Pair of measures would ease medical licensing

Thursday, April 5, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

Two competing bills that would ease the licensing requirements to practice acupuncture or Asian medicine in Nevada appear headed for a successful merger.

The Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee Wednesday conducted a hearing in Carson City on Assembly Bills 302 and 339, both of which would eliminate the current requirement that licensees need at least six years of post-education clinical experience.

Critics of the state law have argued that Nevada, the only state that requires post-education experience, makes it too difficult to obtain a license. There are 29 existing licensees, all of whom were trained in Asia, and only 16 practice in the state. The critics say the current law gives existing practitioners a monopoly by making it difficult for other applicants, particularly those trained at accredited American colleges, from gaining licensure.

One such critic is Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, co-sponsor of AB339. Beers testified that licensing in this state is practically impossible to achieve since applicants, including native Nevadans, would have to get their post-education experience out of state.

"Which brings us to Nevadans in exile," Beers said. "They find they cannot come home because it's nearly impossible to get a license."

AB302, authored by Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, initially would have required licensees to obtain at least four years of post-education clinical experience. But her bill, which is backed by the Nevada Board of Oriental Medicine, was amended shortly before the hearing with that provision eliminated. Both bills, therefore, would eliminate the post-education requirement.

Still, there are differences between the two bills. AB302 would require license applicants to pass either a nationally certified exam or a test prepared by an independent party contracted by the state oriental medicine board. AB339 would require only the national exam prepared by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Alexandria, Va., which is used in 36 other states.

The state board currently administers its own test, but those exams have been criticized as vague and individually crafted depending on the applicant.

AB302 would require license applicants to hold both an undergraduate degree plus four additional years of study in oriental medicine at a school approved by the state board. AB339 would require education in acupuncture or Asian medicine from a school accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Silver Spring, Md., or from a foreign school recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

There are 37 accredited schools of oriental medicine in the United States but none in Nevada. As of now, the state board recognizes only two American schools and one in South Korea, where the board's three licensed practitioners all were educated.

But Giunchigliani, in defense of the state board, testified that it would be unwise for Nevada to lower its licensing standards too much because the result could lead to inferior medical care. She said Nevada has not had a problem with oriental medicine practitioners since they were first licensed by the state in 1973.

"There has not been a complaint about their work, which means the standards work," she said.

The legislative committee did not announce when a vote on the bills would be taken.

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