Government
Physicians want naturopaths dropped from Medicare coverage committee
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 5, 2004
The American Medical Association will oppose two naturopathic practitioners' membership on the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee.
Delegates to the Association's Annual Meeting in Chicago in June expressed fear that the naturopaths would press for Medicare coverage of alternative therapies and that such coverage would delay truly medically necessary care and waste limited resources. Physicians also voiced concern that the appointees didn't meet Medicare criteria for MCAC members to be "from among authorities in clinical and administrative medicine, the biologic and physical science, public health administration, health care data and information management and analysis, health care economics, medical ethics or other related professions."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/07/05/gvbf0705.htm.
