Massachusetts § 269 - Application for original licensure as naturopathic doctor

§ 269. Application for original licensure as naturopathic doctor

Section 269. (a) An application for original licensure as a naturopathic doctor shall be made on forms approved by the board. The application shall be sworn and shall be accompanied by payment of the fee prescribed by the secretary of administration and finance pursuant to section 3B of chapter 7. The board shall issue a license as a naturopathic doctor to an applicant upon receipt of satisfactory proof that the applicant is not less than 18 years old and of good moral character and possesses a baccalaureate degree from an accredited educational institution or its equivalent, as determined by the board.

(b) An applicant for a license under this section shall have graduated from and hold a doctor of naturopathic medicine or doctor of naturopathy degree from an approved naturopathic medical college; provided, however, that an applicant shall have satisfactorily completed a minimum of 1,200 hours of board-approved clinical training before graduation from that college. Clinical training may have been completed in either an inpatient or outpatient setting an may include components of conventional medicine as well as naturopathic health care.

(c) An applicant for a license under this section shall have successfully passed a competency-based national naturopathic licensing examination approved by the board.

(d) The board may approve an applicant who attended and graduated from a 4–year naturopathic doctoral program which is located in a country or territory outside the United States if, in the opinion of the board, the training and education provided by that naturopathic doctoral program is substantially equivalent to that provided by a naturopathic doctoral program which meets the requirements of subsection (b).