As a prerequisite for acupuncturist registration, practitioners are required to complete continuing acupuncture education.
Acupuncturists need to complete at least 17 hours of continuing acupuncture education every 12 months. CAE hours should be counted from December 1 - November 30. The Approved Courses List gives four types of courses: General, Herbal, Ethics, Practice Management/General and Biomedicine as well as whether the course is offered as a live lecture, distance learning or the internet.
Documentation of CE courses shall be made available to the Board upon request, but should not be submitted with the registration. Random audits will be made to assure compliance.
If you have any questions regarding continuing education requirements, please email us at registrations@tmb.state.tx.us .
To ensure compliance with Board Rules, the 17 hours must include:
- at least 8 hours in General Acupuncture
- 1 hour in Ethics
- at least 2 hours in Herbology
- at least 1 hour of biomedicine, and
- no more than two of the required hours may be practice enhancement or business or office administration.
An acupuncturist must report on the registration permit application if she or he has completed the required CAE.
The required hours shall be from courses that meet at least one of the qualificaitons listed below:
- designated or otherwise approved for credit by the Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners based on a review and recommendation of the course content by the Education Committee of the board,
- are offered by Approved Providers,
- have been approved for CAE credit for a minimum of 3 years by another state acupuncture board after having gone through a formal approval process,
- approved by the NCCAOM for professional development activity credit, OR
- provided outside the United States by a provider of continuing acupuncture education that are acceptable to the Board.
There is a maximum of 34 total excess credit hours that may be carried forward and a limit of two years from the date of the annual registration following the period during which the hours were earned. Excess hours are applied/reported according to their Category. See Board Rule 183.20 for additional information.
Exemptions:
A licensee may request in writing an exemption* for the following reasons:
- the licensee's catastrophic illness;
- the licensee's military service of longer than one year's duration;
- the licensee's residence of longer than one year's duration outside the United States; or
- good cause shown submitted in writing by the licensee that gives satisfactory evidence to the board that the licensee is unable to comply with the requirement for continuing education.
*Exemptions are reviewed on a case by case basis and must be requested in writing at least 30 days prior to the expiration date of the license. An exemption may not exceed one registration period, but may be renewed, subject to approval.
Acupuncturists
Texas Acupuncture Schools
All three are accredited acupuncture schools in Texas.
AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine
4701 West Gate Blvd.
Austin, Texas 78745
Phone: (512) 454-1188
Fax: (512) 454-7001
www.aoma.edu
American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
9100 Park West Drive
Houston, Texas 77063
Phone: (713) 780-9777
Fax: (713) 781-5781
www.acaom.edu
Texas Health and Science University
4005 Manchaca Road, Suite 200
Austin, Texas 78704
Phone: (512) 444-8082
www.thsu.edu
Certifying Organizations
National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (formerly NCCA) http://www.nccaom.org/
11 Canal Center Plaza Suite 300
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 548-9004
The Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM) http://www.ccaom.org/
3909 National Drive, Suite 125
Burtonsville, MD 20866
301-476-7790 (ph)
301-476-7792 (fax)
Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (formerly NACSCAOM) http://www.acaom.org/
Maryland Trade Center #3
7501 Greenway Center Court
Suite 820
Greenbelt, MD 20770
(301) 313-0855
Board Rules require the posting of a notice of complaint procedure in English and Spanish. The signs must be displayed prominently, supplied with all bills for services, and/or placed on all registration forms, applications or contracts.