Things to Consider When Joining an Association

Whether you are current student or recent graduate from a Massage or Manual Osteopathic Therapy program (if so Congratulations!) or are an established therapist that is weighing your options regarding professional association membership, we would like to share with you a list of things that you should consider when evaluating a professional association.

Here is a list of some topics/questions that you may wish to ask when considering which Association to join:

1. Membership Requirements: What do they require for Continuing Education? What do they require for First Aid? Are there other things they require you to have or do?
2. Membership Costs: What is the yearly membership fee? Are membership fees prorated if you join during a different time of year from renewal? Does their membership include insurance, or is that an extra cost? Are there additional hidden fees? (Ask for a fee schedule)
3. Professional Liability Insurance Coverage: Is it claims based, or occurrence based? Remember, for your long-term peace of mind, you want OCCURRENCE Based insurance – learn more about the difference between Occurrence Based vs. Claims Made Based by visiting this CMMOTA Blog Post. Does the policy include Commercial General Liability and Malpractice Liability Coverage? Does it include business interruption insurance? How about contents insurance, and to what limit? What is the maximum yearly payout on the liability portion? What are the deductibles if any? What modalities are included in the base policy? What modalities require additional education? How does the Association help in ensuring any additional education required meets the professional liability insurance companies standard for accepted education? What modalities require additional premiums?
4. Communication: Does the association get back to you quickly, or does it take days or weeks? Send an email and see how quickly they respond. Give them a call, both during office hours and off hours, and leave a message and see how quickly they respond to a question you have.
5. Membership Perks: Most Associations have membership perks, which could be anything from exclusive discounts at retail or massage supply outlets, access to discounted health insurance, access to discounted home and auto or other insurance products, discounts to continuing education programs, literally the list of potential perks could be endless. For example – at CMMOTA we have a member who saves enough on their home and auto insurance that the savings have more than covered their yearly membership fees with us. Point here is, do your homework.
6. Provincial Mobility: What happens if you move to a different province? What happens if you want to practice outside of the province you currently live in?

We hope that you will seriously consider CMMOTA as your association of choice. You can find the CMMOTA answer to many of these questions in our FAQ’s – which can be found by clicking here. If you can’t find the answer there – send our Team a message via info@cmmota.com or give us a call during our regular business hours (M-F 9AM-4PM Mountain Time)

You can also find more information on CMMOTA Membership at https://cmmota.com/membership-information/

Finally, if you are ready to join CMMOTA, you can start the application process today by visiting https://app.cmmota.com/apply