The growing national debate between chiropractic and acupuncture licensing was discussed Thursday morning in a Utah Senate committee meeting.

D. Chris Buttars, R-Salt Lake, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 249, which would allow a chiropractic physician to practice acupuncture without being licensed under the Acupuncture Licensing Act.

The bill passed after numerous comments from audience members and will move next to the senate floor.

Proponents of the bill argued chiropractors are already highly trained in their specific field and thus 200-250 hours of additional acupuncture training and a national exam should be sufficient in qualifying chiropractors to practice the ancient oriental form of medication.

"Senate Bill 249 takes language, that given these trainings and exams, these people can practice in the areas in which they certify," Buttars said.

However, 200 hours of additional training is not enough, according to some acupuncturists.

Brent Ottley is a certified acupuncturist in Utah.

"It has nothing to do with acupuncturists not wanting chiropractors to do acupuncture," he said. "It is a question of what constitutes professional competence to practice."

Ottley explained the average schooling for acupuncturists is four years, which includes 500 hours of class instruction and 700 hours of hands-on, clinical training. He said the current chiropractic training was good, but when chiropractors want to switch fields, the lack of clinical experience in acupuncture could potentially be harmful.

"This is not something you can do effectively with 250 hours of training," he said. "You can't achieve competence in that time."

Dr. Jim Knight, the legal legislative chair for the Utah Chiropractic Physicians Association, said he would like to see this bill go all the way through.

"This legislature gives a little better clarity," he said. "Clarity is good."

Knight as a chiropractor has had many hours of acupuncture training, but said he knew when to make a referral to an acupuncturist. He said this mindset could be beneficial if bill opponents will realize people such as Knight can be allies, rather than the competition.

"The bottom line," Knight said, "is competition for health care dollars."



Copyright Brigham Young University 12 Feb 2004