STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2244

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2577

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2577 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require:

     (1)  Naturopathic practitioners to fulfill the same education, examination, and training requirements as physicians or osteopathic physicians licensed under chapter 453, Hawaii Revised Statutes, prior to the prescription, administration, or dispensing of any item on the naturopathic formulary; and

     (2)  Authorization from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs for any naturopathic physician wishing to prescribe, administer, or dispense any item on the naturopathic formulary.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Medical Association and Healthcare Association of Hawaii.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Sakoda Construction, LLC, and several individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Board of Naturopathic Medicine, and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that naturopathic education focuses primarily on natural treatments, and therefore offers very few contact hours of study on pharmacological treatment of disease.  Your Committee further finds that the current naturopathic formulary include psychoactive agents, cardiovascular and respiratory drugs, and medical gas, which can have unpredictable effects on patients.  This measure takes safety precautions by restricting the formulary for naturopathic practitioners, in recognition of the fact that naturopathic education differs from that received within allopathic or osteopathic medical schools and has fewer standards and requirements for training in the use of allopathic or osteopathic treatment modalities.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Removing the requirement that a naturopathic physician shall fulfill the same education, examination, and training requirements as physicians or osteopathic physicians licensed under chapter 453, Hawaii Revised Statutes, in order to qualify for prescription privileges;

     (2)  Requiring naturopathic physicians to complete fifteen hours of continuing medical education in pharmacology annually in order to qualify for prescription privileges;

     (3)  Requiring naturopathic physicians to submit proof of completing the continuing medical education in pharmacology to the Board of Naturopathic Medicine;

     (4)  Requiring naturopathic physicians to maintain a collegial relationship with a prescribing physician licensed under chapter 453, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to qualify for prescription privileges;

     (5)  Requiring the prescribing physician to perform a quarterly review of the list of naturopathic formulary items that have been prescribed by the naturopathic physician and address any concern regarding naturopathic formulary and amounts prescribed with the prescribing naturopathic physician and the Board of Naturopathic Medicine;

     (6)  Restricting naturopathic physicians to prescribe only items under categories 1-7 of the naturopathic formulary effective August 9, 2013, and as may be subsequently amended;

     (7)  Requiring naturopathic physicians to submit a monthly report to the Board of Naturopathic Medicine that lists the type and number of each prescription of naturopathic formulary prescribed by the naturopathic physician during the preceding month;

     (8)  Requiring the Board of Naturopathic Medicine to provide to the Legislature an annual report of prescription data;

     (9)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2014, and a sunset date of June 30, 2016; and

    (10)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2577, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2577, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair