Colorado Natural Health Consumer Protection Act-Conclusion

C.R.S. 6-1-724. Unlicensed alternative health care practitioners - deceptive trade practices

The Colorado Natural Health Consumer Protection Act acknowledges that some health care consumers access some forms of complementary and alternative health care, which can mean everything from buying vitamin and mineral supplements at the grocery store to entering into a client-practitioner  relationship. The state also recognizes the health and safety of consumers can be compromised by deceptive trade practices of practitioners with little or no education, training, skills, experience, or capabilities.

As a matter of fact, complementary and alternative health care is the only form of health care in which there are no requirements for education, training, skills, experience, or capabilities. This sets up an unacceptable situation for consumers who trust those who claim to provide health care to have the appropriate knowledge and best interests of the health care consumer. Furthermore, consumers do not consider that education in the complementary and alternative health industry is vastly inferior to standard medical education. Many times, a practitioner claims a degree, or even multiple degrees, which garners trust from the client, who does not know that a piece of paper that states a degree in complementary and alternative health can simply be bought, or at the most can take a year of distance learning. This is not good quality health care as much as it is deception and exploitation.

In theory, the Colorado Natural Health Consumer Protection Act would work to ensure that consumers have the knowledge to make a sound decision as to whether complementary and alternative care will provide them with safe and effective health care. When a consumer enters into a client-practitioner relationship, the first thing that would happen, theoretically, is the practitioner would produce disclosures that set forth that the practitioner is not a health care professional, licensed, certified, or registered by the state, and list education and training. The consumer could then decide whether seeking health care from someone who is not a health care professional would be a good idea. After that, the consumer holds the responsibility to confirm education, training and skills, first by asking the practitioner pertinent questions, and then researching any education and schools that the practitioner claims for credentials. At this point, it would be in the consumer's own self-interest to consider that good quality health care cannot come from a practitioner that is not a health care professional and has inferior, or no education, skills, or training.

If the consumer decides to remain in the client-practitioner relationship, the practitioner would provide, in theory, disclosure of services to be provided, as well as a statement to the consumer to discuss all recommendations with a physician. Here again, the responsibility is on the consumer to confirm information from practitioners to ensure their own safety.

This is in stark contrast to conventional medical health care in which the state protects consumers by taking on the responsibility of checking credentials, education, and training of health care professionals, thereby ensuring safe and effective health care.

The Colorado Natural Health Consumer Protection Act assumes that practitioners in complementary and alternative health, which, as a whole has a reputation of distortion, falsification, and exaggeration of education, training, skills, experience, and capabilities, customarily misrepresents facts, and regularly commits fraud and deceit, will now voluntarily abide by this act in an honest and forthright manner, even though doing so will severely restrict their practice and, thereby diminish their livelihood.

For consumers, the Colorado Natural Health Consumer Protection Act assumes that those seeking complementary and alternative health care will have knowledge of this act and the wherewithal to know how to use this act to protect their health, safety, and welfare.

For that reason, all health care issues should be taken to educated, trained, qualified health care professionals, licensed, certified, or registered by the state.

The Colorado Natural Health Consumer Protection Act can be read here