SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 44
WHEREAS, health involves all aspects of life, including mind, body, spirit, and environment, and high-quality health care must support care of the whole person; and
WHEREAS, promoting the use of science and appropriate scientific methods to help identify safe and effective complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services and products and to generate evidence will protect and promote the public health; and
WHEREAS, people have a remarkable capacity for recovery and self-healing, and a major focus of health care is to support and promote this capacity; and
WHEREAS, each person is unique and has the right to health care that is appropriately responsive to him or her, respecting preferences and preserving dignity; and
WHEREAS, each person has the right to choose freely among safe and effective care or approaches, as well as among qualified practitioners who are accountable for their claims and actions and responsive to the person's needs; and
WHEREAS, good health care emphasizes self-care and early intervention for maintaining and promoting health; and
WHEREAS, good health care requires teamwork among patients, health care practitioners (conventional and CAM), and researchers committed to creating optimal healing environments and to respecting the diversity of all health care traditions; and
WHEREAS, education about prevention, healthy lifestyles, and the power of self-healing should be made an integral part of the curricula of all health care professionals and should be made available to the public of all ages; and
WHEREAS, the quality of health care can be enhanced by promoting efforts that thoroughly and thoughtfully examine the evidence on which CAM systems, practices, and products are based and make this evidence widely, rapidly, and easily available; and
WHEREAS, the input of informed consumers and other members of the public must be incorporated in setting priorities for health care and health care research and in reaching policy decisions, including those related to CAM, within the public and private sectors:
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the Missouri Senate, Ninety-Second General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the House of Representatives concurring therein, hereby establish the "Joint Interim Committee on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy"; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Committee shall be composed of five members of the Senate to be appointed by the President Pro Tem of the Senate, and five members of the House of Representatives, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of the Committee shall be appointed by June 1, 2004; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Committee be authorized to hold hearings as it deems advisable, and may solicit any input or information necessary to fulfill its obligations from the Department of Health and Senior Services and the Division of Professional Registration; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the staffs of House Research, Senate Research and the Committee on Legislative Research shall provide such legal, research, clerical, technical, and bill drafting services as the Committee may require in the performance of its duties; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Committee, its members, and any staff personnel assigned to the Committee shall receive reimbursement for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in attending meetings of the Committee or any subcommittee thereof; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the committee shall provide a report on legislative and administrative recommendations for assuring that public policy maximizes the benefits to Missourians of complementary and alternative medicine. The recommendations shall address the following:
(1) The education and training of health care practitioners in complementary and alternative medicine;
(2) The coordinated research to increase knowledge about complementary and alternative medicine practices and products;
(3) The provision to health care professionals of reliable and useful information about complementary and alternative medicine that can be made readily accessible and understandable to the general public;
(4) Guidance for appropriate access to and delivery of complementary and alternative medicine; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Committee report its recommendations and findings to the Missouri General Assembly by January 1, 2005, and the authority of such Committee shall terminate on December 31, 2004; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate be instructed to prepare a properly inscribed copy of this resolution for the President Pro Tem of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.