Newsletters > Spring 1997 > For Naturopathic Licensure, by Nancy Hone, edited by Helen Healy, ND

For Naturopathic Licensure, Nancy Hone, edited by Helen Healy, ND

Naturopathic licensure in the state of Minnesota will open doors for all doctors of Naturopathy who meet the educational standards set by the U.S. Department of Education, and bring it into the medical mainstream. It will allow naturopaths to stand up as primary cue providers to the citizens of Minnesota. With licensure they can legally practice without fear of reprisal from the Medical Board that they were “practicing medicine without a license.” Licensure would eventually put them in a position where their services would be paid for by insurance companies. This, of course, would be beneficial to the consumers. In addition, more 4-year ND graduates would come to Minnesota for it would provide for a legally friendly environment to practice. The attraction would be the provision of the highest level of educated natural health care practitioners to consumers. These NDs usually have an undergraduate science degree plus the 4 years of naturopathic medical training along with required passing of the Naturopathic Physician Licensing Examination (NPLEX). This provides assurance of high standards of care and greater accessibility to the public.

The naturopathic bill has a fair grandfathering clause for the respondence school naturopaths, who have held themselves out as naturopaths prior to 1993. If they apply for a transitional license, they have 6 years to pass the NPLEX. Disagreement regarding licensure seems to be a lot about the name itself A teacher of homeopathy in New York, Sophie Scheel, entered the name naturopathy in a contest in 1901, and won. The name was embraced by Benedict Lust (1872-1945), considered the Father of Naturopathy, and his wife, Louisa, the Mother of Naturopathy. Benedict Lust was a naturopath and established a sanitorium for healing. In 1902, he opened a store and published a magazine that were all well received by the public. This began a 95 year history of formalizing the education of highly trained naturopathic physicians.

There are over 1,100 licensed NDs practicing in the U.S. As of August 1996, 12 states and 5 provinces in Canada have naturopathic licensure. In the US. NDs have been continuously licensed since 1918, three accredited colleges educate and train naturopathic doctors, and it is projected that all 50 states will license naturopathic medicine by the year 2010. In 1983, the World Health Organization recommended integration of natural medicine into conventional health care systems.

Today, the Minnesota Board of Medicine supports the naturopathic licensure bill and will serve as the regulatory body through a Naturopathic Advisory Council. The Minnesota Attorney General supports licensure this session. Although a separate naturopathic licensing board is the ideal, the annual cost is $120,000 and is prohibitive for the small number of’ naturopaths in the state of Minnesota.

Licensure would benefit all of the natural health community and, most importantly, consumers are asking for it. Help us pass this bill.