Non-medical business scope of traditional Chinese medicine health care

For any TCM health care business entity that has not obtained the "Medical Institution Practice License", all content involving disease diagnosis, disease treatment, and medical technology operations are not within the legal scope of business, and can only provide non-invasive, non-diagnostic and therapeutic TCM health care services for healthy and sub-healthy people.

Last month, Lao Chen, who runs a moxibustion parlor, accompanied him to the local health bureau for compliance training. He had stepped into a trap before: after giving a regular customer moxibustion on his stomach, he said smoothly, "Your uterine cold is too serious. If you insist on three courses of moxibustion, I guarantee that your dysmenorrhea will be cured." He turned around and was reported by the customer. Counting the penalty for false publicity and suspected illegal medical practice, he paid a fine of more than 10,000 yuan, and he had to close the shop for half a month for rectification. He kept complaining, saying that he had learned moxibustion from a master for five years. Indeed, many customers' dysmenorrhea was relieved after moxibustion. Why can't he say anything?

In fact, many health care practitioners have this misunderstanding, thinking "I have no problem with my skills and can help people solve problems, so why can't I say so?" But essentially, as long as you don't have medical-related qualifications, once you touch the boundaries of "diagnosing diseases" and "promising to treat diseases", you have already crossed the line. It’s also cupping. If you say to the acne mark on the client’s back, “You have a lot of moisture, if you insist on pulling it, your eczema will be cured.” This is an illegal medical behavior. ； But if you smile and say, “Have you been sitting in front of the computer for a long time lately? My shoulders and back are so stiff, I can relax a lot after cupping." This is a completely compliant health care service, the difference is that simple.

In fact, the controversy over this boundary in the industry has never stopped. Master Zhang, who has been doing massage for more than 20 years, complained to me several times. He said that a customer had a stiff neck and was so painful that he could not move his head. When he came to the store to see him, he did not dare to reset it according to the rules, so he could only send the customer to the hospital to take X-rays. After the customer struggled all afternoon to see a doctor, he turned around and said that his skills were not good. “I have been doing this for half my life, and I can tell by just touching it that it is an ordinary stiff neck, and it can be fixed in two strokes. I have to make people go to the hospital and suffer. Is this rule too strict? ”

But regulatory considerations are also very realistic. At that training meeting, teachers from the Health Bureau took the complaint data from last year. The entire jurisdiction received eight complaints about accidents in health care institutions in one year: some patients were stretched on their cervical vertebrae to the point of temporary insufficient blood supply to the brain and fractured, some were given moxibustion to diabetic clients, which resulted in blisters that eventually ulcerated and required skin grafting, and some were bled to treat patients suffering from insomnia, leading to infections. “Many health care practitioners have only learned techniques and have not systematically studied pathological knowledge. They cannot judge whether the client has underlying diseases. If something goes wrong, your tuition fees will not be enough to cover their medical expenses. ”

To be honest, if you really have to abide by the rules, the red lines are actually very easy to remember: acupuncture, acupotomy, bloodletting, scar moxibustion, bone reduction and other operations that fall within the scope of medical technology, don’t touch them without a license； In all project promotions and oral communications, do not mention words such as "treatment", "cure", "diagnosis" and "such and such disease". Even if you know that this technique can indeed improve certain types of symptoms, do not rely on "treating". Lao Chen is wise now. When a customer asks him, "I have breast nodules, is moxibustion at this acupoint useful?", he will only say, "Many customers' chest and hypochondrium swelling and pain will be relieved a lot after moxibustion, and they will feel much more comfortable. If there are changes in the nodules, you must go to the hospital for regular check-ups, so as not to delay things." Customers think that he is sincere, and there are more repeat customers now than before when he boasted about the curative effect.

I think it is not a bad thing to clearly define the scope of business. After all, people who really want to treat diseases will go to the hospital. What everyone wants to go to the health center is to relax and relieve daily aches and pains. Positioning yourself as a "health care professional" rather than a "doctor who treats diseases" can screen out those troublesome customers who want to "cure all diseases" by spending tens of dollars. Rely on your craftsmanship to retain the regular customers who recognize your skills, and the business will last for a long time. Are you right?