Letter Writing Campaign
Dear patients and friends,
It may surprise you to know that Alaska is one of three states in which licensed naturopathic doctors have no prescription writing authority and one of five states where minor surgery is not allowed. The Alaska Association of Naturopathic Physicians has been working with the legislature since 2004 to update our licensing law. Senate Bill 107 would make our scope of practice reflect modern naturopathic medical training while establishing oversight to insure public safety.
Your legislator needs to hear from you—the real stakeholder in this bill. If you would take time from your busy life to write a letter in support of HB 122, that would help. A “form letter” does not have the same impact as something that comes in your own voice.
Here are some talking points that you may feel free to use, but the most important thing is that you express your own thoughts in your own voice.
* I have had to make another appointment with a different doctor to get my prescriptions filled, thus incurring unnecessary costs for me and my insurance company.
* My naturopathic doctor works with me to keep my need for prescription medicines to a minimum while addressing the underlying issues that caused my condition in the first place.
*Most naturopathic medical schools are located in states that have included prescription writing authority since the late 1980’s or early 1990’s and these therapies have been part of naturopathic medical education since that time.
* Naturopathic doctors are ready, willing and able to address the rural and medicaid doctor shortage if the state will add ND's to the medicaid provider roster and grant ND's limited prescriptive authority to practice safely in a rural setting.
* Naturopaths have had an impressive record of safety in Alaska as well as in states where ND’s have more expansive scopes of practice such as Arizona, Oregon and Washington State.
* This is a consumer rights issue. Naturopathic doctors have been licensed in Alaska since 1986 and this is my choice of family doctor.
If you prefer to take this flier home and compose a letter on your computer, please do.
In an effort to keep track of this support, we request that in addition to sending a letter to your representative, you "cc" the following people so that we can have a full folder of support. However, this is just a request, and if you prefer to just write directly to your legislator that's great!
People to "cc" your letters of support to:
Emily Kane (AKANP President): DoctorEm@aol.com
Cathy Munoz (sponsor of the house bill): Representative_Cathy_Munoz@legis.state.ak.us
Kendra Kloster (Rep Munoz's Chief of Staff): Kendra_Kloster@legis.state.ak.us
Our plan is to bind a collection of patient letters to show legislators when we talk to them so they know how important this is to their constituents.
If you need information on how to find your legislators, look at the top of the page at the right and click on the link "Find Your Legislator". Writing to your legislator is the single most important way to help your naturopathic doctor practice to the full extent of their training in Alaska, to serve you and all Alaskans better. Thank you!
On behalf of the Alaska Association of Naturopathic Physicians, thank you for helping pass legislation that allows NDs fulls scope to practice, and serve our patients, as we were trained through many years of didactic and clinical study.