Provision of complementary and alternative medicine: Compliance with the health professional requirements

Background: Despite an increased prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), its regulation varies from country to country, and no common approach has been adopted. A comprehensive overview is currently lacking of the ways the CAM therapies are regulated based on the criteria derived from the regulations relevant to particular medical professions.

Methods: The level of regulation of 100 most commonly used CAM modalities was evaluated according to the criteria based on the requirements for health professionals. A maximum of 10 points were obtainable. Internet searches were conducted from December 2016 to April 2017.

Results: Seventy-two of a total of 98 CAM modalities were selected and evaluated according to the predefined criteria. More than 50 % of criteria were met by 29 % of the CAM modalities. One of the most frequently met criteria was compliance with the requirements for professional practice, and the least often met criterion was registration obligation with a professional organization. The highest average score of 5.6 was received by the CAM category biologically based therapies. The lowest average score of one point was obtained by energy-based medicine.

Conclusion: There is a lack of monitoring and regulating of CAM providers and monitoring the safety of CAM practices based on criteria for health care providers. Professional regulatory guidance is required to ensure the safety and quality of CAM therapies.