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1997 SESSION

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HB 2696 Medical Practice Act; complementary care.

Introduced by: Ward L. Armstrong | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Medical practice act; complementary care. Revises the medical practice act to include complementary care. The definition of acupuncture practice is amended to include the use of traditional oriental herbs and remedies. A new definition of complementary care is inserted, i.e., the inclusion of treatment modalities in the practice of the healing arts which (i) do not involve controlled substances, (ii) depart from generally accepted therapeutic methods; and (iii) have a therapeutic benefit potential outweighing the risk of physical harm to the patient. The exemptions-generally statute is amended to include practitioners rendering complementary care that offers reasonable expectation of benefit and meets the minimal standard of care for the practitioner's branch of the healing arts. A new section notes that practitioners cannot be denied licenses or certificates or have licenses or certificates suspended, or revoked or be disciplined in any way solely because of adherence to any particular medical modality or system of practice or because of opinions or philosophy of treatment and cure of disease. The membership of the Board of Medicine is increased by two to include one physician practicing complementary medicine and one chiropractor practicing complementary chiropractic. Any special conference committee appointed to review a complaint against a practitioner which involves a practitioner of complementary care must include one of the complementary care practitioners on the Board. The law relating to control of the sale of vitamins or food supplements is revised to note that no practitioner can be required to document a therapeutically proven rationale for recommending the use of vitamins or food supplements.


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