[Complementary medicine and health legislation].

This review begins by explaining the meaning and purpose of health law in general. While legal regulations pertinent to mainstream medicine are functioning well, this project focuses on the legal situation that developed in Switzerland as a consequence of the increasing availability and use of services in complementary medicine. There are obvious gaps and deficits in our legislation concerning medical and paramedical providers of services in complementary medicine. Main emphasis of this project, therefore, was placed on the regulations dealing with health professionals in complementary medicine, in particular on standards of training, on licenses to practice, and on the compensation by health insurance funds. The project achieved a comprehensive stock-taking of the great variety of the Swiss federal and the 26 cantonal laws and regulations. It also drew conclusions on the necessity to formulate generally applicable rules and regulations for the field of complementary medicine and finally submitted a list of practical recommendations.