Jason Tutt – CMAAC Spotlight

1. What do you like about practicing in British Columbia?
British Columbia seems to be one of the provinces on the leading edge of TCM & Acupuncture within Canada. BC was one of the first provinces to become regulated in Canada and is now leading the way for an expanded scope of practice in TCM & Acupuncture. I am so lucky to be surrounded by talented practitioners that have mentored me and become close friends in my life.

2. What is your specialty?
In July 2015, the CTCMA filed a regulation amendment to add “Point Injection Therapy” to the scope of practice in BC for TCM/A. Since initially getting trained in PIT in the fall of 2014, I have fallen in love with using injections as a part of my daily practice with impressive results. My main area of focus with PIT is addressing chronic pain and sports injuries.

3. What made you join CMAAC?
TCM/A needs unity across the provinces, as well as within the provinces in order to negotiate and lobby government and insurance companies for better coverage and access to a wider scope of practice. The first question asked to us when meeting government officials is “Do you represent the profession?” The CMAAC being a Canada-wide association with impressive membership numbers is an important step to unify TCM/A across Canada and to be taken seriously as a profession. It is my hope that our provincial association the ATCMA can work closely with the CMAAC in realizing these goals.

4. What do you hope to see in the future of TCM and Acupuncture care in your area, or in Canada?
I hope to see the TCM/A profession being treated as equals to other practitioners across the board. Currently in BC, our crown provincial insurance company for motor vehicles will only cover acupuncture treatments for motor vehicle accidents performed by physiotherapists, but not TCM/A practitioners. I hope that in the future, government insurance as well as extended health insurance will treat our profession the way it treats every other regulated profession.

5. Is TCM and Acupuncture an important part of primary care and integrative care?
TCM/A has been shown in research to have minimal side effects and clinically significant positive effects on a number of conditions such as; chronic pain, allergies, addiction, anxiety, depression, insomnia that generally require long term prescription medications with a number of unpleasant side effects. It is my belief that Acupuncture should be considered first before putting a patient on a long term drug medication unless the patient is at risk of immediate harm.

For integrative care, The National Cancer Institute has published evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture for reducing cancer treatment induced side effects such as nausea and vomiting, fatigue, hot flashes, xerostomia, neuropathy, anxiety, depression, and sleeping problems. It is outperforming drugs for many of these conditions without further side effects in these already fragile patients.