California Senate Bill SB667 Latest Draft

 BILL NUMBER: SB 667AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 4, 2012 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 31, 2011 INTRODUCED BY Senator Runner FEBRUARY 18, 2011 An act to amend  Section   Sections  3640  and 3640.7  of the Business and Professions Code, relating to healing arts. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 667, as amended, Runner. Naturopathic  doctor.   doctors.  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 sets forth the scope of practice of naturopathic doctors. Existing law authorizes  a naturopathic doctor to dispense, administer, order, and prescribe vitamins, minerals, and nonprescription drugs, among other substances, using various routes of administration, as specified. Under existing law,  a naturopathic doctor  to   may furnish and order drugs  under standardized procedures and protocols developed by the naturopathic doctor and his or her supervising physician and surgeon, as specified   if, among other requirements, the furnishing or ordering occurs under physician supervision pursuant to a standardized procedure or protocol, except that existing law authorizes a naturopathic doctor to independently prescribe epinephrine and natural and synthetic hormones, as specified  .  Existing law provides that the authority to use all routes for furnishing prescription drugs shall be consistent with other specified oversight and supervision requirements.   This bill would specify that a naturopathic doctor may also independently dispense, furnish, administer, and order epinephrine and natural and synthetic hormones, as specified. The bill would also authorize a naturopathic doctor to independently dispense, furnish, administer, order, and prescribe vitamins, minerals, and nonprescription drugs, among other substances, using various specified routes of administration. The bill would make other related conforming changes.   This bill would delete that provision and would instead provide that nothing in the act prohibits a naturopathic doctor from ordering, prescribing, or administering a nonprescription substance that becomes a substance requiring a prescription based solely on its route of administration.  Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. 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 and perform physical and laboratory examinations for diagnostic purposes, including, but not limited to, phlebotomy, clinical laboratory tests, speculum examinations, orificial examinations, and physiological function tests. (b) A naturopathic doctor may order diagnostic imaging studies, including X-ray, ultrasound, mammogram, bone densitometry, and others, consistent with naturopathic training as determined by the committee, but shall refer the studies to an appropriately licensed health care professional to conduct the study and interpret the results. (c) A naturopathic doctor may dispense,  furnish,  administer, order, and prescribe 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. (4) Health education and health counseling. (5) Repair and care incidental to superficial lacerations and abrasions, except suturing. (6) Removal of foreign bodies located in the superficial tissues. (d) A naturopathic doctor may utilize routes of administration that include oral, nasal, auricular, ocular, rectal, vaginal, transdermal, intradermal, subcutaneous, intravenous, and intramuscular. (e) The committee may establish regulations regarding ocular or intravenous routes of administration that are consistent with the education and training of a naturopathic doctor. (f) Nothing in this section shall exempt a naturopathic doctor from meeting applicable licensure requirements for the performance of clinical laboratory tests.  (g) Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit a naturopathic doctor from ordering, prescribing, or administering a nonprescription substance that becomes a substance requiring a prescription based solely on its route of administration.   SEC. 2.   Section 3640.7 of the   Business and Professions Code   is amended to read:  3640.7. Notwithstanding the requirements of Section 3640.5 or any other provision of this chapter, a naturopathic doctor may  independently   do both of the following:   (a)     Independently dispense, furnish, administer, order, and  prescribe epinephrine to treat anaphylaxis and natural and synthetic hormones.  (b) Independently dispense, furnish, administer, order, and prescribe any of the substances listed in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 3640, consistent with the routes of administration identified in subdivision (d) of Section 3640.