It's Time to Stop Chasing Rainbows

By Ralph Stephens, BS, LMT, NCTMB

Would you rather be told the truth, even if it were unpleasant – or would you prefer to hear a fabricated storyline that sounds great and matches what you wish for? Many of the "stakeholder" organizations in the massage therapy field are betting that you want the second option and are hoping you can't tell the difference between the two.

"Truthiness" may be commonplace on the political landscape, but we're being bamboozled by the leaders of our field who are pushing an overblown agenda for the massage therapy profession. It's a scenario impossible to achieve from our status quo and could actually cause more damage than good.

Instead of addressing the inherent weaknesses in massage therapy education and practice, these organizations are ramping up efforts to move our field into mainstream healthcare. We're getting served up messages that highlight the expanded opportunities, increased earnings and greater professional recognition awaiting rank-and-file therapists when we get to the "promised land" of integration with Big Medicine. To be sure, massage folks are hungry for better pay and more respect, but the powers that control our healthcare delivery system are not interested in letting any other practitioner groups into the game – especially when there are reimbursement dollars on the table.

But wait a minute ... doesn't the Affordable Care Act have language that mandates coverage for licensed practitioners of complementary and alternative therapists? Yes, but Section 2706 is on the chopping block, as the medical, hospital and insurance lobbies are gearing up to get this provision removed as Obamacare goes into effect. Even if that part of the law stands and is implemented, massage therapists would be at the lowest level of the totem pole. National certification for our field is meaningless and irrelevant here.

We'd be in a system in which reimbursements for massage services would be low, wages paid to massage therapists in medical facilities would also be low (probably not much more than what techs are paid to clean bedpans) and we would lose the most important thing we have today: autonomy.

Being able to treat who we want, using the techniques we choose, with the opportunity to address the whole person (and not just a symptomatic complaint) is a major part of what has made massage therapy successful in the marketplace. Let's not kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Consumers are looking for alternatives to the rushed, impersonal and reductionistic care that is the norm in our medical mainstream. Sacrificing our freedom as practitioners for an empty promise of a brighter future would be a tremendous loss. It's time for our massage organizations to stop chasing rainbows, get honest with themselves and their constituents, and work on solving the real problems limiting our progress as a profession.


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