Keita Vanterpool DC, a rising figure in the chiropractic community, found herself at the center of a controversy that has exposed the close ties between the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB), the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE), state regulatory boards and the spherical halo of numerous other organizations that circle the Chiropractic Cartel's center. These organizations are drawn in by the powerful pull of student loan money that circulates among them.
So "hand in glove" are these organizations that they have been referred to as monopolies operating as a virtual cartel by members of the United States Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI).
Vanterpool was thrown into the briar patch when she was elected Vice President of the FCLB and brought a lawsuit against the FCLB, its Past President Carol J. Winkler, D.C. and another Past President Karlos Boghosian, D.C. alleging racial discrimination after they suspended her from her position at the FCLB. 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.
The scandal spread beyond the FCLB due to the controversial relationships between the FCLB and NBCE resulting in resignations from the NBCE
Why Did The FCLB Suspend Vanterpool?
According to publicly available discovery documents the number one reason given for the vote by the FCLB Board to suspend Vanterpool from her position as Vice President of FCLB were addressed to her in the now infamous March 4, 2022, FCLB Board meeting:
"(1) Dr. Vanterpool’s activities related to attendance of the 2021 Chiropractic Summit whereby she contacted the Summit personnel to solicit an invitation to attend."
What is the Chiropractic Summit?
In the world of chiropractic, a veil of secrecy shrouds a self selected group of organizations known as the Chiropractic Summit. The Chiropractic Summit has no website we could find. The url chirosummit.org was listed in some old internet articles, however it returns the following message: Forbidden. You don't have permission to access this resource.
Interestingly, the FCLB's website does list the Chiropractic Summit on its website's "Organization Locator" and it lists the "Administrator" of the Summit as Lisa Love-Smith with an email address as: admin@chirosummit.org. However, attempts to email the Chiropractic Summit resulted in a "Delivery Notification Failure."
According to the listing on the FCLB website the goal of the Chiropractic Summit is the following:
"It is the goal of the Chiropractic Summit to work on the following critical issues: 1. National Health Care Reform/Medicare Reform & DoD/VA/PHSC 2. Doctor Practice Satisfaction & Self Esteem 3. Profession wide collaboration, grassroots mobilization and self regulation. 4. Reimbursement/Anti-discrimination 5. Public Relations - telling the chiropractic story and promoting the brand (competition and cultural authority) 6. Improved practitioner documentation quality and compliance particularly within the Medicare system."
The E-mail That Set Things in Motion
In an email exchange dated August 4, 2021 between Dr. Vanterpool and Lisa Love-Smith produced during the discovery process, Love-Smith lists her affiliation as the Membership and Program Director of the Michigan Association of Chiropractors (MAC).
In that email we find the number one reason the FCLB wanted to reign in Vanterpool since Love-Smith was charged with conveying the Summit's rejection of Dr. Vanterpool's request to participate in the Chiropractic Summit meetings.
Love-Smith explains in her email that the Summit typically only allows two seats at their table for each partner organization. They did have a process for allowing guests, but this required personal invitation and unanimous acceptance by all partners.
There is a long standing saying within the Chiropractic Cartel circles that if you want chiropractic organizations and businesses to work with you then you: "have to have a seat at the table, so you're not on the menu".
The Chiropractic Summit, as described by Love-Smith in her email response to Vanterpool, comprises around 40 members representing leadership from various sectors within the chiropractic profession. Their meetings serve the purpose of updating partners on profession-related developments and working on annual goals.
In the email, Love-Smith claims that the Summit played a significant role in shaping the "national strategic plan" which is a project spearheaded by another member of the Summit (ChiroCongress) and that the FCLB is represented as a "partner" within the Chiropractic Summit.
Love-Smith's description of the FCLB as a partner of the Summit is crucial since it implies a close affiliation between the two organizations. This connection became a key piece of evidence in the subsequent events that unfolded.
These Summit organizations, seemingly operating in the shadows gather regularly to discuss and plan activities within the chiropractic profession. Their meetings are cloaked in secrecy, with no public announcements or transparency regarding their deliberations. This hidden world sheds light on the murky underbelly of the chiropractic cartel and its control over the profession.
The Vote Goes Down
Fast forward now to March 4, 2022, when the FCLB Board voted to suspend Dr. Vanterpool from her position as Vice President of the FCLB.
Keep in mind that according to the discovery there were no minutes taken of this meeting. In fact, according to those in attendance not one single FCLB board member took any notes - except for Dale Atkinson, the General Counsel of the FCLB - and he did not turn over his notes until the judge ordered him to.
As already pointed out, the reasons provided for the decision to suspend Vanterpool included activities related to her attempts to attend the 2021 Chiropractic Summit by reaching out to Love-Smith and seeking an invitation to their secretive gatherings.
The significance of this revelation cannot be understated. The fact that Dr. Vanterpool's actions related to the Summit were cited as grounds for her suspension underscores this connection between the FCLB and the Chiropractic Summit (some 40 organizations according to Love-Smith). It raises questions about the nature of these relationships and the motivations behind the FCLB's decision to suspend Dr. Vanterpool and prevent her from attending these meetings.
In essence, the suspension appears to be a manifestation of the FCLB's desire to maintain its position within the chiropractic cartel to protect its interests and something about Vanterpool attending concerned them. Dr. Vanterpool's pursuit of transparency and her desire to participate in the Summit meetings appear to have run counter to the secretive nature of these gatherings. Her suspension appears to have been an attempt to suppress her efforts to gain access to this exclusive circle of power.
The additional reasons given for the suspension are either offshoots of her outreach to the Summit or related to it. They didn't like that Vanterpool took it upon herself to "email the FCLB membership in May 2021 both thanking supporters and soliciting committee nominees" which according to other documents is actually a responsibility of FCLB leadership. These actions allowed the FCLB to add several other complaints that basically add up to the opinion of the Board that Vanterpool was acting too much like a Vice President and a leader conducting outreach and taking initiative.
This becomes even more apparent in email communications between Vanterpool and Winkler, who was then President of the FCLB. Winkler scolds Vanterpool for her attempts at reaching out to stakeholders and clearly marks her territory as she dresses her down.
CLICK HERE to review documents
The FCLB Board determined Dr. Vanterpool’s actions in their totality warranted the suspension of her Board
position for six months.
This revelation regarding the number one reason given by the FCLB that Vanterpool was suspended sheds light on the complex dynamics at play within the chiropractic profession, where secret meetings and hidden agendas have the potential to impact the course of the entire profession. Vanterpool's suspension serves as a stark reminder of the need for transparency and accountability in chiropractic organizations and raises important questions about the influence of the chiropractic cartel on the profession's direction.
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