2019 was a big year for massage therapy with many exciting advancements for the profession.
The Veterans Administration created a job description for massage therapists and started hiring massage therapists! It took them 15-20 years to make this happen. With the VA now recognizing massage therapists, more insurance carriers will start taking note too!
Medicare Advantage Plans started covering massage therapy but not as many as originally announced by AMTA who said 270 plans would cover massage. More plans will be adding massage therapy this year.
2019 Legislative Proposals regarding massage therapy and insurance coverage happened but none were passed to my knowledge:
2019 New Hampshire Bill proposal. HB 610-FN
2019: Virginia Bill Proposal: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title38.2/chapter34/section38.2-3419/
2019: Oklahoma Bill Proposal: http://www.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=HB+2652&session=1900&fbclid=IwAR3un4CZr0oHNWwloMCwbReEwCd6P0E31dqYx-svYRiO454GdI4l2N6qMrU
2019: Bill in Maine: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_129th/billtexts/HP025501.asp
2019: Bill in North Carolina. Bill Summary for S 544 (2019-2020) Bill: ESTABLISH NON-OPIOID TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES. (https://lrs.sog.unc.edu/bill/establish-non-opioid-treatment-alternatives)
Health and Human Services (HHS) The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA) required the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force to develop the Report on Pain Management Best Practices: Updates, Gaps, Inconsistencies, and Recommendations – PDF*, which identified gaps or inconsistencies, and proposed updates to best practices and recommendations for pain management. This report includes calling for massage therapy. Unfortunately, they also did not include the correct research studies supporting massage therapy…but it is a start. (Where was AMTA/MTF/ABMP?)
For Me Personally, I was excited to accomplish my goal of getting my latest edition of the Massage Insurance Billing Manual completed and published into Paperback, Kindle and a PDF Download.