Support Licensure of Naturopathic Physicians (PA residents only, please.)

  • by: Ryan Ace
  • recipient: The Honorable Robert M. Tomlinson, Senator, Pennsylvania Senate
Quality Assurance

Health Freedom

Treatment Integration

Fraud Protection

Health Care Transformation

Dear Senator Tomlinson:


We, the undersigned, are calling on you and the other members of Committee for Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, to introduce legislation to license naturopathic physicians in Pennsylvania

With today’s ever-rising health care costs and increasing instances of chronic disease in our country, there is a renewed interest by the public, government, and health care institutions in the development of patient-centered systems of health care directed to improve the health of individuals and communities while also preventing illness. Licensure of Naturopathic Physicians provides the public with just such a natural health care option.


Contemporary Naturopathic Physicians (N.D.s) are trained in medical science and conventional diagnostic techniques, and are qualified to apply natural therapies in treating and preventing disease, as well as restoring and maintaining health. Pennsylvania citizens have the right to know that the people offering such services are competent and licensed as physicians, and will be held accountable for their professional activities and outcomes. Licensure of N.D.s will ensure that practitioners are reliable and properly educated, and that there would be oversight to ensure that all N.D.s are practicing properly and maintaining professional standards. Since Licensed N.D.s would be required to work under set standards and competency requirements, other health care professionals would be able to engage them in dialog, refer patients and integrate their own methods with standard natural techniques.


Individuals who falsely present themselves as knowledgeable about natural health care are a danger to the public, as well as to the integrity of naturopathic practice. While anyone can (and should) educate themselves in the knowledge of natural health care through reading, a physician must have the education to be able to recognize, differentiate, and diagnose serious illnesses. A physician also needs the insight needed to understand and use emerging technical advances in healing. Finally, a physician must fully cooperate with voluntary and public agencies to work for the improvement of health in the community. With licensure of N.D.s, public awareness of natural alternatives will spread far and wide, opening new doors for those individuals whose conditions have not responded successfully to conventional treatments.


In short, legal recognition of Naturopathic Medicine via licensing creates a climate in which patients can trust the credentials of their N.D.; encourages the evolution and growth of medicine; and provides a foundation for the cooperation with mainstream medicine to build a truly complementary system of medicine for the twenty-first century.

Sincerely,


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