As most in the mainstream of chiropractic know, the road to acceptance for the profession has been a long and challenging one.
Florida, particularly through the efforts and leadership of the FCA, has always been at the forefront. Their progressive vision, coupled with a dogged determination to succeed, has made Florida one of the bellwether states in the country when it comes to advancements in chiropractic legislation and regulation. In fact, in the last 10 years over 70 pieces of pro-chiropractic legislation have come to benefit the profession in Florida through the direct efforts of the FCA.
This spring's session of the Florida Legislature was no different. Once again, the FCA team was successful in promoting a variety of legislative initiatives of benefit not only to the profession, but to health care consumers as well. As always, the goal was to protect the status quo, while making new inroads.
One stunning success was the passage of a "reviser's" bill to bring new uniformity to the chiropractic statutes in Florida. A recent resolution passed by the AMA seeking to limit the use of the term "physician" to only MDs and DOs, coupled with a variety of conflicting court decisions in recent times, made apparent the need for legislative clarification to ensure that chiropractic would maintain its physician status.
The result was the passage of a bill, primarily technical in nature, standardizing the use of the term "chiropractic physician" throughout Florida statutes, and helping to guarantee parity with providers in other disciplines. This was a concerted attempt to thwart the AMA's effort to reduce chiropractic's piece of the already-shrinking managed care pie.
This was the sole goal. Nevertheless, much as expected, a small minority of the chiropractic profession's greatest naysayers are now trying to label this accomplishment as some sort of subversive plot. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Here are the facts:
- There was no dark, secret plot. Despite claims to the contrary, there was absolutely no attempt to hide the consideration of this legislation from the public's eye. Florida has one of the most open legislative processes in the nation, even more so under the recent control of Republicans. The bill in question was out in the open for over a month prior to final consideration, and received at least six public debates either in committee or on the floor of the House or Senate.
- DCs can continue to call themselves whatever they like: chiropractor, doctor of chiropractic or chiropractic physician, the choice is yours. The revisions simply made the statutory references uniform to "chiropractic physician" to ensure that when it comes to legal issues we will be treated no differently than other physicians.
- There was absolutely no change in the scope of practice. Florida DCs cannot do anything differently today because of these changes. The idea that revisions in "legalese" might broaden or restrict the current scope of practice are completely without merit. Likewise, the renaming of the "Board of Chiropractic" to the "Board of Chiropractic Medicine" was simply to make it uniform with the names of the other physician licensing boards in Florida (Board of Medicine, Board of Osteopathic Medicine, and Board of Podiatric Medicine), and did nothing to change the scope of practice in any way.
- No change whatsoever was made in the statutory definition of chiropractic. The definition continues to reflect and embody the science, art and philosophy of the profession as originally expressed by D.D. Palmer. Those who have made these erroneous allegations must not have seen Senate Bill 2128. Chapter 460, F.S., the "Chiropractic Practice Act," still defines the "Practice of Chiropractic" (not chiropractic medicine) exactly as it was defined before.
As Dr. Ed Williams, CEO emeritus of the FCA and coordinator of FCA's lobbying effort, clarifies: "As a Florida chiropractor, you can still call yourself a "chiropractor" or "doctor of chiropractic" or "chiropractic physician" if you so choose. But under Florida law, since you are a graduate of an accredited chiropractic college and are licensed by the state of Florida, the state of Florida will now see you as a "chiropractic physician" no matter where they look in Florida law. And the bureaucracies and employers and insurance companies that are governed by any of the Florida statutes have no choice but to see you in that light."
This is not so much an issue of sweeping, profound change as it is of cementing chiropractic's future in Florida's laws -- something the FCA continually strives to do.
Paul Watson Lambert
General Counsel
Florida Chiropractic Association
Paul Watson Lambert, Esq. is serving a fourth elected term as president of the NACA. Mr. Lambert practices law in Tallahassee, Florida and represents the Florida Chiropractic Association as general counsel. He has represented chiropractic for over seventeen years beginning as the Florida Assistant Attorney General representing the Florida State Board of Chiropractic Examiners. He later represented Florida Chiropractic Legal Affairs, Inc. and has represented the Florida Chiropractic Association since 1977. Mr. Lambert has authored numerous articles on chiropractic law, government law and professional licensing law. He is also contributing author of Florida Administrative Practice, published by the Florida Bar Association, and is the author of the soon to be published The Florida Law of Chiropractic. Mr. Lambert has served as president of the Florida Government Bar Association, of the Florida Second Judicial Circuit Nominating Commission, and as a member of the Florida Medical Examiners Commission.