Licensing

States are responsible for licensing the practice of naturopaths, although only 13 states and some U.S. territories currently offer such licenses.

These are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and the US Territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Unless specifically addressed in a given state's licensing authority, naturopaths do not have prescribing privileges for legally designated prescriptions. Where naturopaths are licensed, they are typically only allowed to prescribe from a specific list of authorized drugs.

Moreover patients are not likely to receive insurance or cafeteria consideration for the cost of any botanical preparation that might be prescribed by a naturopath and used for health related purposes.

This Section: ~10 min