Hello everyone. I wanted to spend a moment and clear up a few things for those who are willing to listen. Opinions welcomed! Despite the concerns of the OPSC, I really hope they can work with the NDs in California. As the "new kids on the block", I'm not surprised at the lack of factual information and fear floating around and hope we can stick to the facts. I don't expect to change everyone's mind, especially those DOs who would rather just be considered an MD. But I think the more you know the facts, the more comfortable you will be with Naturopathic Doctors and what is happening here.
First, the Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine is not being consolidated into the OMBC. It is being eliminated. The functions of the Bureau are consolidated under an independent Naturopathic Committee under OMBC and the regulations remain separate. The idea was to have it operate just like the dental hygienists - who are registered and regulated by the Dental Board of California. In fact, the Dental Board has 1 dental hygienist on the Dental Board. This gives representation to them so the board understand what they do. I don't see this hurting the dental board, so there is no reason to be fearful that NDs will have any say in the practice of Osteopathic Medicine, just a voice at the board level. I also understand that DOs are fearful of being associated with NDs. I understand the concern but the regulation of both remains separate just like the dental board and dental hygienists - which hasn't created any public confusion or problems. Saying it is a merger is not true and it implies alot of things that just aren't going to happen.
Second, there was not a "cloak of darkness" surrounding the decision to put the Naturopathic Committee under the OMBC. Not only were there hearings in July that both the OMBC and the OPSC attended and testified at, but several attempts were made starting @May to contact the OPSC to let them know that the OPSC was one of several agencies being considered for a home for Naturopathic licenses. The OPSC chose to ignore the problem.
Third, if anything, the OMBC will be better funded now that they get revenues from ND licenses. NDs pay almost 2x as much for a medical license and almost certainly cost less to regulate. I don't know about DOs, but approximately 25% of MDs have an active lawsuit against them at any point in time, requiring the Medical Board to investigate and make determinations. I'd expect it to be lower for DOs but not substantially, because surgery and prescribing alot of pharmaceuticals correlates with lawsuits. In 5 years, there has not been a single investigation of NDs related to malpractice and the Bureau has built up a surplus equal to 1 year of operating. If anything, it would seem that the money coming in from NDs would provide for more staff so the OMBC can better do its job, protecting the public.
Fourth, make sure you know the difference between a Naturopathic Doctor and a traditional Naturopath. NDs go to medical school for 4 years with some doing 1 year residencies afterwards. Traditional Naturopaths from places like Trinity get a @6 month correspondence education in health and wellness. Its like the difference between an MD and a Medical Assistant - worlds apart. There are a number of traditional naturopaths who call themselves doctors because these diploma mills give out certificates that say "Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine". It's completely misleading to the public and, in places like California illegal. I regularly report those using the title or name ND to the Bureau who then pursues it.
Fifth, NDs do have comparable education to MDs and DOs in many ways but are by no means the same. Want the facts? See the
Journal of Family practice on Naturopathic Medicine including info on
core curriculum and
education hours compared to MDs/DOs. ND education is very similar to both MDs and DOs but because the have no training or desire to become surgeons, they are a different kind of physician. They focus more on scientifically proven preventive medicine as a way to deal with health problems, especially the huge number of diseases that are lifestyle related. NDs emphasize physiology and prescribe substances that impact physiology in much the same way as pharamaceuticals along the same biochemical pathways. Because the substances are not concentrated pharmaceuticals, they are perfect for conditions that are less advanced, requiring less intervention and without the same side effects of pharmaceuticals.
NDs would be happy to do regular residencies but because they are new, their residencies are not federally funded and they are not (yet) recongnized by medicare. Most MDs and DOs are happy to consider them unqualified because they don't have the training to operate or the depth of pharmaceutical usage learned in residencies, but there is more to medicine than surgery and drugs, something that I thought most DOs understood. Most NDs work in a primary care setting where less agressive pharamceutical invention is required. On the other hand, Dr. Decker Weiss is an ND who is a board certified cardiologist in Arizona - so you can see that NDs are qualified to integrate within regular medicine - if they follow the residency track.
BTW, NDs can order controlled substances 3-5 but need a supervising MD or DO in order to do so. At least for now. The CA legislature wanted further study before giving NDs independent prescribing rights. The analysis is done and has been submitted to the legislature.
Sixth. NDs have many of the same responsibilities as MDs/DOs in practicing medicine. If the conventional diagnosis they arrive at (using standard labs) and treatment they are providing is ineffective, then they must refer to another healthcare provider, such as an MD/DO. Failure to do so is malpractice. If NDs were not living up to those responsibilities, you would see many, many lawsuits in California and in other states that license NDs. On the contrary, malpractice suits are quite rare, maybe 1-3 a year for the 5,000 NDs practicing across the US. Naturopathic Medicine is not homeopathy and not hippie medicine. If you still think it is, you should do your homework. This is not your grandmother's natural medicine. Similarly, any ND who would advise someone to stop radiation and chemotherapy would be setting themselves up for both malpractice and loss of their license. Most of the aggresive criticism I've seen on this thread are likely from DOs who ran into a counterculture traditional naturopath, not a Naturopathic Doctor.
Seven. There's been quite a few comments about whether the stuff NDs prescribe is really medicine because it is often not prescription medication. Wouldn't pharmaceutical companies just do the research and make a drug out of it? Um, no. Pharmaceutical companies primarily work on patentable drugs. If it cannot be patented, pharmacutical companies rarely do the research.
This is changing though, especially with the large amounts of research on nutritional medicine. Pharma companies are beginning to buy up many of the nutraceutical companies that have well-researched products that NDs use. With solid research and a lot less fear of side effect related lawsuits, they are learning there is plenty of profit to be made and, while patents expire, brand recognition doesn't. When you get into practice, don't be surprised if drug reps start adding nutraceuticals to their drug lines. It is coming.....
Hope this helps.
). And in every circumstance I've encountered I just answer the question with "It means MD" and they say "OK" and that's the end of it.
