DECEMBER NEWS AND UPDATES
Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Hello Maryland AMTA Members,

This morning the Maryland Board of Massage Therapy Examiners had their final public meeting for 2020. Today's newsletter focuses on some of theinformation presented and discussed.


Results from the MBMTE Survey - One Tier

Updates about Vaccine Delivery

Legislation for 2021 Session - AMTA Presentation

Renewals to Date

Jurisprudence Exam


As always, if you have any questions or concerns after reading below, please feel to reply or visit us on Facebook for more of a discussion - our main page is https://www.facebook.com/amtamd

Take good care,

Amelia
Amelia Mitchell, LMT, LLCC, BCTMB
Board Member and Government Relations Committee Chair
Your AMTA-Maryland Chapter Board
RESULTS FROM MBMTE ONE TIER SURVEY
Today the Licensing Committee of the MBMTE presented the results from the survey about the One Tier System conversion. AMTA-MD's first question when the survey was announced was about sharing the results, we are very appreciative that all the statistical results have been shared with the public.

It is very important to note that the Committee has not made any recommendations and the Board as a whole will not be voting to take any action at this time. The Licensing Committee is expected to provide recommendations in January.

Below is the data shared at the meeting by Licensing Committee Chair Kirsten Bodnarchuk.
EXECUTIVE ORDER ABOUT VACCINE DELIVERY
The Governor also announced that as a part of the effort to deliver COVID-19 vaccines quickly and efficiently all individuals licensed or registered by the Department of Health could participate in vaccine delivery if properly trained and supervised.

We appreciate that AMTA National stepped in to look at this and provide more information. All members were sent a Maryland Update email on Friday with details and interpretation.


Because Maryland is the only state in the country making such an authorization, and this is outside our scope, if you have further questions we suggest you reach out directly to AMTA National for guidance.
2021 LEGISLATION
AMTA - MD has been working collaboratively with the Maryland Board of Massage Therapy Examiners to bring a number of items to legislation for the coming 2021 session that will begin on January 13, 2021. Getting a bill through is a major undertaking and far more likely to be successful when we work together.

The details of the bill will be shared when complete. The entire bill is focused on updating language and statute to better reflect current standards and programs. A short summary:

AMTA-MD items:
  • Strike the term "Massage Parlor" from all instances in state statute. Replace with "Massage Business" moving forward.
  • Update a reference to Universal Precautions to the correct Standard Precautions.

Collaboratively with the MBMTE:
  • Update requirements for massage schools to include COMTA Approved Curriculum or equivalent which creates standards for curriculum and teachers.

MBMTE Items:
  • Update language used to describe massage, and clarify ambiguities around working with clothed individuals.
  • Remove a loophole that allows Insurance companies to not cover massage therapy. This won’t require them to pay for massage, it simply removes a blanket exclusion and is a small first step in the process of getting massage therapy accepted and paid for under health insurance.
  • Finger printing requirement update which will bring the massage board in line with many other state health boards to streamline the criminal history checks and provide real time reports back to the board if a licensee or registrant has a change to their status.

Once the bill is ready to move forward details and information about how you can support this important legislation will follow.

AMTA-MD, AMTA National, along with our lobbyists actively work to support the massage profession in Maryland through advocacy and legislation.
RENEWALS TO DATE
Today, Sharon Oliver the Executive Director reported license and registration renewals through December 17, 2020.

71.19% of all LMTs and RMPs have renewed at this time.

As a reminder, the renewal deadline is 30 days after the end of the State of Emergency as declared by Governor Hogan. Only the 7 required CEs are needed and one can go ahead and renew at anytime. Many earlier newsletters provide more information.
JURISPRUDENCE EXAMS
Due to Governor Hogan's executive order the Jurisprudence exam for December was canceled. It is not known at this time if the January exam will take place as scheduled. Due to COVID-19 the Governor's order aims to limit exposure at all agencies and state facilities to reduce the spread of the disease.