|
|
|---|
Take Action to Stop SB 1175 Attempts to Add New Licensing Arizona has passed a bill in the Senate which will be heard March 16 th in the House, that is a monopolistic bill to mandate licensure for a group of unlicensed homeopathic practitioners who practice homeopathy and nutrition in Arizona. Arizona SB 1175 gives a small group of people exclusive rights to practice homeopathic medicine, including homeopathy and nutrition, and to use the title homeopathic doctor. It does not give a safe harbor exemption for other individuals to offer homeopathy and nutrition. WHAT YOU CAN DO Go to the Hearing: Where and When: This bill, SB 1175, is scheduled to be heard in front of the House Committee on Health and Human Services on Wednesday, March 16 at 9 am in the State Capitol Building Room HHR4. Please attend and sign up to speak if you wish. Contact Arizona House Committee on Health and Human Services (#s Below): Call the numbers for each legislator below to leave a message with the Health & Human Services Committee members. Or e-mail or fax the attached form letter to the committee members listed. Call from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to adjournment on Saturday. Telephone calls, emails or faxes are extremely important, whether or not you plan to attend the committee hearing. Not everyone will speak during committee, so it's important to tell them beforehand how you feel about this bill. Currently Arizona is one of three states that have a statute that mandates that to practice homeopathic medicine or homeopathy or nutrition you must be a licensed medical doctor. You must then also be licensed as a homeopathic medical doctor by the state of Arizona, unless you are otherwise exempt. Within these laws, Arizona has a definition of “homeopathic medicine” as well as a definition of “homeopathy” and a definition of “nutrition”, all of which have been monopolized for years by licensed health care professional Arizona statutes. “Homeopathic medicine” is defined very broadly in statute to include the practice of medicine and basic homeopathy and nutrition, and one must have a medical license to practice any of it. Two years ago an exemption to criminal charges of practicing homeopathic medicine or homeopathy was passed in Arizona, strongly advocated by a nationally renowned homeopath named Vega Rosenberg. The exemption reads: “This Chapter does not prevent:…10. The practice of providing treatment of the spiritual vital force in accordance with hahnemanian principles through the use of remedies that are diluted beyond the concentration of substances in drinking water and prepared in the manner described in the homeopathic pharmacopoeia of the United States. Although this exemption did not free up the term “homeopathy”, or “homeopathy” which were only to be exclusively used by medical doctors, nor did it address the fact that Arizona has official definitions of “homeopathy” and “nutrition” which were not included in the language of the exemption, the new exemption did begin to protect the practices of the many unlicensed homeopaths practicing “ in accordance with hahnemanian principles” even if they could not claim that their practices were “homeopathy” or that they are “homeopaths”., practicing in the public domain. The new bill, SB1175, would now make things much worse for unlicensed homeopaths in Arizona. A new group has come forward to request licensure of unlicensed homeopaths who attend “a school or college that on successful completion results in a degree of doctor of homeopathy and that is approved or accredited by the council on homeopathic education or any board approved similar body in the United States or Canada that accredits that course of study.” If passed, SB 1175 would set a precedent as the first state in the nation to mandate licensure of homeopaths who are not medical doctors. SB 1175 is being advocated by a small group of homeopaths who wish to obtain an exclusive privilege to practice a limited scope of “homeopathic medicine” including “the practice of medicine”, “homeopathy” and “nutrition”, and be able to call themselves “homeopathic doctors”, with felony charges for those who practice without a license, and misdemeanor charges for those using a number of titles including the title of “homeopath”. Although advocates of the bill claim they do not wish to mandate that all homeopaths or nutrition practitioners be licensed, the absence of proper exemptions for the basic practice of homeopathy and nutrition will put others in jeopardy. NHFA believes that the existing exemption passed two years ago may not adequately protect homeopaths because it fails to refer to the statutory definitions of homeopathy and nutrition already in Arizona law. NHFA recommends adding the following exemption:
The status of SB 1175 as it enters the House is that it does not contain an exemption for the use of the term “homeopath” by unlicensed practitioners in the public domain, nor does it contain an exemption for practicing “homeopathy” or “nutrition”. Reasons to Oppose SB1175 #1 NHFA opposes this bill because it mandates the licensure of a non-invasive health occupation which should be protected and exempt from occupational licensure under a safe harbor law. Eight states protect the practice of homeopathy from violations of “unlicensed practice of medicine”. NHFA advocates a better approach for health care practitioners of modalities that do not rise to the level of requiring licensure: Safe harbor laws which give a wide variety of natural health practitioners exemption from charges of “practicing medicine without a license.” (See http://www.nationalhealthfreedom.org/InfoCenter/laws_passed.html for examples of safe harbor laws in other states.) #2. At the very least, a bill such as SB 1175 that would give some people the exclusive practice of the limited scope of homeopathic medicine and the exclusive use of the term “homeopathic doctor” should include necessary safe harbor protection for all homeopaths practicing ”homeopathy” and the use of the terms “homeopathy” and “homeopath”. #3 SB 1175 also includes nutrition in the licensing scope of practice, thus threatening the right to practice of thousands of Arizona practitioners who help people with nutrition. NHFA believes that helping people to be well with nutrition must remain in the public domain and should not be the exclusive right of a small number of people. #4. This bill has already passed the full Senate and will be heard in the House Committee on Health and Human Services on Wednesday, March 16, 2011. ACT NOW! Contact Arizona House Committee on Health and Human Services! The Message: "I oppose SB 1175 as written. It harms many homeopaths and individuals who provide nutrition consultation. Homeopathy and nutrition are non-invasive services and should be exempt from restrictive government licensure mandates.” Include the bill number. For example: Re: Vote No on SB-1175. It is best to write your own letter about why it is important to you to keep the provision of nutrition and homeopathy in the public domain. But we have attached a one-page letter you can copy, then sign and fax, or email it with your name. Click on the links and send to the members.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
