Amended in Assembly August 17, 2015

Amended in Assembly July 7, 2015

Amended in Senate April 16, 2015

Amended in Senate April 6, 2015

Senate Bill No. 538

Introduced by Senator Block

(Coauthor: Senator Hueso)

begin insert

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Nazarian)

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February 26, 2015

An act to amend Sections 3640 and 3640.5 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to naturopathic doctors.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 538, as amended, Block. Naturopathic doctors.

(1) 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 authorizes a naturopathic doctor to perform certain tasks, including physical and laboratory examinations for diagnostic purposes and to order diagnostic imaging studies, consistent with naturopathic training as determined by the committee. Under the act, a naturopathic doctor is authorized to dispense, administer, order, prescribe, furnish, or perform certain things, including health education and health counseling.

This bill would, instead, authorize a naturopathic doctor to perform certain tasks, consistent with the practice of naturopathic medicine, and would additionally authorize a naturopathic doctor to dispense, administer, order, prescribe, provide, or begin delete furnish, end delete begin insert furnish end insert devices and durable medical equipment consistent with the naturopathic training as determined by the committee.

(2) Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, classifies controlled substances into 5 designated schedules, with the most restrictive limitations generally placed on controlled substances classified in Schedule I, and the least restrictive limitation generally placed on controlled substances classified in Schedule V.

Existing law states that nothing in the Naturopathic Doctors Act or any other law shall be construed to prohibit a naturopathic doctor from furnishing or ordering drugs when, among other requirements, the naturopathic doctor is functioning pursuant to standardized procedure, as defined, or protocol developed and approved, as specified, and the Naturopathic Medicine Committee has certified that the naturopathic doctor has satisfactorily completed adequate coursework in pharmacology covering the drugs to be furnished or ordered. Existing law requires that the furnishing or ordering of drugs by a naturopathic doctor occur under the supervision of a physician and surgeon. Existing law also authorizes a naturopathic doctor to furnish or order controlled substances classified in Schedule III, IV, or V of the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, but limits this authorization to those drugs agreed upon by the naturopathic doctor and physician and surgeon as specified in the standardized procedure. Existing law further requires that drugs classified in Schedule III be furnished or ordered in accordance with a patient-specific protocol approved by the treating or supervising physician.

This bill would instead provide that, except as specified, nothing in the provisions governing naturopathic doctors or any other law shall be construed to prohibit a naturopathic doctor from administering, furnishing, ordering, or prescribing drugs and would make a conforming change to the scope of the certification duties of the Naturopathic Medicine Committee. The bill would delete certain provisions described above restricting the authority of naturopathic doctors to furnish or order drugs, including the requirements that the naturopathic doctor function pursuant to a standardized procedure, or furnish or order drugs under the supervision of a physician and surgeon for Schedule V controlled substances and for any drug approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration and labeled “for prescription only,” except chemotherapeutics, that is not classified.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. 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 the practice of naturopathic medicine,
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, administer, order,
prescribe, provide, furnish, 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 consistent
with the naturopathic training as determined by the committee.

(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)  begin delete Nothing in this end delete begin insert This end insert section shall begin insert not end insert exempt a naturopathic
doctor from meeting applicable licensure requirements for the
performance of clinical laboratory tests, including the requirements
imposed under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1200).

SEC. 2.  

Section 3640.5 of the Business and Professions Code
is amended to read:

3640.5.  

(a) Except as set forth in this section, nothing in this
chapter or any other provision of law shall be construed to prohibit
a naturopathic doctor from administering, furnishing, ordering, or
prescribing drugs when functioning pursuant to this section.

(b) Schedule III and Schedule IV controlled substances under
the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act (Division 10
(commencing with Section 11000) of the Health and Safety Code)
shall be administered, furnished, ordered, and prescribed by a
naturopathic doctor in accordance with standardized procedures
or protocols developed by the naturopathic doctor and his or her
supervising physician and surgeon.

(c) The naturopathic doctor shall function pursuant to a
standardized procedure, as defined by paragraphs (1) and (2) of
subdivision (c) of Section 2725, or protocol. The standardized
procedure or protocol shall be developed and approved by the
supervising physician and surgeon, the naturopathic doctor, and,
where applicable, the facility administrator or his or her designee.

(d) The standardized procedure or protocol covering the
administering, furnishing, ordering, or prescribing of Schedule III
and Schedule IV drugs shall specify which naturopathic doctors
may administer, furnish, order, or prescribe Schedule III and
Schedule IV drugs, which Schedule III through Schedule IV drugs
may be administered, furnished, ordered, or prescribed and under
what circumstances, the extent of physician and surgeon
supervision, the method of periodic review of the naturopathic
doctor’s competence, including peer review, which shall be subject
to the reporting requirement in Section 805, and review of the
provisions of the standardized procedure.

(e) The administering, furnishing, ordering, or prescribing of
Schedule III and Schedule IV drugs by a naturopathic doctor shall
occur under physician and surgeon supervision. Physician and
surgeon supervision shall not be construed to require the physical
presence of the physician, but does include all of the following:

(1) Collaboration on the development of the standardized
procedure.

(2) Approval of the standardized procedure.

(3) Availability by telephonic contact at the time of patient
examination by the naturopathic doctor.

(f) When Schedule III controlled substances, as defined in
Section 11056 of the Health and Safety Code, are administered,
furnished, ordered, or prescribed by a naturopathic doctor, the
controlled substances shall be administered, furnished, ordered,
or prescribed in accordance with a patient-specific protocol
approved by the treating or supervising physician. A copy of the
section of the naturopathic doctor’s standardized procedure or
protocol relating to controlled substances shall be provided, upon
request, to a licensed pharmacist who dispenses drugs when there
is uncertainty about the naturopathic doctor furnishing the order.

(g) For purposes of this section, a physician and surgeon shall
not supervise more than four naturopathic doctors at one time.

(h) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), drugs administered,
furnished, ordered, or prescribed by a naturopathic doctor without
the supervision of a physician and surgeon shall include Schedule
V controlled substances under the California Uniform Controlled
Substances Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 11000)
of the Health and Safety Code) and any drug approved by the
federal Food and Drug Administration and labeled “for prescription
only” or words of similar import, except chemotherapeutics, that
is not classified.

(i) The committee shall certify that the naturopathic doctor has
satisfactorily completed adequate coursework in pharmacology
covering the drugs to be administered, furnished, ordered, or
prescribed under this section. The committee shall establish the
requirements for satisfactory completion of this subdivision.

(j) Use of the term “furnishing” in this section, in health facilities
defined in subdivisions (b), (c), (d), (e), and (i) of Section 1250 of
the Health and Safety Code, shall include both of the following
for Schedule III through Schedule IV controlled substances.

(1) Ordering a drug in accordance with the standardized
procedure.

(2) Transmitting an order of a supervising physician and
surgeon.

(k) For purposes of this section, “drug order” or “order” means
an order for medication which is dispensed to or for an ultimate
user, issued by a naturopathic doctor as an individual practitioner,
within the meaning of Section 1306.02 of Title 21 of the Code of
Federal Regulations.

(l) Notwithstanding any other law, all of the following shall
apply:

(1) A Schedule III through Schedule IV drug order issued
pursuant to this section shall be treated in the same manner as a
prescription of the supervising physician.

(2) All references to prescription in this code and the Health
and Safety Code shall include drug orders issued by naturopathic
doctors.

(3) The signature of a naturopathic doctor on a drug order issued
in accordance with this section shall be deemed to be the signature
of a prescriber for purposes of this code and the Health and Safety
Code.