Board votes to send IV and advanced injection therapy infection-control language to regulatory counsel

The California Board of Naturopathic Medicine voted unanimously Aug. 20 to send draft regulatory language on infection control and related IV and advanced injection therapy provisions to regulatory counsel for review and to return the package to the full board at a future meeting.

Rebecca Mitchell, the board’s executive officer, told members the IV and advanced injection therapy advisory committee had finalized definitions to distinguish sterile from nonsterile procedures and drafted enforceable infection-control standards aligned with statutory authority. The committee also recommended recertification and Basic Life Support (CPR/BLS) requirements for practitioners performing IV therapy.

Chair Dara Thompson moved the board to send the infection-control regulatory language to regulatory counsel for review and return the package at the next board meeting; Deeparshi Mukherjee seconded. Following a roll-call vote, Thompson announced the motion passed with six ayes.

Board discussion during the advisory-committee report focused on two issues: (1) whether the board has statutory authority to add continuing-education requirements (staff and counsel said the board currently lacks broad statutory authority and will request such authority via the sunset process) and (2) the specific level of CPR training required for IV providers. Thompson said the committee initially discussed Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) but concluded that BLS/CPR is likely sufficient.

Regulatory counsel (promoted into the Webex panel during the meeting) confirmed the draft would be reviewed for legal sufficiency and consistency with existing statutory authority before returning to the board. The board approved sending the package to regulatory counsel; staff said they would bring the reviewed language back for formal regulatory package approval at a later meeting.