The Latest from the Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine
Orlando – During its regular meeting yesterday, the Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine (FBOCM) unanimously reversed its prior 4-to-3 decision to move forward with a restrictive and expensive CE model in exchange for the complete opposite – a wholly unrestrictive and watered-down CE Rule. The common denominator? Both proposals are pushed by a single private CE vendor, Dr. Rick Warner of GoLearn Network whose originally onerous and expensive CE policing and testing requirements would be replaced with his new proposed language which still fails to protect the public health. The good news: The policing and surveillance requirements appear to be in the past. The bad news: Is this new proposed language good for the profession?
The three areas that survived his second overhaul of the CE Rule are: (1) removing the decades-old (and not-unusual-for-other-healthcare-professions) college sponsorship requirement; (2) watering down the credentials and qualifications of CE instructors to allow for instructors with two years of education; and (3) allowing for courses in “practice management,” a very broad course offering that, in its true sense, seeks to teach practitioners how to run an office rather than the statutorily required courses that “build upon the basic courses required for the practice of chiropractic medicine” per Section 460.408(1)(b), Florida Statutes.
The initial Warner petition garnered considerable uproar and opposition when first unveiled in November 2021. It proposed wiping out decades of precedent over continuing education requirements for Florida DC’s while making over a dozen onerous changes to current rules – including the incredible surveillance/policing requirements for live events – all to satisfy one vendor and supported in testimony only by the FCPA. Chiropractic colleges, other online vendors, nationwide chiropractic organizations including the ACC and the FCLB all united alongside the FCA and the FCS in opposition to the changes. A campaign organized by the FCA resulted in over 400 Florida DC’s signing petitions in opposition to the proposal, all presented in protest to the FBOCM for yesterday’s meeting.
The FBOCM’s next meeting is scheduled for August 26th when this new draft language is likely to be considered. Please stay tuned for future developments. Special thanks to all of our members and other DC’s who spoke out by signing the FCA’s petition.