Strategic Plan Draft.
Stage 1
- Connect with writers/educators to provide content on various topics: Health care laws, hospital based massage network, Licensing and legislation, using research, Billing/coding and getting paid by insurance, practice building, clinical supervision, career information, education issues, massage schools etc. See proposed plan for writers.
- Create monthly/yearly membership program to teach people how to start and run their own medical massage business including , getting clients, educating clients and billing/getting paid if they choose to go that route. Teach therapists how to build their own medically oriented clinic and hire others to work for them.
- Provide training and support in billing ALL types of insurance. Have insurance billing hotline!
- Focus on careers in medical massage. Start Massage school directory to provide leads to schools for potential students.
- Create a directory of medically oriented massage therapists to promote their businesses across the US.
- Create a hospital based network for sharing of information on how to work in hospitals and set up hospital clinics for headache and pain clinics, childbirth centers, pediatrics, and cancer centers as well as hospice centers. Working in a hospital requires special training in working with medical professionals.
- Create local communities of massage therapists to share information that we will develop and provide and just create support communities and peer supervision groups.
- Create a clinical supervision training to teach massage therapists about clinical supervision and create a program to train massage therapists to be a clinical supervisor/consultant.
- Create some sort of credential or board certification in medical massage and/or hospital based massage that requires extra training and testing. Promote that certification and it’s meaning to medical communities – think big!
- Put on conferences that focus solely on being a HCP – training in legal aspects, billing, coding, treatment massage, pathology etc.
- Create initial awareness products- teeshirts, hoodies etc.
Stage 2 Legal Issues
- Collect information on Licensing and Legislation issues in each states. Which states are already considered to be HCP’s? What needs to be done in each state?
- Look into National Lobbyist needs and possibilities. The ACA section 2706 says massage should be covered by health insurance. Why are states not implementing it?
- Hire Deborah Senn (past insurance commissioner from WA State who created the Every Category Law) and other attorneys, legal teams to advise and collaborate in getting massage covered by health insurance.
- Create a fund to disperse for legislative help in various states upon application.
- Work with states to help change and/or create legislation that will allow massage therapists to be licensed as HCP’s.
- Help create Political Action committees in each state and a National PAC.
Stage 3 Media Outreach
- Create public awareness campaigns supplying marketing materials to send to doctors, insurance companies, insurance commissioners and the general public and others to educate them on what massage can do.
- Have monthly massage awareness activities across the US.
- Eventually produce national TV commercials that support massage schools and the massage profession.
- Write articles/stories for media – big media – Think Oprah! Wall Street Journal etc.
- Promote the directory of massage schools that are geared more toward massage as medicine (as compared to the many schools now only teaching for spa therapies.) Create a lead producing program for massage schools.
- Create scholarships for massage students. Possibly turn this into a foundation. (something like www.massagechangeslives.org?)
- Develop software/apps for charting, intake forms, HIPAA compliant email etc.
- Develop consumer information on how insurance works and why they should start demanding that massage be covered on their insurance.
Other possibilities:
Create website hosting services (through reseller hosting) for massage therapists and include the best information on how to get the website to work for them and get them most of their clients.