ND's in Alaska need your help!

Please support HB266
This isn’t my normal style of blog or writing, but the following topic is vitally important to protecting the way I and all other naturopathic doctors in the state of Alaska practice.

As a little background, many of you know that in Alaska, naturopathic doctors are licensed primary care doctors with a limited scope of practice that includes utilizing plant medicines, vitamins, minerals, nutrition, hydrotherapy,  physical medicine, lifestyle counseling, and other natural treatments to both treat illness and to work with patients to achieve optimal wellness. Naturopathic doctors in Alaska practice under state statute, following the guidelines of regulations developed in 1994 by ND’s and the Department of Labor.

By current statute, we cannot “give, prescribe, or recommend in the practice:
1. a prescription drug or
2. a “controlled substance.”  Controlled substances are prescription drugs such as opiates that have the potential for abuse.

The Department of Labor (DOL), who oversees our profession in Alaska, adopted regulations in 1994 that “prescription drugs” does not include a “device or herbal or homeopathic remedy or dietetic substances in a form that is not a controlled substance” with further clarification that “herbal remedies” include the extract of a plant, tree, root, moss, fungus or other natural substance.

The DOL is now ignoring this regulation by restricting the use of plant-based medicine.

HB266 takes one sentence from our regulations (medicines derived from or a concentrate or extract of  a plant, tree, root, moss, fungus or other natural substance), and places it into statute so that the thousands of patients and families who rely on Naturopathic care will continue to receive the current level of care they have come to appreciate and rely on.

Naturopathic doctors are the leading experts in herbal medicine, herb/medication interactions, and human physiology and the effect of plant medicines on both optimizing wellness and treating disease.  Limiting the use of the medicines we know and use best would be detrimental to the welfare of our patients.

It is our intent with HB266 to maintain our current status, as naturopathic doctors in the state of Alaska, with our current prescriptive capacity of natural substances. The bill will maintain this status by placing one sentence from our regulations into Alaska Statute, thereby defining more clearly the way we have been practicing for 20 years. It will not add to our current scope of practice. It will not give us pharmaceutical prescriptive privileges. It will allow us to continue to practice in the effective manner in which we have been practicing up until limitations were placed on the types of natural substances we could obtain.

Representative Cathy Munoz and Senator Lesil McGuire have sponsored this bill. We greatly appreciate their support. We now have 90 days to pass this legislation. This is where you come in. Our legislators’ highest priority is to represent the people in their own communities. Hearing from their constituents is vital in helping them make decisions that serve the people of their communities best. You, as patients of naturopathic doctors, are best able to communicate the care you’ve received and to request that your legislators support this bill that maintains our status and allows us to continue practicing as we have been in the state of Alaska since 1986. Your legislators need to hear that you have chosen Naturopathic care as either your primary choice for care or as an adjunct to other medical services.

I would appreciate a copy of any correspondence you send to your legislator as a way for us to keep track of support and requests. You can send copies to amycnd@gci.net. Also, please feel free to send me any questions about this bill. Letters of gratitude to our sponsors and letters in support of the bill to your personal legislators are all helpful to this process.

HOW TO CONTACT LEGISLATORS
POMs (public opinion messages): If you go to www.alaska.gov, you will see an icon on the right hand corner that says “the Alaska Legislature” which goes to their home page.  On the bottom of that page under “Quick Links” is a link to “public opinion messages” that will allow you to send a 50 word message to all or some of the legislators.  The link will want to know what district you are from.  That information is on your voter’s registration card.

Some ideas of things to include in these messages are: how long you and your family have been working with a naturopathic doctor; the quality of care you receive; the effectiveness of treatment you’ve received; and asking your legislator to support HB 266 so that you, your family and all Alaskans maintain freedom of choice in their health care provider and model.

Direct emails:  You will find the link to particular legislators by opening up the tab marked “senate” or “house” along the top of this page.  That will bring you to the links for all the individual legislators.  Clicking on any specific name will take you to a website that has the email address for that person.

Regular mail:  I know, when was the last time you wrote a “real” letter? Sometimes in our world of technology, receiving a paper letter attracts attention. I would be happy to supply “talking points” to anyone who would like assistance.

Direct testimony: Our bill has been assigned to one committee in the House - Labor and Commerce.   Individuals can weigh in on this committee by going to their local Legislative Information Office (LIO) to testify.  Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee that a bill will be heard when it is scheduled. So, though this is a powerful option, please know that they occasionally run out of time before hearing a bill and you may not have a chance to testify.

Contacting your local representatives is the perfect place to start. If you live in a district represented by one of the people on the Labor and Commerce committee (see the list below), even better! But, as the bill leaves committee, each representative will be asked for their vote.

We hope to have a bill in the senate very soon that will be worded in exactly the same manner.

House Labor and Commerce:
    Kurt Olson - Chair (Soldotna)
    Craig Johnson -Vice Chair (Anchorage)
    Steve Thompson (Fairbanks and co-sponsor of HB266)
    Paul Seaton (Homer)
    Dan Saddler (Eagle River)
    Lindsey Holmes (Anchorage)
    Bob Miller (Fairbanks)

If you would like to track the progress of HB266, you can sign up for email alerts (home page of the legislature, under media center), allowing you to follow the bill as it goes through process. Also, on the legislative home page, you can put HB266 in the search engine to bring up the status of the bill. Or, you can live stream committee proceedings by going to AlaskaLegislature.tv.  They make this available to anyone who does not live near a Legislative Information Office (LIO) or has problems getting to an LIO.

With immense gratitude for your assistance and for your presence in my life as patients, friends and community,
Dr Amy