From: Rick Rosen <rick@bti.edu>

Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2013 4:39 PM

To: Rosen, Rick

Subject: Proposal for an alternative solution to CE regulation

Attachments: National CE Registry Proposal_FEB2013.pdf

Follow Up Flag: Follow up

Flag Status: Completed

To my fellow continuing education providers and CE sponsors:

The question of how to regulate continuing education in the massage therapy field -- and who should regulate it -- has been the subject of considerable debate over the past several years. In the face of both NCBTMB and FSMTB pursuing their own separate CE approval programs, and the prospect of increased costs and regulatory burden to CE providers, I developed an alternative solution to traditional high-stakes regulation and sent it to the leaders of the seven major stakeholder organizations today.

Attached for your review is a comprehensive white paper that analyzes the problem as it currently exists, and provides an outline of a new concept: The National Continuing Education Registry.

This plan represents a simpler and more streamlined approach that can provide a means to: 1) assure the credibility of CE providers, and 2) affirm that courses meet generally accepted subject matter standards that are relevant to the scope of practice for massage and bodywork therapy. This Registry would replace all existing state and national CE approval programs, and would provide a unified system that is more congruent with the actual status of CE in our field today.

As a CE provider or sponsor, your business is about to be powerfully affected by what NCBTMB and FSMTB choose to do in the coming weeks. Do they each proceed, blind to the other, in a zero-sum game? Or can we compel the leaders of these two organizations to re-vision the nature and purpose of continuing education, and facilitate the creation of a simpler system to determine what CE is acceptable to use for license renewal and recertification. I want to see more learning and innovation, and less in the way of mind-numbing and checkbook-breaking regulations that divert the creativity of our best and brightest educators. How about you?

If after reading this proposal, you agree that it is a solution that should replace the programs being advanced by NCBTMB and FSMTB, then you must let these organizations know your position. In addition, this would be a good time to use your networks of contacts to generate the maximum grassroots action in support of this proposal in the next two weeks. I've included the contact info for NCBTMB and FSMTB on page 17.

Together, we can improve and realign the CE approval process for the good of the entire profession. You may pass along the attached PDF document and/or use this short hyperlink:
http://tinyurl.com/NCER-Proposal-FEB2013

With highest regards,

Rick Rosen, MA, LMBT
300 Southwind Road, Siler City, NC 27344
rick@bti.edu