§ 4125. Director; duties

(a) The Director, with the advice of the advisor appointees, shall:

(1) provide general information to applicants for licensure as naturopathic physicians;

(2) administer fees collected under this chapter;

(3) administer examinations;

(4) explain appeal procedures to naturopathic physicians and applicants for licensure and complaint procedures to the public;

(5) receive applications for licensure under this chapter; issue and renew licenses; and revoke, suspend, reinstate, or condition licenses as ordered by an administrative law officer; and

(6) refer all disciplinary matters to an administrative law officer.

(b) The Director, with the advice of the advisor appointees, shall adopt rules necessary to perform the Director's duties under this section, which shall include rules regulating a special license endorsement to practice naturopathic childbirth.

(c) [Repealed.]

(d) The Director, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health, shall adopt rules consistent with the Commissioner's recommendations regulating a special license endorsement that shall authorize a naturopathic physician to prescribe, dispense, and administer prescription medicines. These rules shall require a naturopathic physician to pass a naturopathic pharmacology examination in order to obtain this special license endorsement. The naturopathic pharmacology examination shall be administered by the Director or the Director's designee and shall test an applicant's knowledge of the pharmacology, clinical use, side effects, and drug interactions of prescription medicines, including substances in the Vermont Department of Health's regulated drugs rule.

(e)(1) The Director shall appoint an advisory committee to study and report to the Director and the Commissioner of Health on matters relating to the prescribing authority of naturopathic physicians under the special license endorsement, including recommendations if necessary for revisions to the administrative rules in order to ensure that naturopathic physicians prescribe, dispense, and administer prescription medicines within the scope of a naturopathic physician's pharmacology education, training, and experience.

(2) The Committee shall be composed of at least seven members: two naturopathic physicians, two physicians licensed by the Board of Medical Practice or the Board of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, a pharmacologist, a pharmacist, and a member of the public.

(3) Members of the Committee shall be entitled to compensation at the rate provided in 32 V.S.A. § 1010. (Added 1995, No. 171 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1997, No. 40, § 49(a); 2001, No. 129 (Adj. Sess.), § 35, eff. June 13, 2002; 2003, No. 60, § 22; 2005, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 48; 2007, No. 163 (Adj. Sess.), § 39; 2011, No. 116 (Adj. Sess.), § 60; 2013, No. 138 (Adj. Sess.), § 46.)