On March 11, 2015 the Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine voted unanimously to transfer its Laws and Rules examination to the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE). This decision was made despite the recommendation from the Florida Department of Health to “eliminate” the laws and rules examination from licensure requirements for becoming a chiropractor in the State of Florida.
The original news that the Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine, under the leadership of Kevin Fogarty DC, had decided to hand over the laws and rules testing to the NBCE was shocking in and of itself considering the role that the NBCE plays in the Chiropractic Cartel. The Florida Board essentially gave the NBCE a launching pad to take over all jurisprudence exams throughout the United States cementing the final slice of control that the NBCE has over the licensing functions of the profession.
The recommendation came through the form of a POSITION PAPER from Zohre Bahrayni, Ph.D titled: Moving the Laws and Rules Examination to Continuing Education.
The Position Paper brought “. . . into question the effectiveness of the laws and rules examination” and then went into detail on 6 concerns regarding the “. . . adequacy of the Laws and Rules examinations . . .”
Dr. Bahrayni pointed out that:
1. It’s not new licensees that violate the laws and rules
2. The Laws and Rules examination has very little to do with the protection of the public
3. The pass rate is very high
4. Unimportant issues are included in the test to make it statistically significant
5. The knowledge tested changes over time
6. Changes in Board rules don’t end up on the exam
In closing, the Memo to the Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine stated in part:
“Given the factors described above, we recommend that the Chiropractic Laws and Rules examination be eliminated from the licensure requirements for becoming a Chiropractor in Florida and that the relevant subject matter instead be integrated into the continuing education curriculum of the profession.”
CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE MEMO
Despite this recommendation from the Department of Health to do away with an exam that is unnecessary, the Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine went against the DOH and not only kept the Laws and Rules exam, but turned it over to the NBCE.
It is believed that these decisions are tied together in an effort on the part of the Chiropractic Cartel to retain control of the licensing and regulatory functions of the profession through the CCE and NBCE. Such changes would have also interfered with the Florida Chiropractic Association and their plans for designating chiropractic as the practice of Primary Care in Florida.
It is also believed that chiropractic institutions offering bachelor degrees would be adversely affected if their international graduates no longer needed such a degree to obtain a license.
This relationship between the various trade and regulatory organizations within chiropractic and the control they have over the academic, regulatory and licensing functions of the entire chiropractic profession has been characterized as a “monopoly”.
This latest move by the Florida Board and the NBCE is expected to spread quickly to all other states. It is thought that the NBCE views Florida as the “big fish” and that now that they have secured Florida, other states will easily get in line and NBCE’s control over the licensing function of the entire profession will be complete.