The California Acupuncture Board told members on March 7 that its licensing modernization—built with DCA Office of Information Services—continues to roll out incremental functionality while the project moves from development to maintenance.

Licensing unit updates: Licensing staff said the licensing system now supports status changes online (active↔inactive), will soon allow replacement pocket licenses, and has improved exam-processing functions. About 75% of licensees have adopted online licensing through the new system; when legacy and new systems are combined, staff estimate email contact for roughly 98% of licensees.

New features planned: Staff described a CE continuity/audit module to allow more efficient continuing-education audits and better enforcement of CE requirements. The board also obtained a separate contract to design an enforcement module. The enforcement module will support web-based complaints and back-office case processing; staff estimated it will be a several-year effort with funding secured to continue development.

Outreach and notifications: Licensing staff said increased email coverage enables more targeted outreach (renewal reminders, wall-license prompts), noting that official address-of-record mail remains the legal default notification mechanism. Staff recommended possible targeted email reminders to licensees who lack a wall license as an effective compliance strategy.

Why it matters: Improved online tools should reduce staff processing time, enable more consistent CE audits, and allow better complaint intake and case tracking for enforcement. The enforcement module is intended to shorten investigation cycle times and reduce the backlog described elsewhere in the meeting.

Ending: Staff said they would continue to expand automation where possible, coordinate with enforcement for intake and case processing, and consider targeted email reminders to improve compliance with the board’s posting and renewal obligations.