According to the draft minutes of the May 18, 2018 Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine Board meeting, Ron Watson, the Lobbyist for the Florida Chiropractic Physician's Association (FCPA), asked the Florida Board for their help in the FCPA's Legislative efforts for the upcoming year which will include adding language to authorize injections for nutrition. Watkins and the FCPA shared the language with the board and asked for assistance from the board with this issue. (Note: the draft minutes describe Watson as the lobbyist for the FCA but that is incorrect)

CLICK HERE to review the draft minutes

And based on history, such support to keep the scope as wide as possible is just what they will get from the Board.

Back in June 2015 the Florida Chiropractic Association (FCA), another Florida association, helped nix a proposed legislative package developed by the Board that included proposals to deal with the treatment of animals by chiropractors, removal of outdated language that makes graduation from a school accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) mandatory to gain licensure in the state, removal of statutory obstacles for graduates of foreign chiropractic programs to gain licensure in the state, and removal of the term “medicine” to describe the practice of chiropractic among other items.

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The vote to keep “medicine” in the statute came on the heels of a decision by the Florida Board to turn over its jurisprudence exam to the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners despite the recommendation of the State of Florida to do away with the exam entirely.

The FCPA has good company in the FCA on the scope expansion issue. The FCA was recently successful in getting chiropractic tied to "primary care" in the state.

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This came on the heels of their success a couple of years ago in getting the Board to drop the package of legislative proposals clarifying the scope that the FCA opposed.

During the May 18 Board meeting, the FCPA's lobbyist Ron Watson represented the FCPA in asking for the board's help in their legislative efforts. The FCPA website has this to say about Watson:

He is young, he is spot-on and he is aggressive. He is our man.

"My name is Ron Watson and thanks to you I have the privilege to be the new lobbyist that represents the FCPA. I met many of you recently at the FCPA's Nationwide CE Seminar in Orlando a couple weeks ago. I have over 27 years experience as a lobbyist in Florida and I look forward to representing you and the FCPA before both the Legislature and the Board of Chiropractic Medicine. This will be fun and exciting. I am excited by the opportunity and look forward to fighting for your profession."

The FCPA has long pushed for injectibles in the state - beyond that they want drug rights and the FCPA has been urging the FCA to go along.

Unlike the FCPA, the Florida Chiropractic Association (FCA) has a formidable lobbying arm funded with the tens of millions of dollars the FCA makes through in person live continuing education events. Events which the FCA also lobbied to keep as the status quo when major discussions occurred to allow online CE were effectively shut down.

All of this comes on the heels of the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission, a United States Supreme Court case on the scope of immunity from US antitrust law. The Supreme Court held that a state occupational licensing board that was primarily composed of persons active in the market it regulates has immunity from antitrust law only when it is actively supervised by the state.

Despite this decision by the United States Supreme Court the Florida Board seems to believe they are immune from action related to it based on their repeated decisions as active market players and several potential conflicts of interests that may not have been reported per the Florida Ethics Commission Rules.

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