NBCE Director Driggers Attempting to Expand Scope in Florida
The National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE), under the leadership of Karlos Boghsian DC, has been on a mad tear to rehabilitate its image in the face of widespread disgust at, among other things, its treatment of students, its use of student loan money to fund the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) and the outrageous salaries and compensation paid to its Directors and employees.
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So abhorrent are the NBCE's actions that a large group of over 50 organizations, associations, technique groups and businesses within chiropractic have called for the dismantling of what is referred to as the Chiropractic Cartel, an end to its monopoly and for freedom in chiropractic education and licensing.
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The Chiropractic Cartel exerts its influence through monopolies in the accreditation, testing and regulatory arena of the chiropractic profession. In addition to enjoying the power, demand and related influx of guaranteed money created by these monopolies, the central locus of control that binds them together is the incestuous nature of how the Board of Directors are chosen and how they bounce back and forth from one organization to the other.
Many times Directors serve simultaneously on the NBCE, the FCLB and their state regulatory Board.
In fact, this is a major reason that the NBCE and FCLB are currently under so much fire. The case of Keita Vanterpool DC who is suing the FCLB, its President Carol J. Winkler, D.C. and Immediate Past President Karlos Boghosian, D.C. highlights the incestuous relationships between the NBCE, FCLB and state regulatory boards. Vanterpool is alleging racial discrimination after they suspended her from her position at the FCLB. While the FCLB claims the "allegations are without merit" and that the FCLB "will continue to vigorously defend itself in the litigation" the FCLB has denied the accusations of a civil conspiracy to violate Vanterpool's civil rights which she claims were perpetuated by Defendants Winkler and Boghosian.
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This Good Ole' Boys network allows them to coordinate actions within the profession and influence regulatory actions and behavior.
In this case, it's the expansion of the scope of practice in Florida and recent efforts to keep the Council on Chiropractic Education's (CCE) monopoly control in Florida.
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Readers may recall that Driggers was also the central character in the FCA's attempt to keep the CCE's monopoly on chiropractic school accreditation in the state of Florida.
While monopolies and restraint of trade may be repugnant to most chiropractors, these activities are part and parcel to how a Cartel operates and, as has been demonstrated, they will stop at nothing to keep the power they have to accredit, test and regulate the profession. All the while using student loan debt to do so.
Expansion of the scope of practice into medicine has been happening in chiropractic for many decades and with the now well entrenched network of loyal confederates that sit on the Cartel boards, including state boards, it has become easier for them to coordinate their efforts.
The efforts by Driggers in Florida is just the latest example. The Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine is now controlled by dues paying members of the Florida Chiropractic Association (FCA) who have the majority votes.
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.
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 give the FCA a majority vote on the Florida Board to exert its will.
Oliverio is also a member of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) of which the FCA is an affiliated 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.
Let's hope the lay people and the lawyers on the FBCM have the sense to see through what is happening and the way they are being used as pawns.
