8 November 2024
Below is my summary of the key discussions and decisions made at today's regular business meeting of the Board of Naturopathy, which regulates the practice of naturopathic medicine. (Please note that this summary does not reflect official meeting minutes of the Board, which is a completely separate entity from the WANP. The reflections and notes below are my own and should not be assumed to represent the Board of Naturopathy in any way.)
Today's meeting was relatively short and straightforward without a lot of new information to share.
BON Rule-making on Jurisprudence Examination Requirement
The Board expects to hold a public hearing on this at its next regular meeting in February 2025.
Paid Family & Medical Leave Update
BON Program Manager Rachel Phipps attended a stakeholder meeting recently and shared that the Employment Security Department is planning to update the definition of providers eligible to sign PFML paperwork in Washington to include naturopathic physicians.
Subcommittee Meetings
The Board had a brief discussion about the difficulties in scheduling subcommittee meetings which has resulted in delays in advancing any of the goals of these subcommittees. Ultimately, the Board selected a standard subcommittee meeting time (after its regular disciplinary meetings), with flexibility based on schedules of individual committee members.
Matrix Review
[Note: To the best of my understanding, credentialing teams within the Department of Health maintain a list of convictions/conviction types and then a standard direction of whether to refer a case elsewhere or to issue a credential. For example, if someone applying for a health care credential/license has a conviction of "attempted theft", the credentialing team can issue a credential to that person if the conviction is more than 5 years old. If a person applying for a credential/license has a felony conviction within the last 10 years (or 20 years in cases of domestic violence or cases of a sexual nature), the credentialing team flags this application for additional review. This matrix appears intended to give clear and consistent guidelines across the healthcare professions and allow credential applications to be processed in a timely manner.]
The Board was advised that every profession and regulatory board is in the midst of reviewing the matrix used by the Departments credentialing teams to provide feedback and approval to ensure credentialing teams can deal with applications in a timely manner. The goal of the matrix is to have a clear list of convictions that the regulatory Board does not feel the need to review and allowing the credentialing team to move those applications along without further review, as appropriate. The Department is presenting the same draft matrix to all regulatory Boards, and many of those boards have already approved the matrix as drafted. It was clarified that this matrix would apply only to initial applications for licensure; those with active licenses are subject to Board review and possible disciplinary action if they have a new conviction while actively licensed.
Ultimately, the Board voted to approve the matrix as proposed by the Department.
Board Member Appointments & Recruitment
Dr. Joanne Hillary has served her maximum term and public member Brooke Fotheringham has completed her initial term on the Board. The Board was advised it needs to vote to open recruitment for these positions. Dr. Amira Ahdut moved to open recruitment and this motion was passed unanimously.
Drs. Ahdut and Chad Aschtgen's terms on the Board technically expired in August 2023. The Governor's Office has advised that it will prioritize making appointments to this Board to allow them to step down once they are replaced.
Statistics
As of this meeting, there were 1,413 active ND licenses. [Note: this is significantly fewer than the active licensees reported at the previous meeting. No explanation was provided for this notable decrease.]
Regular Meeting Time
After a brief discussion, Ms. Fotheringham moved to adjust the start time of the regular Board meetings from 8:30a to 9a and this motion was passed unanimously. Future Board meetings will begin at 9a.
Please direct any questions about this summary to me at executive@wanp.org
~Angela Ross, ND | Executive Director, WANP