Why does the National Association of Certified Chiropractors (NAOCC) want to add your name to its online directory? That's one of several questions that remain unanswered as of press time despite multiple attempts to contact the organization. The NAOCC is looking to certify doctors of chiropractic with the following claims:
- The goal of the National Association of Certified Chiropractors is to protect consumers and businesses by providing a report card on each Chiropractor."
- We empower consumers by allowing them to verify as much information as possible about the Chiropractor they are evaluating and submit reviews and surveys on their experiences."
- Thousands of consumers across our network use our research reports and read our reviews every single day."
Yet the actual directory listing shows very little information except to report: "This Company is NOT Accredited By The National Association of Certified Chiropractors." Worse yet, even when a doctor applies for certification, if the doctor doesn't add the NAOCC graphic tag to their website, the credential is revoked and their directory page reports that the practice "has not applied for NAOCC certification." (At press time, we were unable to find a chiropractic practice that was certified.)
Adding a tag on your website from an unknown organization can be of great concern to many doctors. Adding a tag that includes script elements can result in the harvesting of information about the doctor's website and their visitors (patients), which may ultimately be a HIPAA violation. The NAOCC tag does not appear to include script elements, but it does link to the NAOCC website, which places "cookies" on site visitors' browsers without warning.
Looking further at the NAOCC website, it is hard to discern just how much traffic it gets. There is "not enough traffic data" to even support a report on several website traffic sources. And according to Alexa, the NAOCC's top-linking website is: seriousmalebondagejournal.com.1-2
Based on applicant experience, the NAOCC spends less than 24 hours to "research all new member applications with state and local governments as well as third-party sites." That's very impressive considering how long it would normally take.
When a doctor tried to fill out an application for membership in the NAOCC, he was provided with a contact person named John Myers with a phone number of 904-567-8345. All further inquiries by this doctor were ignored. The phone number provided "has been disconnected" and further attempts to contact Mr. Myers have also gone without response.
All of this may be a shill for the "Feedback Changer service" the website promotes on every doctor's directory listing page. This service promises "more reviews on Google, Yelp, Angie's List, Facebook or any online review website" for only $29.97 per month.
Given the above, doctors of chiropractic may be well-served to do their homework before considering certification from this organization.
References
- Alexa, an Amazon company. Feb. 13, 2019 search. https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/naocc.com
- No listing as of Feb. 13, 2019. Search on https://www.similarweb.com.
Dynamic Chiropractic editorial staff members research, investigate and write articles for the publication on an ongoing basis. To contact the Editorial Department or submit an article of your own for consideration, email
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