Bill Text: CA SB538 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Naturopathic doctors.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)

Status: (Failed) 2016-09-01 - From Assembly without further action. [SB538 Detail]

Download: California-2015-SB538-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 538	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 6, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Block

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act to amend Sections 3640 and 3640.5 of the Business and
Professions Code, relating to naturopathic doctors.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 538, as amended, Block. Naturopathic doctors.
   (1) Existing law, the Naturopathic Doctors Act, provides for the
licensure and regulation of naturopathic doctors by the Naturopathic
Medicine Committee in the Osteopathic Medical Board of California.
Existing law authorizes a naturopathic doctor to perform certain
tasks, including physical and laboratory examinations for diagnostic
purposes, and to order diagnostic imaging studies, as specified.
   This bill would revise and recast those provisions and would
expressly authorize a naturopathic doctor to order, perform, review,
and interpret the results of diagnostic procedures commonly used by
physicians and surgeons in general practice and to dispense,
administer, order, prescribe, provide, furnish, or perform parenteral
therapy and minor procedures, among other duties. The bill would
include cervical routes of administration among the authorized routes
of administration. The bill would define terms for those purposes.
   (2) Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances
Act, classifies controlled substances into 5 designated schedules,
with the most restrictive limitations generally placed on controlled
substances classified in Schedule I, and the least restrictive
limitation generally placed on controlled substances classified in
Schedule V.
   Existing law states that nothing in the Naturopathic Doctors Act
or any other law shall be construed to prohibit a naturopathic doctor
from furnishing or ordering drugs when, among other requirements,
the naturopathic doctor is functioning pursuant to standardized
procedure, as defined, or protocol developed and approved, as
specified, and the Naturopathic Medicine Committee has certified that
the naturopathic doctor has satisfactorily completed adequate
coursework in pharmacology covering the drugs to be furnished or
ordered. Existing law requires that the furnishing or ordering of
drugs by a naturopathic doctor occur under the supervision of a
physician and surgeon. Existing law also authorizes a naturopathic
doctor to furnish or order controlled substances classified in
Schedule III, IV, or V of the California Uniform Controlled
Substances Act, but limits this authorization to those drugs agreed
upon by the naturopathic doctor and physician and surgeon as
specified in the standardized procedure. Existing law further
requires that drugs classified in Schedule III be furnished or
ordered in accordance with a patient-specific protocol approved by
the treating or supervising physician.
   This bill would instead provide that  , except as specified,
 nothing in the provisions governing naturopathic doctors or any
other law shall be construed to prohibit a naturopathic doctor from
furnishing, prescribing, administering, or ordering drugs and would
make a conforming change to the scope of the certification duties of
the Naturopathic Medicine Committee. The bill would delete 
the other   certain  provisions described above
restricting the authority of naturopathic doctors to furnish or order
drugs, including the requirements that the naturopathic doctor
function pursuant to a standardized procedure, or furnish or order
drugs under the supervision of a physician and surgeon.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 3640 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   3640.  (a) A naturopathic doctor may order, perform, review, and
interpret the results of diagnostic procedures commonly used by
physicians and surgeons in general practice, including:
   (1) Venipuncture.
   (2) Physical and orificial examinations.
   (3) Electrocardiograms.
   (4) Diagnostic imaging technique consistent with the practice of
naturopathic medicine.
   (5) Phlebotomy.
   (6) Clinical laboratory test and examinations, as described in
subdivision (e).
   (7) Obtaining samples of human tissue, consistent with the
practice of naturopathic medicine.
   (b) A naturopathic doctor may dispense, administer, order,
prescribe, provide, furnish, or perform the following:
   (1) Food, extracts of food, nutraceuticals, vitamins, amino acids,
minerals, enzymes, botanicals and their extracts, botanical
medicines, homeopathic medicines, all dietary supplements and
nonprescription drugs as defined by the federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act, consistent with the routes of administration identified
in subdivision (d).
   (2) Hot or cold hydrotherapy; naturopathic physical medicine
inclusive of the manual use of massage, stretching, resistance, or
joint play examination but exclusive of small amplitude movement at
or beyond the end range of normal joint motion; electromagnetic
energy; colon hydrotherapy; and therapeutic exercise.
   (3) Devices, including, but not limited to, therapeutic devices,
barrier contraception, and durable medical equipment consistent with
naturopathic training as determined by the committee.
   (4) Health education and health counseling.
   (5) Parenteral therapy.
   (6) Minor procedures.
   (c) A naturopathic doctor may utilize routes of administration
that include oral, nasal, auricular, ocular, cervical, rectal,
vaginal, transdermal, intradermal, subcutaneous, intravenous, and
intramuscular.
   (d) The committee may establish regulations regarding ocular or
intravenous routes of administration that are consistent with the
education and training of a naturopathic doctor.
   (e) Nothing in this section shall exempt a naturopathic doctor
from meeting applicable licensure requirements for the performance of
clinical laboratory tests, including the requirements imposed under
Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1200).
   (f) For purposes of this section:
   (1) "Minor procedures" means care and operative procedures
relative to superficial laceration, lesions, and abrasions, and the
removal of foreign bodies located in superficial structures and
aspiration of joints, and the topical and parenteral use of
substances consistent with the practice of naturopathic medicine, in
accordance with rules established by the Naturopathic Medicine
Committee.
   (2) "Parenteral therapy" means the administration of substances by
means other than through the gastrointestinal tract, including
intravenous,  subcutaneous and   sub  
cutaneous,  intramuscular,  intravenous  and
other areas of the body excluding the ventral and dorsal body
cavities.
  SEC. 2.  Section 3640.5 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   3640.5.  (a)  Nothing   Except as set forth
in this section, nothing    in this chapter or any
other law shall be construed to prohibit a naturopathic doctor from
furnishing, prescribing, administering, or ordering drugs.
   (b) Drugs furnished or ordered by a naturopathic doctor may
include Schedule III through Schedule V controlled substances under
the California Uniform Controlled Substances  ActDivision
  Act (Division  10 (commencing with Section 11000)
of the Health and Safety  Code.   Code), and
any drug approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration that is
not classified and labeled "for prescription only" or words of
similar import. 
   (c) The committee shall certify that the naturopathic doctor has
satisfactorily completed adequate coursework in pharmacology covering
the drugs to be furnished, prescribed, administered, or ordered
under this section. The committee shall establish the requirements
for satisfactory completion of this subdivision.
   (d) Use of the term "furnishing" in this section, in health
facilities defined in subdivisions (b), (c), (d), (e), and (i) of
Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, shall include ordering
and furnishing a drug.
   (e) For purposes of this section, "drug order" or "order" means an
order for medication which is dispensed to or for an ultimate user,
issued by a naturopathic doctor as an individual practitioner, within
the meaning of Section 1306.02 of Title 21 of the Code of Federal
Regulations.
   (f) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, both of the
following shall apply:
   (1) All references to prescription in this code and the Health and
Safety Code shall include drug orders issued by naturopathic
doctors.
   (2) The signature of a naturopathic doctor on a drug order issued
in accordance with this section shall be deemed to be the signature
of a prescriber for purposes of this code and the Health and Safety
Code.