Committee rejects bill to license naturopathic doctors in Arkansas

Senators and representatives in the House Public Health Committee debated Senate Bill 117, which would have licensed naturopathic doctors in Arkansas and folded that profession into a renamed "natural medicine" board. After extended testimony from practitioners and doctors, the committee voted and the motion to advance the bill failed.

Supporters said the bill would increase access to preventive and integrative care, limit unqualified practitioners from calling themselves doctors and could allow naturopathic services to be billed to insurance. "Licensing qualified naturopathic doctors in Arkansas will increase access to this safe, effective form of care and provide Arkansans with another option," testified Mami Burris, a naturopathic physician.

Witnesses described training programs and offered personal stories about patients who benefited from naturopathic care. "After 20 years of suffering unnecessarily, I finally knew what it was like to go days, then weeks, then months without experiencing the chronic symptoms that had plagued me for so long," Burris said, summarizing her training and experience.

Committee members questioned scope and oversight. Several legislators pressed witnesses on whether the bill would grant prescriptive authority or allow minor surgical procedures; sponsors said those authorities were not included in the draft before the committee. Representative Richardson and Representative McGee, both with medical backgrounds, said they worried about delayed diagnosis and differences in clinical training compared with allopathic and osteopathic physicians.

The bill would have renamed the existing acupuncture board as the Natural Medicine Board, adding three naturopathic members alongside three acupuncturists. Sponsors said they proposed that approach because the medical board and chiropractic board rejected placing naturopaths under their oversight.

Committee discussion addressed cost and rural access. Witnesses said some naturopathic office visits run about $300 per hour and that licensure would create the possibility of insurance reimbursement; opponents said many Arkansans could not afford out‑of‑pocket care and questioned whether licensure would actually lower overall health spending.

After public testimony and questions from representatives, the committee recorded nine votes in favor; the measure fell short of the threshold needed to advance. The committee did not adopt the bill.