The massage therapy profession has scored another victory: In October, prominent massage therapist Whitney Lowe, LMT, NCTMB, was appointed to the American Medical Association's (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Health Care Professional Advisory Committee (HCPAC) through June 2006. He joins W. Bruce Milliman, ND, chair of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians Insurance and Reimbursement Committee, and Craig Little, DC, of the American Chiropractic Association, as complementary and alternative medicine representatives on the HCPAC.

The HCPAC is composed of allied health professionals and advises the AMA CPT Editorial Panel, which supervises the CPT coding system for insurance billing. "I am honored to have the opportunity to serve the profession in this capacity," Lowe said of his appointment. "We have some very big challenges ahead of us, but this is an exciting time for the development and recognition of massage as an important health care practice. There will be important work in educating other health professionals within the AMA about the practice of massage as a health care method, and there must be educational outreach within the massage profession to help practitioners understand the complexities of working within the insurance reimbursement system."

Whitney Lowe is the founder and director of the Orthopedic Massage Education Research Institute (OMERI) in Bend, Ore.; author of several books, including Functional Assessment in Massage Therapy and Orthopedic Massage: Theory and Technique; and former chair of the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB). He recently rejoined Massage Today as a columnist after a two-year hiatus.

You can contact Whitney directly via e-mail with questions, ideas and concerns regarding insurance reimbursement at wlowe@omeri.com.