Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine Looking to Expand the Scope of Practice to include Drugs

Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine (FBCM) board member Anthony Oliverio DC who Chairs the Board's Legislative Committee has sent out a letter claiming to have had "in depth conversations with numerous chiropractors" who want to expand the scope of practice in Florida to include injectables, muscle relaxers, steroid packs, dry needling and trigger point injections.

In addition, according to the minutes of the June 8th Board of Chiropractic Medicine meeting Oliverio "requested to open the scope of practice" and "hold a workshop to change legislation".

Oliverio was appointed to the FBCM in 2021 along with Jason Comerford DC, Walter Melton DC and Michael Roberts DC. According to the press release from the Governor's office all four are members of the Florida Chiropractic Association (FCA) which has long pushed for expanding the scope of practice to include drugs in Florida. Roberts is even a Past President of the Florida Chiropractic Association. The memberships effectively give the FCA a majority vote on the Florida Board to exert its will.  

According to the release, Oliverio is also a member of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) of which the FCA is an affilliated organization. The ACA has long pushed for the expansion of drugs in chiropractic nationwide and is currently doing so through the ACA's Medicare Scope Expansion and Drug bill which would make anything within state scope allowed by Medicare for chiropractors. Chiropractors who sit on state boards who are associated with broad scope chiropractic trade associations have been scrambling to expand their scopes in the hopes that the ACA bill eventually passes.

The next meeting of the Florida Board is August 17, 2023.