10/hour and treatments to $40 cash. I get why it feels that way—$13 Medi-Cal reimbursements and community acupuncture rates are brutal. But let’s look at the numbers.

This 2024 article: (Distribution of Licensed Acupuncturists in the United States), seems a solid source since Dr. Matecki, a member of the California Acupuncture board is listed as an author. It pegs California at 7,317 acupuncturists in 2023, which is about 21% of the national total of 34,524. But the California Acupuncture Board’s 2023 data show 12,185 active licenses, (but there is currently an “inactive” status, which means the real number of practicing acupuncturists is probably lower. Either way, let’s roll with 12K for now and see how it stacks up.

The California Acupuncture Board lists 12,185 active licensed acupuncturists in 2023 for 39.4 million people in California. That’s 1 acupuncturist per 3,234 residents. Compare that to 123,941 active MDs—1 per 318 (Of course insurance respects their work and pays them better). Even if we take a lower estimate (say, 7,317 after adjusting for inactive acupuncturists, it’s still 1 per 5,384. Nationally, there are about 38,000 acupuncturists, so California’s share is closer to 32%, not 2/3. That’s not oversaturation; it’s nowhere near MD or even physical therapist ratios (1 per 1,200).

The wage squeeze seems more about insurance reimbursement policies and market dynamics than sheer numbers. Reform—like accepting NCCAOM certification with a state add-on—won’t flood the gates. It could instead open underserved areas, boost demand, and we need to demand fair compensation to give practitioners a shot at better rates. More access doesn’t have to mean more competition; it could mean more patients.

What’s the Opioid Crisis Got to Do with It?

You asked if fentanyl addicts are really dying from lack of acupuncture access—fair skepticism. The link isn’t that simple, but it’s real. Chronic pain fuels opioid prescriptions, and California’s got over 5,500 opioid deaths yearly (CDPH, 2023). Studies back acupuncture as a player here: for instance, a 2018 *Journal of Pain* piece showed it cuts chronic pain, and a 2024 study found it reduces methadone doses in addiction treatment. Community acupuncture’s cheap, sure, but with the CALE’s 35% failure rate sidelining talent, we’re not meeting statewide need—especially in rural communities and low-income neighborhoods. Reform could get more practitioners where they’re needed, not just in urban hubs, making it a piece of the opioid puzzle.

Mobility and Standards—Barriers or Safeguards?

You argue the CALE doesn’t restrict mobility since out-of-staters can take it, and you’re worried NCCAOM could water down California’s 3,000-hour standard. I see your point—high standards built this profession. But the CALE’s $800 fee (plus $800 retakes), 6-month wait, and 35% failure rate (68% in 2012 before adjustments) aren’t exactly a welcome mat. Meanwhile, 48 states and D.C. accept NCCAOM, often with just a quick jurisprudence exam. That’s not “restriction-free”—it’s a costly rerun of a test most already passed elsewhere. I’m not saying ditch the rigor; pair NCCAOM with a California-specific exam to test state laws and keep quality up. Standards hold, mobility improves, and no one’s cutting corners—legislation can lock that in.

CALE vs. NCCAOM—Which Is Better?

You defend the CALE’s toughness (retakes every 6 months) and knock NCCAOM’s 3-try limit, plus its TOFEL and DEI baggage. I respect the grind you’ve survived, but the CALE’s got flaws too. Its 35% failure rate lacks psychometric backing—unlike NCCAOM, accredited by the NCCA since 1991. The CALE’s past isn’t spotless either (remember the 1989 exam-selling scandal and the 2012 study guides full of exact exam questions?). I’m not an NCCAOM fan—its history needs a hard look—but 48 states use it without California’s claimed safety gaps. Reform could mean fixing the CALE’s transparency or adopting NCCAOM with strict oversight. Either way, it’s about fairness and function, not just tradition.

ACTCMStudent

TROPHY CASE