The Florida Chiropractic Association (FCA) sent their attorney and lobbyist to Tallahassee in order to defend the monopoly enjoyed by the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) in the state and to try and convince the legislators that freedom, choice and free trade is not a good thing.

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Below is the full transcript of the FCA testimony and here is a link to the video:

https://www.screencast.com/t/HOWP2tC8ydFM

Kim Driggers JD
FCA Attorney & Lobbyist
NBCE Board Member

Testimony

House Healthcare Regulation Subcommittee
March 9, 2023

Thank you Chair Clemons. This has been a rigorous debate already or uh questions. And I appreciate that. My notes are all over uh but I do first want to clarify some of the things that were said um that I found out so uh, Kim Driggers Florida Chiropractic Association. We've been around since 1931, 4400 members in the state of Florida. Um and we do work with the FCS oftentimes, we get along very well. But on this particular one we've agreed to disagree.

So um in in first actually I should also thank Senator Bankston for having an open door policy. We spoke (Driggers is then corrected that the Senate is on the other side and that this is the House and it is Representative Bankston) Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you for correcting me. Sorry about that. Thank you.  Um has an open door policy we enjoyed speaking with him today.

Um, one thing I do have to disagree with him that I found out about midnight last night on dentistry. There are other uh MQA professions in the state of Florida that have their own accreditation bodies. So it is not unusual what chiropractic is doing in Florida. Osteopathics (sic) have the American Osteopathic Association, podiatry has their own. Dentistry I have under 466.20667 subchapter 4 Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association and veterinarians also have their own. So it is not unusual.

And I know this term monopoly is often used in Florida and we hate that word. I understand that. But we need to understand that but we need to balance that with the protection of the public. The patients, all those patients in the state of Florida and the type of education that our students are getting. Um, If some of you don't know, there is no public chiropractic college in the country right now. So those graduating with a chiropractic education spend 200 to $250,000 under their education. So having the Gold Standard, which the CCE is, is really important to the profession.

Looking at this nationwide um, there are 43 states that incorporate CCE into their statutes so Florida is not alone. It is the majority. Um, 3 states, only 3 only allow the USDE and there are some like Wisconsin and Ohio they have their state boards determine accreditation. Nebraska makes up their own definition of what's accredited. Um, New York, Iowa,, Washington and Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico's accredited by their associations.  So, um we are in the norm here.

We are thankful that CCE um came into the state 50 some odd years ago because it was at a time that chiropractors had to fight for their name chiropractic physicians, as primary care physicians, as doctors. Um, it led to the United States Supreme Court case um, against the American Medical Association. It took that long and that much work and time and effort to get to the status they wanted to get to. And so that's why we're not being paid by CCE. But as the Gold Standard we feel and the continuing education that we provide, we are here on to fight for the profession and for the students that are graduating.

Um,  OK, alright, thank you, so um, representative Barteman and another mentioned this is a solution um without a problem. There's no problem here.  Um, the the  letter the discussion on the 2012 letter and all those 40 inaccuracies, and I have a copy of it, was because, it was because the the USDOE just changed their standards. There are 250 standards that the accreditation companies have to meet. So in 2012 when that change was made, yes, there were changes, but it had nothing to do with the phil, phil, philos, philosophy um of um the CCE or what they are taught.    

Um, Representative Tant we have to, I have to do mention that IACE because that's what we're here about. The IACE is not recognized by 16 states. Its recognized by the Illinois Prairie State Chiropractic Association, the New Jersey Garden State Chiropractic Society, the International Federation of Chiropractors and Organizations. So the states don't recognize them and you're exactly right that for those states that allow USDOE they could go to another state.

Bringing in for a landing, let's not have Florida be the guinea pig on reducing our high standards in the state of Florida. Allow our licensees, our new students to practice in the good ways they do. Let them go under the CCE standards which requires them to master 31 competencies before they graduate and for this reason we oppose the Bill. Thank you. 

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