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Massage Rule and Law Changes

 
 

Proposed Legislation to Change LMP to LMT
The Washington Chapter of the AMTA initiated work to change our status from "Licensed Massage Practitioner" to "Licensed Massage Therapist". These bills were signed off by the State House and Senate on March 4 and on March 7 they were sent to the Governor to sign. Once the Governor signs, they will be enacted.  . You can see the actual language of the bills at:

"Beginning July 1, 2017, the department of health shall issue all new licenses and renewals as they become due on the birthdate of the licensee using the term "massage therapist." Active licenses using the term "massage practitioner" remains valid until required to be renewed on the licensee's next birthdate after July 1, 2017."

 
 

Revised WAC 246-16-100 Sexual Misconduct
On December 31, 2015, the revisions to WAC 246-16-100 went into effect that affect all healthcare providers. As stated in the rule making order, "the Department of Health is adopting amending language to sexual misconduct standards to clarify what forcible or nonconsensual acts are within the definition of sexual misconduct by a health care provider. The amended rule clarifies and updates the definition of sexual misconduct to establish clearer standards of conduct for health care providers in professions under the Secretary of Health's authority." To read the law in full please click on the link below:

 
 

Proposed WAC 246-830-037 Transfer of Training Hours
Back in November 2015, the Department of Health emailed out a proposed new WAC to eliminate transfer credit.  The proposed WAC stated:

Proposed WAC 246-830-037 Language: Transfer of training hours. The secretary shall only grant a license to an applicant seeking initial licensure under WAC 246-830-020 who completes their entire course of study through a massage program or programs approved by the Washington state board of massage.

For full details click on the following link: Proposed_Rule_WAC_246-830-037.pdf

In essence, the Department of Health was no longer going to allow transfer credit for massage therapists.  This affected LMP/LMTs moving to Washington state and Allied Healthcare practitioners and students who wanted to transfer credit into a massage program from their prior physical therapy, nursing, etc education.  To counter this, a group of concerned educators/indviduals and the AMTA WA Chapter worked to come up with an alternative solution which resulted in lobbying efforts sponsored by the AMTA WA Chapter.  Through private donations to the AMTA WA Chapter and funding from the AMTA WA Chapter, lobbyists worked hard to get lawmakers to sponsor a bill to create a process to handle transfer credits.  You can see the langauge of the bill at:

As of March 4, both the State House and Senate signed off the bill and on March 7 it was transferred to the Governor's office to be enacted.  Once signed, the Board of Massage may create a transfer program that provides rules on how transfer credits will be managed in order to protect the public well-being.
 
Thank you to everyone who provided donations to the AMTA WA Chapter to help support the lobbying effort, or worked to help make the change happen!


Robbin Blake
President
Therapeutic Training Center