The Massage Pundit

I attended the Florida Board of Massage Therapy meeting this week in order to observe the proceedings between the Board and the NCBTMB.  In April 2008, the FL Board had voted on a rule change allowing the state to replace the NCB examination with the MBLEx.  The NCB responded with a lawsuit, meant to force the state into continuing to accept their exam.  Florida is one of the 30 states that has joined the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB), and the Board felt that they were acting within their rights to adopt the Federation’s exam as the path to licensure.

Unfortunately, Florida is just one of a long list of states that the NCB has felt compelled to interfere in.  Acting on the advice of Florida’s Assistant Attorney General, and after three calls for a vote, the Board agreed to bow to the demands of the NCB–for a period of two years.  The settlement also allows the MBLEx to be immediately implemented as an exam, giving applicants a choice, and specifically prohibits the Board from recommending one exam over another.  The first two votes were split, with several Board members speaking in defense of the MBLEx as the exam of choice.  The AAG pointed out that the possible outcome, if the settlement was not accepted, was that the FL Board could be held liable for all legal costs related to the appeals that the NCB would certainly file should they chance to lose.   Rather than taking a chance on bankrupting their Board, the Board members decided to take the advice of the AAG and accept the terms of the settlement on the third go-round.

I found it interesting that there was no public comment period allowed in this proceeding.  Debra Persinger was there to represent the FSMTB.  The NCB was there in force: Chairman Neal Delaporta, along with Paul Lindamood, CEO;  Board member Monica Reno, and two attorneys.  It was almost comical to see Ms. Persinger sitting alone at one table to give her statement to the Board, while the other table was filled with the posse from the NCB.  Persinger gave a brief statement, during which she was classy enough to say that she did not want this lawsuit to drag on to the detriment of the Board, and the the Florida Board should do whatever necessary to resolve the matter and move forward as soon as possible.

Lindamood, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to drone on and on, although in all fairness to him, he did acknowledge that the NCB has had many shortcomings in the area of service in the past few years, which was the main reason the FL Board was casting them aside to begin with.  He also deferred to Delaporta several times during the proceedings.  I sat there wondering why the Board chair allowed them to keep on singing their own praises for so long in light of the brevity of Ms. Persinger’s comments. It seemed very unbalanced to me, and it certainly did not go unnoticed by the other spectators in the room.

Lindamood and Delaporta seemed especially proud of the 3/5 policy that the NCB implemented last year, which in my humble opinion is one of the most fundamentally flawed policies I have ever seen.  The crux of it is that if a student fails an NCB exam three times, he must complete 100 additional hours of education.  If a student fails an NCB exam five times, he must complete an additional 500 hours of education.  However, there is nothing in that policy that stipulates what content area the education must be in.  If a student blows the exam on the massage theory part, for instance, 100 additional hours of ethics, business, and anatomy could be taken, which will be of no help to the student in the actual content area he was deficient in.  FL Board member Lorena Hayes pointed out that there are currently no programs 100 hours in length in FL schools, to which Delaporta replied that a student could take continuing education classes. Duh.

This issue can be revisited in two years, and since this Board had already voted once to cast aside the NCB, chances are that will still be the outcome two years from now, as filing a lawsuit against a Board does not usually have the effect of endearing the filing party to the party it was filed against.  During the meeting, numerous school owners and program directors approached Persinger, as well as the Federation’s GR liason, Sally Hacking, to ask questions about the MBLEx.  They all seemed very eager to set their students on the path towards the MBLEx, regardless of the outcome of the settlement. While the Board itself is prohibited from recommending one exam over another, school owners and program directors are free to do as they please when it comes to recommending an exam for their students, and the students ultimately have freedom of choice as to which exam they will take.

One more personal observation: I spent my short time in FL hanging out with Persinger, Sally Hacking, and some wonderful folks from ABMP and AMTA.  In spite of the seriousness of the matter at hand, we somehow managed to all have a wonderful visit with each other, short but sweet; we all laughed a lot and had a great time.  I couldn’t help but notice that the folks from the NCB, on the other hand, looked like they were there to attend a state funeral. I never saw any of them so much as crack a smile.  I’m relatively certain they weren’t too happy to see me there, either.  Oh well, you just can’t please everybody.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

A couple of years ago, there was a document, A Call to Action, that was widely circulated in the massage community; it was addressed to the American Massage Therapy Association, asking the AMTA Board to intervene in the affairs of the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork, as if they had any right to do so. Fully aware that no such right existed, the AMTA declined to get involved.

A Call to Action was written by AMTA members, some of whom were former volunteers and staff members at the NCBTMB. The concerns included numerous alleged violations of the bylaws and unethical behavior by the then-seated Board members, some of whom are now gone, and some who have gone on to bigger and better positions within the organization.

I would like to issue another Call to Action. I urge school owners, program directors, Approved Providers and other educators, and all certificants, to contact the leaders of the National Certification Board. Write a letter, send an e-mail, make a phone call or send a fax. Urge the directors of the NCB to move gracefully into the future, and to let go of the past. Express your distress at the strong-arm tactics, and huge amount of money, that they have used in their efforts to thwart the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards. Urge them to embrace the formation of the Federation, and the existence of the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Exam, as a natural course of events that is serving the advancement of our profession. The 30 state boards who have joined the Federation wish they would.

Let us follow the example of our professional organizations. Both AMTA and ABMP have shown support for the Federation and the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Exam, while at the same time stressing their acknowledgment that National Certification is a cornerstone of the profession. Both AMTA and ABMP, and the Federation, support the NCBTMB moving forward with offering advanced certifications, an opportunity that they have recently acknowledged the intent to pursue.

Although the AMTA and ABMP operate on different business models, there is a mutual respect displayed by the leaders of these organizations. They both want the same thing: to represent the interests of, and offer resources to, those in the massage therapy profession. They don’t go around trying to discredit each other; neither has some whacky belief that they are somehow entitled to be the only game in town, and each, in its own way, is working for the common good of their stakeholders and the massage therapy profession as a whole. These organizations have publications that technically could be viewed as competitors, but each frequently quotes the other’s, and they know how to genuinely play nice.

Contact the NCBTMB and let the leadership know that moving forward with offering advanced certifications is the right thing to do, and let them know that spending the stakeholders’ money trying to bankrupt the Federation, going around to member states and trying to block them from accepting the MBLEx, conducting negative smear campaigns, and having their Board meetings in Honolulu, is the wrong thing to do.

Stand up and be counted! Urge the National Certification Board to get back on track. Remember, any organization is only as good as its leaders. When the leaders of a national organization are going the wrong way, it is up to the membership to step up and call them on it. No need to send nasty letters; just be honest and clear in expressing your hope for them to drop this campaign and move forward. Don’t be afraid to speak out. You cannot lose your certification for expressing your opinion. If everyone remains silent, we can’t sit and wonder what happened while the leaders remain on their present path to the destruction of our valued organization. You can send an e-mail to Neal Delaporta at info@ncbtmb.org

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

I was thrilled to hear from my accountant yesterday that I have paid enough estimated tax and don’t owe any additional money.  That wasn’t the case last year, when I had a big shock about the amount I owed.

I have independent contractors working in my clinic, self-employed folks, and I do try to reinforce the message that the money they make isn’t all theirs to keep.  Each quarter I print out a statement for them showing how much they’ve made so far, so they can keep on top of the amount of tax they need to be paying.  I’m sad to say that many of them ignore that until April 15 is looming, at which time panic usually sets in.

I am meticulous about keeping good records.  That’s due to a hard lesson I learned at the tender age of 19 when I opened my first restaurant, and got myself into trouble with the tax people.  Contrary to popular belief, the IRS will actually bend over backwards to work with you.  The state revenue folks here in North Carolina, on the other hand, will chase you to the grave if you owe them any money. The agent who dealt (severely) with me all those years ago had such an attitude, you’d have thought I owed it to him personally.  He went out of his way to make my life a living hell for several years until I had the debt paid off.  A few years ago, this same man came to me for a massage.  He had no memory of me whatsoever, no idea who I was, and the whole time I was massaging him, I was thinking of how rude and mean he had been to me all those years ago and fighting off the urge to just choke him on the table!

If you haven’t done your taxes yet, you can apply for an extension.  However, a lot of people are confused about that, too.  An extension doesn’t mean you get extra time to pay.  It just means you have extra time to file the return.  If you owe money, you are supposed to send that in when you request the extension.  Failure to do so can result in a whole lot of interest and penalties.

None of us like to hand over that tax money, but it’s one of those facts of life we just have to deal with.  Born free and taxed to death, as the saying goes.  If you’re not good at keeping records, ask someone who is to help you get organized.  It’s worth paying an accountant to set up your bookkeeping system and to keep you on task with paying your estimated taxes.  It can save you a lot of headaches and heartaches when the tax man cometh.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen