Background
- Naturopathic Medicine has been regulated in Ontario under the Drugless Practitioners Act (DPA) since 1925.
- Naturopathic doctors are primary care practitioners and have a 90 year history of safe, effective health care in Ontario.
- Currently naturopathic doctors have access to all standard laboratory tests offered by Ontario labs and to hundreds of specialized laboratory tests offered by labs outside of Ontario.
- The Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) was established in 1991. Current professions under the RHPAinclude medical doctors, chiropractors, acupuncturists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, a total of 28 regulated medical professions in all.
- In the next few months the regulation of naturopathic doctors will move from the DPA to the RHPA.
Proposed Changes
Naturopathic doctors have been looking forward to moving under the RHPA since its inception. The move will hopefully foster intra-professional collaboration and will be beneficial to both practitioners and patients. Naturopathic doctors will continue to provide the naturopathic services that they have been doing. The current proposed changes relate to:
- Prescribing rights. The proposed limited prescribing rights relate primarily to the ongoing practice of intravenous therapy, yet may include such things as bio-identical hormones. The proposed new regulations exclude:
- Access to key substances such as DMPS and DMSA, which are essential in the treatment of heavy metal exposure.
- Access to herbs such as Crataegus monogyna, Glycyrrhiza glabra and Echinacae angustifolia used in IV therapy for the treatment of inflammation and immune conditions.
- Laboratory access is changing from full access to all laboratory tests offered from Ontario licensed labs and external labs outside of Canada to an itemized list of approved laboratory tests. The proposed new regulations exclude:
- Many of the laboratory tests used in the treatment of infertility, menopause and hormone dysregulation.
- The ability to properly test for and monitor the effectiveness of treatments for environmental toxins.
- Specialized metabolic testing used in the diagnosis of conditions such as Autism, dementia, depression, chronic fatigue and chronic digestive concerns.
- Specialized cancer markers used in early in the detection of cancer, monitoring of cancer treatments and assessing for reoccurrence or metastasis of cancer.
- Ability to test for infectious diseases and other immune related illnesses.
- Bottom line, the access to laboratory testing, that patients pay for, will be greatly reduced, especially those laboratory tests offered by labs outside of Ontario.
- As part of the initial consultation, naturopathic doctors requested access to about 400 different laboratory tests, the proposed list from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care includes about 170 laboratory tests. There is a risk that the number of laboratory tests will be reduced even further in the final regulations.
- Access to the proposed changes can be found on the College of Naturopaths website
What Can You Do
In support of Ontario Naturopathic Doctors, and to ensure your ongoing access to full naturopathic care, we are asking you to:
- Sign a copy of the attached letter and send it to Ministry of Health and Long Term Care at RegulatoryProjects@ontario.ca and the College of Naturopaths of Ontario at info@collegeofnaturopaths.on.ca.
- Write to your local MPP asking them to ensure you have access to the health care you desire. Listing of Ontario MPPs.
- Ask your friends and family members to support your access to full naturopathic services in Ontario.
All letters must be submitted by the consultation deadline of May 15th, 2015.
If you have any questions please contact your naturopathic doctor or send an email to info@naturopathicfoundations.ca
Thank you for supporting Ontario Naturopathic Doctors.
For additional information:
Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors