OBNE Meeting, Aug 3, 2009

I was unfortunately late to this meeting because they started earlier than usual.

I was not present for the disciplinary presentations.

Continuing Education Discussion:

There was considerable discussion about how to word OAR 850-40-210. When a final version is provided I'll link it to the site.

SB 355: Fees for being able to prescribe pain meds. All active licensees will be required to pay a $25 annual fee to help pay for the Pain Management Program, which will provide more oversight of pain med prescribing. Apparently this exists in more than 30 states, but Oregon’s new program is the best.

Formulary Meeting Summary:

SB 327 Passed and was signed by the Governor! This is HUGE. OBNE has been working on this legislation for several sessions and many years. This says a lot about how far we’ve come, but more about how hard the board and OANP has worked to promote the profession. This should change a lot for NDs in Oregon, and eventually the US.

With the removal of restrictions (starting Jan 1, 2010), NDs will have prescription power for all meds they can safely prescribe, except that extra education will be required to prescribe chemotherapy meds, and anti-psychotics.

The Formulary council intends to include all of the drugs in the US P&F, all FDA approved substances, all drugs included in the Drug Facts and Compendium, the AAHFS, or any comparable and authoritative source.

OAR 850-060-226 (dividing drugs by ND classification) was removed from the ND OARs, and OAR 850-060-225 was clarified to better reflect the change. The question arose of what role the formulary will take on now.

Legislative update:

HB 2009 which create a Healthcare Authority Board/ Health Policy Board has apparently passed. This is one of Senator Greenlick’s measures. The Board would like to sugest and ND join to keep the ND voice alive in this board. The fear is that it will try to become and “umbrella” organization for all health-care boards which is disapproved by OBNE.

Next Meeting: Sept 28^th, 2009.

Public Comment:

Vanessa Esteves is involved in a committee to try to achieve parity for NDs in traditional medical settings: hospitals, integrative clinics, community health clinics, etc. Now that SB 327 has passed, putting NDs on par with MD primary care providers, it’s time NDs were welcomed in these settings, should they choose to apply for employment there. This is also key for banks. Apparently, banks are more likely to loan NDs on par with aestheticians rather than MDs in order to build their business. This affects the amount of money NDs can borrow as well as the terms and conditions of such borrowing. If you are interested in getting involved in the effort to achieve equality in this manner, contact Vanessa info@dresteves.com.

OBNE Public Meeting, June 1 2009

My apologies for the late posting of this meeting. Some of the business is now somewhat outdated, but my summary is here nonetheless. I am not an official minute keeper, so please note that there may be an occasional error as I do not have the opportunity to double check this with the board.

Opening Business: Minutes of previous meeting approved, typos corrected,approved addition of OAR 850-060-225 and 226: Formulary Compendium and classifications.

Non-ND/ND investigations: The public is not meant to know who these people are, only a small degree of the circumstances. If an investigation leads to formal discipline, only then will the person names become public.

09-00-ON-1: Complaint regarding and advertisement of ND services where the ND had left the business. They were notified and addressed the problem promptly and the board dismissed the complaint as simple oversight. Dismissed with no action.

N08-09-20N: Closed case, overlapped with the medical board.

N09-05-11N: Other board licensee was selling supplements and diagnosing medical issues, investigation open

N09-05-12N: individual claiming to be an ND selling supplements. Investigation open.

09-02-04, 05, and 06: issued proposed discipline

08-08-18A: issued proposed discipline

09-00-ON1: Motion to close with no action

08-09-11N : Motion to close with no action

Bill Report:

SB 131: The Governor signed SB 131 changing the name of the Board from the Oregon Board of Naturopathic Examiners to the Oregon Board of Naturopathic Medicine. Look our for the OBNM this January!

SB 132: At this time was awaiting a vote on the House floor to increase the civil penalty maximum amount to $5000. This civil penalty amount is used by the Board to discipline licensees. (This was signed by G. Kulongoski on June 18)

SB 327A: This is the monumental bill that allows NDs to prescribe in accordance with their training rather than according to drug structure. At this time was passed by the Senate, 22-7, and awaiting a vote on the House floor. The initial bill was an exclusionary bill, meaning that it was going to be a short list of medications NDs couldn’t prescribe. Though Pharmacists and Nurses supported this, DOs and the OMB protested and requested an inclusionary bill as a compromise. This was adopted in the end, so a lengthy list is being compiled of all the drugs NDs can prescribe rather than a very short, simple list of all the drugs NDs can’t prescribe. (G. Kulongoski signed this into law June 18th!!!)

The Formulary council will tentatively be meeting September 11^th, for those interested in weighing in on this process.

Continuing Education discussion:

A doctor/professor at NCNM proposed increasing the CE requirements to relate to and likely exceed those of MDs in Oregon. The goal is for Oregon to be a leader in the country as a state of quality alternative medical care. Additionally, it was brought up that by 2014 all practitioners will be required to use electronic medical records. There was a considerable discussion about how much to increase the hours by and across how many years. The Board was sensitive to the concerns that it would be cost-prohibitive to new practitioners and looked into options to make it easier. The recommendations will be transformed into rules for the next meeting.

Ended up with:

35 Hours Next year

50 hours the following and thereafter

No restrictions on subject areas, except 3 must be in ethics

10 hours must be “in person.” Virtual presence is not “in person.”