01/21/2011
As previously reported, ABMP helped develop a Sunrise Application for the state of Vermont last year. The sunrise process is a preliminary assessment of the massage therapy profession conducted by the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) to determine whether, in its opinion, the profession should be regulated by the state.
The Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) has recommended that Massage Therapists not be subject to professional regulation in the State of Vermont.
OPR cited the following reasons for not recommending state regulation for massage therapy:
- The applicants have not demonstrated that the unregulated practice of massage therapy can clearly harm or endanger the health, safety, or welfare of the public. The potential for harm is remote and speculative.
- There has been no showing that the public requires a State approved assurance of initial and continuing professional ability. Professional training and certification programs meet this need and are advertised by massage therapists.
- The best regulator of this profession remains the marketplace. In the rare instance where harm may occur, the public is sufficiently protected through existing common law and civil remedies. Where someone posing as a massage therapist violates criminal laws, those laws effectively protect the public.
- No stronger civil remedies have been required, tried, or found to be insufficient.
State: