9 October 2023
From the Washington State Department of Health Office of Health Professions:
The Washington State Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee has requested the department review a proposal to increase the naturopathic physician scope of practice. This statute requires proposals for substantial increases to a health profession’s scope of practice to be reviewed by the Department of Health and for us to make recommendations to the legislature on whether a proposal meets the sunrise criteria in RCW 18.120.010.
The proposal under review includes, among other additions, the ability to prescribe Schedule II to V controlled substances. The applicant group for this proposal is the Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians (WANP).
To help us make informed recommendations to the legislature on this proposal, the department is accepting public comments at sunrise@doh.wa.gov through 5 p.m. on November 20, 2023.
The proposal under review consists of the following documents (attached and linked below) the department received from the legislature and applicant group:
- Letter from Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee (PDF)
- Senate Bill 5411 (PDF)
- Applicant Report submitted by WANP (PDF)
Please visit our Sunrise Web Page and click on Health Profession Sunrise Reviews in Progress for more information on this review and the sunrise process. If you have questions, please send them to sunrise@doh.wa.gov.