2021 WISCONSIN ACT
An Act to create chapter 461 of the statutes; relating to: providing complementary and alternative health care practitioners with exemptions from practice protection laws, requirements and prohibitions for individuals who provide complementary and alternative health care services, and providing a penalty.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
AB86,1
Section
1. Chapter 461 of the statutes is created to read:
chapter 461
complementary and alternative
health care practices
461.01 Definitions. In this chapter:
(1) “Client” means an individual who receives or seeks to receive services from a complementary and alternative health care practitioner.
(2) “Complementary and alternative health care practitioner” means an individual, other than a health care professional acting within the scope of his or her practice, who provides or offers to provide complementary and alternative health care services to a client in exchange for compensation or holds himself or herself out to the public as a provider of complementary and alternative health care services.
(3) “Complementary and alternative health care service” means a health care practice or method of healing therapy or modality other than one that a complementary and alternative health care practitioner is prohibited from providing under s. 461.03 (1), including any of the following:
(a) Acupressure.
(b) Aromatherapy.
(c) Ayurveda.
(d) Body work.
(e) Cranial sacral therapy.
(f) Culturally traditional healing practices.
(g) Detoxification practices and therapies.
(h) Folk practices.
(i) Healing practices utilizing food, food supplements, nutrients, and the physical forces of heat, cold, water, touch, and light.
(j) Healing touch.
(k) Herbology or herbalism.
(L) Homeopathy.
(m) Kinesiology.
(n) Meditation.
(o) Mind-body healing practices.
(p) Polarity therapy.
(q) Reflexology.
(r) Rolfing.
(s) Traditional naturopathy.
(4) “Controlled substance” has the meaning given in s. 961.01 (4).
(5) “Credential” has the meaning given in s. 440.01 (2) (a).
(6) “Dangerous drug” means any of the following:
(a) A prescription drug, as defined in s. 450.01 (20).
(b) A drug that is required by federal law to be labeled as a drug that may only be prescribed to an animal.
(7) “Health care professional” has the meaning given for “health care provider” in s. 146.81 (1) (a) to (hp) and also includes a licensed midwife, as defined in s. 440.9805 (2).
461.02 Exemptions from requirements to hold credentials. Notwithstanding ss. 256.15 (2), 440.982 (1), 441.06 (4), 441.15 (2), 446.02 (1), 447.03 (1) and (2), 448.03 (1) (a), (b), and (c) and (1m), 448.51 (1), 448.61, 448.76, 448.961 (1) and (2), 449.02 (1), 450.03 (1), 451.04 (1), 454.04 (1), 455.02 (1m), 457.04 (4), (5), (6), and (7), 459.02 (1), 459.24 (1), and 460.02, a complementary and alternative health care practitioner does not violate any of the prohibitions against engaging in a practice without a credential under s. 256.15 (2), 440.982 (1), 441.06 (4), 441.15 (2), 446.02 (1), 447.03 (1) or (2), 448.03 (1) (a), (b), or (c) or (1m), 448.51 (1), 448.61, 448.76, 448.961 (1) or (2), 449.02 (1), 450.03 (1), 451.04 (1), 454.04 (1), 455.02 (1m), 457.04 (4), (5), (6), or (7), 459.02 (1), 459.24 (1), or 460.02 and may provide complementary and alternative health care services unless the complementary and alternative health care practitioner violates s. 461.03 or 461.04.
461.03 Prohibitions. (1) A complementary and alternative health care practitioner may not do any of the following:
(a) Perform surgery.
(b) Set fractures.
(c) Puncture the skin, except by pricking a finger for purposes of blood screening.
(d) Prescribe or administer X-ray services.
(e) Prescribe or administer a dangerous drug, controlled substance, or device, as defined in s. 450.01 (6), that may be prescribed or administered only by a health care professional.
(f) Perform a chiropractic adjustment or manipulation of joints or a spine.
(g) Hold out, state, or imply to a person that he or she is a health care professional.
(h) Use or assume the title “doctor” or “physician.”
(i) Recommend to a client that he or she discontinue current medical treatment that is prescribed by a health care professional.
(j) Make a diagnosis of a medical disease or mental disorder. This paragraph does not prohibit a complementary and alternative health care practitioner from responding generally to a client's expressed concerns.
(2) A complementary and alternative health care practitioner may not do any of the following:
(a) Engage in any of the following:
1. Sexual contact, as defined in s. 939.22 (34), with a client.
2. Contact with a client that may be reasonably interpreted by the client as sexual.
3. Verbal behavior that is seductive or sexually demeaning to a client.
4. Sexual exploitation of a client or former client.
(b) Falsely advertise or provide false information about the complementary and alternative health care practitioner's degree, training, experience, or other qualification or about a complementary and alternative health care service.
(c) Violate a law relating to a dangerous drug or a controlled substance.
(d) Release a client's records or information about the client's transactions unless the release is authorized by the client in writing or otherwise provided by law.
(e) Give or receive, directly or indirectly, to or from any other person any fee, commission, rebate, or other form of compensation or anything of value for sending, referring, or otherwise inducing a person to communicate with a complementary and alternative health care practitioner in a professional capacity, or for any complementary and alternative health care service not actually rendered personally by the complementary and alternative health care practitioner.
