Hours should only be raised when there is a demonstrated educational deficiency to address. After extensive discussion and study, a core western science curriculum was established to address this specific need. When hours are raised without demonstrated need, there are many ramifications. For example, earlier graduates can not move from state to state. When they attempt to do so, they encounter substantial expense in completing new coursework.
Increased hours creates larger student loans for future, or in some cases, existing students.
This in turn causes new practitioners to charge higher fees, limiting access by patients. The increased hours could also causes some colleges to drop electives and curtail specialty areas within their program in order to include the new courses whose need existed in the mind of state board members who usually are not educators and do not have to meet the new standards themselves. It is crucial to keep in mind that there must be demonstrated need before hours are raised. A raise in hours in California, or anywhere else beyond masters level, will not only impact on practitioners in those states. It will impact on practitioners, colleges and students across the US, and on our patients.