Frequently Asked Questions

We have tried several kinds of bindings for the manuals and all have had their drawbacks. For example, perfect binding is somewhat stronger but you can't lay the manual flat, which upset some students. The main difficulty is that students want us to keep the price of the manuals low but want to use their manuals any way they choose. These two realties do not play well together. There is one binding options we didn't try which is quite strong, but the cost of the manual would go up considerably. Our surveys indicate this would be unattractive to most students. Suggestions for extending the life of the manuals range from hole-punching the manual and putting it in a 3 ring binder to simply being gentler with the book.

Actually, we no longer have student reps. Our customer service staff are called Student Associates (SA), since they do not take orders or distribute our products on campus like student reps do. We have SAs at most of the naturopathic schools. There are currently no SAs at Boucher or Bridgeport, nor at the emerging school in Puerto Rico. We have few SAs at the chiropractic schools because we are new to that market and because some campuses do not allow them. If you would like to know who the SA is for your school, please use the Contact Us function here on the website and we will let you know.

We used to do bulk orders at one time, which was a logistical and financial disaster. Why? First, no one wanted to take financial responsibility for the hundreds of dollars' worth of products being shipped through the mail. In one case, we lost a moderately sized order.

Second, the students complained about every aspect of this program: that they couldn't use credit cards, that they couldn't get the books immediately, that the pickup times were inconvenient, etc.

Third, it was time-consuming and stressful for the student associates (SAs) to deal with the demanding behavior of their peers. We had to pay them more and even then some just quit - once right in the middle of the annual order sale!

Finally, students like bulk orders but do not want to pay for shipping costs, so that was a loss for us. In addition, the students also expected large discounts because, "we are ordering in bulk!" The only way to make this work was to essentially give the books away for free, which wasn't really workable for us. This was a major contributor to ending bulk orders.

Almost universally, students like the new web-based system better. Because our overhead is lower we can do free shipping, students can use a variety of payment methods, order fulfillment is faster, and access to the products is conveniently 24/7.

They are located in the Download Center of the Resources Section.

Typically the bookstores will stock the manuals after the Healing Mountain Publishing annual order sale finishes, usually sometime in March. Some bookstores are unhappy that we offer the study materials at a discount to the students during the annual order sale or that we do not offer them 50-60% discounts on our products. These bookstores will not stock our products.

All study materials are full retail price in the bookstores. In addition, the bookstore may elect to mark up the materials in line with their own internal financial policies. We discount our manuals to the bookstores, so any markup is not coming from Healing Mountain Publishing.

The Annual Order sale is the period of time that Healing Mountain Publishing provides our study materials to the student body at a discounted price. The timing and length of time we offer this opportunity changes from year to year but it is typically in February. Our original goal was to provide the study materials in time for Spring Break at all schools, but because of the variation in the timing of Spring Break, this is not possible, as much as we would like to be able to do this.

The content of the study materials change as the content of the NPLEX blueprints change and as we do internal updates to the material. For example, when the board examinations went to a case-based format, the materials were updated extensively. Healing Mountain has no control over the content or changes to the NPLEX blueprint and therefore we cannot predict from year to year how much change will occur within any particular manual or flashcard set. NPLEX publishes its new blueprints in May each year, too late for us to possibly produce study materials that are updated. We have talked to NPLEX about this problem and they are not able to change their schedule. This may mean some materials may be missing items from the blueprints or have items not mentioned in the blueprints. We cannot accept returns on any items that are affected by blueprint changes because this problem is completely beyond our control (link to returns policy here). The manuals are updated annually based on internal review and catching up to the prior year's blueprints. It is up to each individual student to decide how significant that update is relative to his or her study needs.

The new study materials typically come out in February. Prior to this, we close the option to buy the previous year's materials so that students do not inadvertently buy the old products.

All of the study materials we currently provide are geared to the NPLEX / NABNE examinations for naturopathic physicians in training. We offer a Basic Science study guide for the NPLEX Part I - Basic Science Examinations and a Clinical Science study guide for the NPLEX Part II – Clinical Science Examinations. We offer flashcard decks and review study question manuals for both Part I and Part II examinations, as well as a separate practice exam manual for the Clinical Science Examination. Finally, we offer an acupuncture study manual for the add-on to the Clinical Science Examination that is required in some jurisdictions.

The short answer is: no. The longer answer is that no reputable publisher would claim that they can provide everything necessary to address a major board examination. As with all board examination agencies, NPLEX/NABNE is continually upgrading and evaluating the naturopathic board examinations. For this reason, there is no way for us to anticipate what will be on the examinations during any given year. As to offering a guarantee, we have elected not to go this route since it would increase the cost of the materials very substantially.

We have considered both online and electronic forms of our materials for years. There are a few issues involved that currently makes this impossible. The first is the significant level of pirating that already occurs, which would be even easier with electronic forms.

The second is that there is a significant secondary marketplace where our study materials are resold or sometimes given away. This reduces our sales, which undermines our abilities to provide new products or new product forms.

Finally, because we understand the financial constraints of our customers, we operate on a razor-thin budget due to the low cost of our products vs rising expenses. Making materials available in electronic form is a significant investment and the size of the naturopathic marketplace is tiny. This means there is a finite amount of money students will spend for any product, in any form, despite the increase in options available to them.

Therefore, these realities combine such that there is no way to recoup the investment we would need to make in order to offer electronic or online materials. Large companies could perhaps write this off as a marketing expense, but we do not have that luxury. We will continue to review emerging technology, however, to evaluate the possibility of offering these forms of study materials in the future.

NPLEX / NABNE does not sanction "official" study materials, nor are they in anyway involved in the process of creating or editing our products. For more information about NPLEX / NABNE or the examination process, please visit their website at www.nabne.org/

The NPLEX/NABNE blueprint is a listing of all possible topics that can be on the NPLEX/NABNE board examinations. Healing Mountain study materials "flesh out" the blueprint by providing information about these possible topics. Please note that Healing Mountain does not guarantee that every question/topic on the board examinations will be in the study materials. We make an educated guess based on historical evidence and the current blueprint, but sometimes non-obvious materials are added to the boards that we could not have anticipated.

Any major publication of the size represented by our study manuals can be anticipated to have a small number of errors. In addition, in the past we acted as a distributor of other study products, over which he had very little quality control. This is no longer the case and we have set up aggressive editorial procedures to address this problem. But we do apologize for the inaccuracies that have arisen in the past.

Our manuals are reviewed and edited annually not only to keep the material up-to-date but also to seek out any potential problems. In addition, we have been very aggressive in tracking down reports about "errors" in our materials. On occasion, we have found typographical and grammatical errors. More rarely, we have found factual errors. Often, however, what has been called an "error" has usually been a misunderstanding of what was written (either by HMP or by NPLEX) or a difference in opinion about a supposed "fact."

In addressing this issue, we certainly do not want to downplay the importance of accuracy in our products or our responsibility for providing quality products, which we take seriously. We also want to empower each of our customers to make an informed choice and to only buy products that they feel will meet their requirements and needs. Please feel free to Contact Us if you have any concerns in this area or if you would like to discuss this further.

While some students would like the flashcards to be smaller, others like the current size so they can write things on their flashcards. Also, changing the flashcards to a small card stock does not really change the cost of printing. The difficulty here, given that the price would essentially remain the same, is that some students may find it undesirable to pay the same price for a smaller deck – one that they might find less useful.

They are located in the Author's Salon in the About HMP section.

Please use the Contact Us section and we will address this.

Please go to your Publish With Us page for submission guidelines.

Our textbooks are available for review on a 30 day examination basis. An invoice will be sent with the book. If you decide not to adopt the textbook, simply return it to us in saleable condition and the invoice will be cancelled. If you decide you would like to use the book for your class, please provide proof of adoption on your institution's letterhead and your invoice will be cancelled.

Please read our Medical Textbook Review Policy above, then copy, print, and fill out the Medical Textbook Review Request Form. We will review the form, contact you, and arrange for the textbook to be sent to you.

Please Contact Us and we will send one out to you promptly. If you already have an evaluation copy, your invoice will simply be cancelled.

If you are a student and have an issue that needs to be resolved, see if you can work it out locally with our representative there at your school. If not, you are always free to contact us by email or phone. Generally, no refunds are provided once the study materials have been purchased, unless the materials were damaged upon receipt. The reason for this has to due in part with the piracy issue discussed above.

Textbooks that are still in saleable condition can be returned up to 30 days from the date of invoice. If for any reason you are not satisfied with your purchase from Healing Mountain Publishing, simply Contact Us so that we can authorize a return. We request this in an effort to save you money, since books that are no longer saleable will be returned at the customer's expense. The customer is responsible for all charges incurred in making returns unless the return is the result of an error on our part. Upon calling us, the address to return the book will be provided and we will ask for your preference - a replacement, an exchange, or a refund. We will address your request promptly and professionally.

We would refer you to the NPLEX/NABNE website for any information on board examination details: http://www.nabne.org/

Shipping cost is based on weight. Shipments to Hawaii or Alaska must be sent by airmail and thus are more expensive. For shipment outside the US, Contact Us for a price quote. All orders are shipped via FedEx. Orders usually take 4-7 business days for delivery unless the book is out of stock and needs to be ordered from the printer (in which case allow 3-4 weeks). If you are a bookseller or other wholesale outlet, please call us for more information.

Please Contact Us for current wholesale prices.