HHP is the nonprofit collaborative learning network for healthcare system-based LAcs and program managers.

We are the home of the healthcare system-based acupuncturist community network

 HHP Resources for the Healthcare System-based Program Manager or Director

This page focuses on resources for the program manager or director who works with or managers hospital and healthcare system-based acupuncturists. Licensed Acupuncturist (LAc) is the most common state (but not the only) state license title for a healthcare professional who has graduated from an ACAHM-accredited master’s or doctorate program. The Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine (ACAHM) is a specialized accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit graduate degree programs in the field of acupuncture.

The Hospital Handbook Project (HHP) for Acupuncturists and Their Hospital Admin is a nonprofit community resource project. The HHP is the go-to resource for healthcare system-based acupuncturist employment practices and program standards. The HHP is a living handbook. We are a community of healthcare system-based acupuncturist clinicians, leads, program managers, researchers, and more. We have online resources and a virtual community discussion space. Over time, the HHP had built (and continues to build) an ecosystem of resources, based on the community’s needs and feedback. Learn more about who we are on our Home page, About page, and Blog.

The HHP, a not-for-profit community project, is the go-to resource for hospital-based acupuncture work: employment practices and program standards.We are unique because we are a professional network community of hospital and healthcare system-based acupuncturist clinicians, program managers, researchers, and more.

At the HHP, we create resources, both asynchronous and synchronous, to communicate best practices for acupuncturists’ clinical work in the healthcare system setting. This includes hiring and credentialing LAcs, professional practice evaluation specific to LAcs, program standards, clinical metrics, and knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for general practice and specialty practice settings.

Working in the established healthcare system means patients can access acupuncture and integrative health care where they are already receiving care. This improves patient's access to acupuncturists’ services, which include acupuncture, meditation (qi gong), movement therapy (tai chi), massage and bodywork (tuina, medical massage, cupping, gua sha, acupressure), patient education, and more (see state scope of practice and delineation of clinical privileges for details).

The HHP’s work is useful to “champions” and change-makers in the integrative health field who are setting up programs or expanding programs in the field at their healthcare facility. The HHP, at its core, creates virtual space for hospital-based acupuncturists to connect and share wisdom to help avoid the problem of working in silos or “re-inventing the wheel.”

The Hospital Handbook Project is a source of information for hospital and healthcare system practice acupuncturists and their hospital sponsors (advocates, program managers, admin). The HHP is a living resource or "handbook" for our community.

The HHP creates community and space to communicate with each other and thus share the collective wisdom of hospital practitioners. We encourage each other to improve our knowledge and practice standards together and help each other avoid re-inventing the wheel. At the HHP, I encourage the model of continuous learning and continuous improvement.

Read on for specific resources I recommend for program managers and directors.

Recommended Resources for Program Managers and Directors

The following are resources I recommend for program managers and directors. Please keep in mind that the HHP is always working on improving and growing our resources, so this list will change and evolve over time.

Consultation. I recommend starting here. With a consultation, you can get a jump start on connecting to resources specific to your program needs and stage. During a consultation you get time with me, the HHP’s director, who has worked with program leads, managers, and directors from across the U.S. in both civilian and federal settings. All proceeds from consultations go directly to support the HHP’s nonprofit work. Consultations are available on a limited basis. To request a consult, fill out a request on the consultation page.

Join the Community Discussion platform at Tier 2 “Big Bundle.” This is our premium plan and is recommended for program leads and managers. On the community discussion platform, you can connect with other program leads and managers across the country. For a sampling of some of our current community members, go to the “Meet the Community” page.

The “Big Bundle” part of the Tier 2 subscription includes access to our online resources. Some of these are deep dives into specific topics, such as the Tips on Coding & Charting (Documentation) for Healthcare System-based Acupuncturists, Telehealth Roundtable Event’s online resource, and The Joint Commission (TJC) and Other Quality Assurance (QA) issues for Hospital-based Acupuncturists and Their Admin.

One online resource, the HHP’s Issues in Hospital-based Practice webinar + interview series is a combination of live events and their post-event resources. These resources may include event recordings, pdfs of slides, and “Notes” resource pdfs that include time stamps and hyperlinks to references or lists of citations mentioned. Tier 2 members have free access to this resource.

The slideshow above includes images of topics currently tagged in the discussion platform. This is not an exhaustive list of discussion topics.

The Issues in Hospital-based Practice Webinar + Interview Series.

This is a combination of live events, event recordings, and post-event materials (presentation slide pdfs, “Notes” document with timestamps and reference points in the recordings, etc). This resource is open to anyone who wants to subscribe to it. The “Issues” resource access is included with Tier 2 “Big Bundle” community discussion platform subscription.

Sessions in this series that may interest you:

• “How to Hire & Credential an Acupuncturist: Revenue Capture & Clinician Retention,” from the 6.25.2022 event.

  • This is the first presentation from the HHP’s Employment Practices Workgroup. The content was created by program leads and managers. The Q&A session with leads and managers dives into related topics. keywords and topics include minimum standards for job announcements and position descriptions, credentialing standards for acupuncturists in healthcare system-based practice, revenue capture and coding to benefit your program and healthcare system, and current known best practices in clinician retention for new employees and current employees. Go to the blog article for this event to learn more.

• “Introduction to Safety in Practice for Program Leads and Managers.” Three presentations in fall 2022 from the HHP’s Safety Practices Workgroup. This workgroup focuses on identifying topics and subtopics related to safety and LAcs working in healthcare system-based practice.

  • Sept 10th, 2022, is the first public presentation from the HHP’s Safety-in-Practice Workgroup. Recording and post-session materials are available in the Issues in Hospital-based Practice webinar series 2022 online resource under the September section here.

  • Oct. 7th, 2022, presentation at the virtual 2022 IM4US conference, “Speaking the Language of Safety in HRO Systems as LAcs.” The landing page has information on the IM4US conference and post-presentation materials.

  • November 12th, 2022. The final (and most refined) presentation from the Safety Practices Workgroup for the year 2022. HHP-hosted live presentation + time for community discussion.

  • What is the HHP’s Safety Practices Workgroup?

    • This workgroup looks at safety, accountability, and transparency issues affecting LAcs working in healthcare system-based practice. This includes quality assurance, quality improvement processes, patient safety, and workplace safety. Some of these issues and standard operating procedures (SOPs) are evergreen, and some are new topics in the healthcare field.

    • Being able to identify what the categories are, the various topics included, and related resources are essential to work in the healthcare system setting successfully. With an increased focus on safety, accountability, clear communication, and transparency in the new High-Reliability Organization (HRO) healthcare model, there is an increased emphasis on identifying and understanding these issues. And there is a need to know how to develop processes around these issues that help you and your team improve over time. These improvement goals and growth mindset is part of the model of continuous learning & continuous improvement that the HHP encourages.

    • With the HRO model, safety/accountability/transparency are tied in with (a) leadership skills on individual and organizational levels and (b) organizational culture.

• How do you schedule multiple integrative health providers (including 2 LAcs) in a patient-centered, team-based care functional rehab model? What does it look like?

  • A conversation with schedule images and explanations with Dr. Tara Fernalld, DACM, MHA, IPMC clinician, Madigan Army Medical Center. May 2021.

• Medicare, the Social Security Act, and Acupuncturists: what's the connection?

  • April 2021 session with federal legislative integrative health expert Dr. Kallie Byrd Guimond, D.OM., MPH

• For more topics in this series, see the “Issues” resource landing page.

Inpatient Acupuncture Programs and Service Lines

Are you setting up an inpatient acupuncture program? Adding acupuncturists to your inpatient clinician team? Expanding your inpatient integrative health program? Want to learn how other inpatient acupuncture programs are set up?

At the HHP, we have resources specific to this unique setting. You can meet others working in this setting through the HHP community discussion platform and join the Inpatient Acupuncture Discussion Group.

Save the date for our first HHP-hosted Inpatient Acupuncture Conference (virtual) in January 2023. Check out the event page for information on how to submit your inpatient acupuncture presentations, how to sponsor the conference, or how to attend. This information will be updated in fall/winter 2022. If you don’t see the links you are looking for, just message Megan through our “Contact us” page with your query.

More Topic-related Resources That Are Useful to Managers/Directors

The following is a list of more topic-based online HHP resources recommended for leads/managers/directors that are not in the Issues series, but are accessible with Tier 2 “Big Bundle” platform subscription. And that are not otherwise mentioned above.

• Documentation and Peer Record Review Process, a Community Standard. This topic was presented in a live community discussion event in May 2021. It reviews the process, includes pdf examples, and sets the basic standard. At this time, the resources from this event are bundled into the New Hospital Employee 0-5+ years online resource, under the separate section on “OPPE: Peer Record Review.” Pending funding, we may be able to reprise this session for the Issues series in the future.

• “The Chart Audit, a quality improvement process.” This reviews the chart audit process with specifics for the acupuncturist profession and unique documentation standards. This is a separate process from the peer record review. The peer record review is part of the ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE). The Chart Audit is a lecture in The Joint Commission and Other QA Standards for Acupuncturists and Their Hospital Admin, an online resource. You have access to this online resource through the Tier 2 “Big Bundle” subscription. When we have enough funding and time in the schedule, we will do a live session for this topic as part of the Issues resource in the future.

• Summary of Healthcare System-based Acupuncture Program Publications, Research Citations, and More. This is an HHP community publication. If you are looking for a list of hospital and healthcare system-based acupuncture program citations, this is it! You can buy your own copy from our website store. Or, you can access it for free when you subscribe to the HHP’s community discussion platform.

• A current list of all the HHP’s programs and projects. This is available as a free pdf on our website store.

• The Inpatient Acupuncture Discussion Group. In 2022 and 2023 we are actively growing resources for this unique discussion group. For the current resource information, go to this blog article.

• Basics of Being an Employee in a Medium to Large Healthcare System: Focus on Performance Management. This online resource is focused on the employee. But, if you are a new manager or would like more background on how performance management for acupuncturists works, this is still a good resource for you. This relaxed interview series was recorded in 2019. When the HHP has sufficient funding, we will be able to add to this resource again. Access to this resource is included with the Tier 2 “Big Bundle” platform subscription.

• Short courses in practical pain management tools for your team

  • How to Use a Validated Pain Scale in Your Chart Note, a short online course.

    • Reviews how to use the basic pain scale metric consistently in the clinical setting. The focus is on using the DVPRS pain scale because it is a validated metric that fits the biopsychosocial model of care.

  • How to Calculate Morphine Equivalent Dose (MEQ) for Non-prescribers: Medication Review Standard, a short online course.

    • This short metrics course pairs with the “How to Use a Validated Pain Scale” short course. Both are useful to have as part of your acupuncturists’ pain management documentation toolbox. This short course also reviews the medication review documentation standard for LAcs, with a focus on opioid-based medications and recognizing orange and red flags during a medication review. For example, recognizing symptoms of adverse side effects of opioid-based medications.

Publicly Available Resources Recommended for Program Managers and Directors

1. The HHP email newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter and peruse past newsletters on this page.

2. The HHP’s YouTube channel.

   • Please keep in mind most of our videos are not publicly available on the YouTube channel. Most of our video content is accessible on the HHP community discussion platform and in our online resource modules on our Teachable platform. However, the following are available to view on our YouTube channel.

   • What is the HHP? playlist

   • News & Updates playlist. Most of the updates are on the HHP community discussion platform. Just a few make it to this public list, usually because they are connected to a published blog post or newsletter.

   • Telehealth, a playlist. However, the context for this playlist and more videos are available in the Telehealth Roundtable Event online resource, which (in 2022), is available as part of a subscription to the Issues in Hospital-based Practice webinar series bundle or the Tier 2 “Big Bundle” subscription.

   • HHP Lunchbreak Listen Recommendations. I’ve been adding to this for several years now. The context for these recommendations is usually in a companion blog post, article, or discussion thread. This only includes video content that is publicly accessible on the YouTube platform.

   • Breathing Practice for Clinician Resilience. Short 30 - 60 second videos to support colleagues in pausing and practicing a breathing exercise reset.

3. HHP’s public Facebook page

4. Connect on LinkedIn

5. Content on this website