21 March 2024
We finally received word late last week that the Public Comment Meeting for the on-going Sunrise Review on Senate Bill 5411 has been scheduled! The Department of Health will hear oral comments on WANP's scope expansion efforts between 9a and 12p on Wednesday, April 24. The hearing will be held in a virtual setting only and you must register in advance to participate.
Along with the Hearing Notice, the Department shared 3 massive files FULL of the nearly 1,100 (!!!) written comments that were submitted over 6 weeks last fall. While the ordering of comments may have made some of you (and us!) feel a bit downtrodden about the effort, we have been deep in these files over this past week and have been both astounded and moved by the incredible support for our community and this effort to finally align our scope of practice with our medical training and our recognition as primary care providers and physicians in Washington State.
Prior to Friday, we had some sense that comments were relatively 50/50 in terms of support and opposition. On digging into these files, it became clear that our community showed up in full force. Once all letters and emails were tallied, there were 418 comments submitted to oppose this effort (368 of those were from MDs and DOs with just a handful of other provider types weighing in, and 271 of those were form letters that were mass-messaged); there were 8 comments submitted with questions and ultimately no weigh in in support or opposition; and there were a full 658 comments submitted in support of our effort to expand the scope of naturopathic physicians licensed in Washington (112 of those were from NDs, and 453 were from patients).
We were plenty thrilled by the realization that our relatively tiny profession managed to submit over 60% of the written comments - AND that all comments submitted by our doctors were unique and heartfelt - but we were absolutely amazed that nearly 70% of the supportive comments were actually submitted by our PATIENTS. We are so grateful to all of you for spreading the word on this and for providing the type of incredible competent care that inspires this many patients to take the time to send e-mails sharing their stories about how naturopathic physicians have changed their lives. (We know it takes some digging, but - honestly - if you are ever having a tough day, scroll to page 318 in this file and start reading about the incredible impact our medicine has on our patients every single day.)
We want to send special shout-outs to several WANP members who were named by patients over and over again in these files: Dr. Alethea Fleming, Dr. Mandy Gulla, several naturopathic physicians at the Institute for Complementary Medicine (Drs. Kim Celmer, Kelsey Klausmeyer, and Janci Karp), and several naturopathic physicians at SageMed (Dr. Sage Wheeler). We see you and the efforts you made on behalf of our entire profession!
In terms of next steps... We will spend this next month reading through comments in detail and identifying naturopathic physicians, patients, and other allies who can speak directly to some of the concerns raised and/or amplify some of the positive comments and need expressed here. We are working closely with our amazing lobbyist on this and we will communicate more if/when we have particular needs to fill. (This is a public hearing, so anyone can sign up to testify.) Stay tuned for more information as we continue to gather it!
~Angela Ross, ND | Executive Director, WANP