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ALISA ULFERTSThe lateness of the session, plus concerns about training, may lead again to denying the field's practitioners the status of doctors.
TALLAHASSEE - A House health care committee debated but delayed a vote Tuesday on a controversial bill that would license naturopathic physicians and expand the scope of their practice.
This is the third year supporters have tried to pass the measure, which has the support of incoming House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, and Senate President Pro Tempore Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami.
But dwindling support on the Committee on Health Care and a ticking clock led bill sponsor Rep. Marsha "Marty" Bowen, R-Haines City, to ask for a postponement.
Supporters say licensing naturopaths will give patients more health care choices. They say naturopathic medicine, which focuses on holistic, healthy lifestyles, has established itself as a cost-effective and safe alternative to treating certain chronic conditions.
But opponents, including the Florida Medical Association, say naturopaths lack the training to safely assume the scope of services they seek, including surgery and prescribing medicine.
A staff analysis found that the bill would increase "the risk of harm to the public."
According to a state report, 12 other states license naturopathic physicians, though the levels of care they can provide differ.
Under the bill, the profession would be renamed from naturopathy to doctor of naturopathic medicine. A state board would oversee the profession, including new qualifications that naturopathic doctors graduate from a four-year postgraduate program. They would be allowed some prescription writing and surgery privileges, but how much is unclear.
"Natural medicine heals," Bowen told the committee.
But the FMA points to language in the bill that it says would allow someone with a degree in medicine or osteopathy to become a licensed naturopathic physician after just a one-year internship.
"When (patients) see the word physician associated with someone, they are going to think they have the years of training," said FMA spokeswoman Lisette Gonzalez Mariner.
That provision could help foreign-trained doctors who cannot pass the stringent licensing exams. The Legislature has passed bills before to help Cuban and Nicaraguan doctors. Gov. Lawton Chiles vetoed such a bill in 1995.
Diaz de la Portilla said helping foreign doctors is not his intent. In fact, he said Tuesday he planned to fix that part of the bill.
"When you are dealing with other people's lives you shouldn't get short cuts," he said.