CAMLAW : Complementary And Alternative Medicine Law Blog

The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy once asked me whether naturopathic physicians should be licensed in all states.

New and improved Connecticut massage therapy legislation has arrived.

Massage therapy licensure, certification, and national examination issues are canvassed in a piece questioning membership requirements.

How do you know whether a specific CAM practice -- say, hypnotherapy -- is 'legal' or 'illegal' in a specific state?

Physician assistants have licensing authority to write prescriptions in forty-nine states plus the District of Columbia.

Massage licensing, credentialing and the NCBTMB (National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork): some comments and corrections from a massage therapist who tracks regulatory trends.

Massage therapy licensing requirements vary by state (some states regulate by town ordinance), although once again the Department of Labor website has some helpful information about massage therapy licensure rules.

Psychologists, Counselors, and Mind-Body Professionals: what's the difference?

The Mind-Body-Spirit Journal suggests that naturopathic physicians need to rebrand themselves so as to better distinguish "medically-trained" MD's from lay naturopaths, both of which are sometimes known as "naturopathic doctors."

Congress has enacted legislation removing the restriction that universities have at least 50% of education in-residence, opening the door for more distance education.

Prosecution of an Indiana midwife for practicing medicine without a license shows that criminal enforcement of medical licensing laws against practitioners continues.

How do legal licensure requirement affect alterantive practitioners and the furnishing of medical (or other health) advise by phone or online?

The debate continues across the country, including recently Colorado, where an unlicensed "naturopath" treated a pediatric cancer patient by injecting him with hydrogen peroxide.

The National Acupuncture Foundation has just re-released the popular Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine State Laws & Regulations book.

According to the February issue of Fast Company, a magazine and website that chronicles how the business world is changing, the chiropractic profession is ranked fourth among the nation’s top jobs to pursue in the next five years.

On February 25th, 2005 governor Bill Rounds of South Dakota signed a new law that will regulate the state’s massage therapy profession.

The state of South Carolina amended its medical practice statutes by adding the “Acupuncture Act of South Carolina.”

U.S. News and World Report recently reported on "the subtle yet revolutionary changes in the way Americans receive their healthcare," changes that have implications for integration of complementary and alternative medical therapies into hospitals and mainstream health care."

How do you know whether a physician is properly certified as a holistic and integrative medicine doctor? The answer isn’t easy, because the field is new, and lots of providers would like to claim the title.

It's important to remember that a variety of personnel may be offering CAM services: physicians; allied health providers (such as nurses); and CAM providers (such as acupuncturists).

Physicians typically get privileges as members of the hospital staff; such privileges will need to be modified to add specified CAM therapies. This may be heavily contested or negotiated with the hospital's medical executive committee.

"The movement toward national teaching standards in yoga (“Wag the Down Dog”, May/June 00, p. 80) is part of a larger spiral toward greater standardization, uniformity, and professional coherence in complementary and alternative medical (“CAM”) modalities generally," Michael wrote in Yoga Journal letters to the editor (July 2000).

California became the 13th state to allow graduates of accredited institutions to practice to the full extent of their education and training in naturopathic medicine.