A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require the department of health and human services, division of public health, to study the benefits and risks associated with allowing licensed health care practitioners to use alternative medicine in treating patients.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, in consultation with the North Carolina Medical Board, shall study whether health care practitioners licensed in this State should be allowed to use alternative medicine in treating patients.  As part of this study, the Department shall (i) analyze the benefits and risks of alternative medicine, (ii) examine the experience of other states that currently allow licensed health care practitioners to use alternative medicine in treating patients, (iii) make recommendations about which licensed health care practitioners, if any, should be allowed to use alternative medicine in treating patients, and (iv) make recommendations about a process for approving specific types of alternative medicine that may be used by health care practitioners in treating patients. The Department shall report its findings to the General Assembly by December 31, 2011. As used in this section, "alternative medicine" means a group of diverse medical and health care interventions, practices, products, or disciplines that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine.
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.