Foundation Participates in Historic Meeting - Focus is Crisis in Chiropractic Education

The purpose of the meeting was to prepare a unified response and strategy to address the CCE’s movement away from the core values and clinical focus of chiropractic. A multi-point plan to present the group’s concerns and recommendations to CCE, the profession and to policy makers was begun and extensive follow-up discussions and activities were agreed upon.   

The meeting was attended by a broad base of groups and individuals including a mix of various reform groups, state associations and societies, technique groups, practice management organizations, student groups and other constituencies.

The group of leaders, known as “The DaVinci Group”, called for fundamental reforms within the CCE via a document titled: A Call for Fundamental Reforms Within the Council on Chiropractic Education.  Three main areas were agreed upon in the meeting as areas where the CCE needs to reverse recent changes to their Standards as well as become more representative of the practice of chiropractic. 

These include:

• Restoring the language of “…detection and reduction of vertebral subluxation” to the Standards describing the curriculum leading up to receiving the Doctor of Chiropractic degree.
• Returning the key definitional phrase “…without the use of drugs or surgery” which had been recently removed from the foreword of the Standards to an appropriate placement in the 2012 version of the Standards.
• Reforming critical governance procedures and issues that would broaden the way elections are held, increasing diversity and representation on the Council.

While many in the profession are calling for reform of the educational system in chiropractic, the Foundation supports these points as a beginning dialogue and cautions against shallow changes that do not get to the heart of the crisis plaguing the academic, regulatory and clinical aspects of chiropractic. All of these are inextricably intertwined due to the nature of the Chiropractic Cartel operating within the profession.     

“We need profound reforms and they must be far-reaching reforms that fully embrace the historic and significant nature of the concern and controversy surrounding our profession’s educational system” stated Dr. Kent.

To this end the Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation (FVS) has developed a proposal which outlines an aggressive approach to reforming the CCE. The report is titled:

Reformation of the Chiropractic Educational System Based on Curricular Freedom 

According to the Foundation, their proposal is not made without significant and serious review of the history of accreditation, the political landscape within chiropractic and a thorough analysis of the various possible scenarios in regards to reform. The FVS proposal also embraces a restructuring of the current delivery and pedagogical models utilized in the chiropractic educational system. 

The proposal follows a thorough review of the literature on the accreditation wars and related legal matters within chiropractic and includes an analysis of several possible scenarios and how they might play out.  

The FVS calls for reform beginning with substantial structural and personnel changes to be made within the CCE in order to create two autonomous accreditation Councils. In an effort to break the historical feud between the conservative and liberal factions of the profession the FVS outlines a model that will enable curricular freedom for those who desire primary care status and those who wish to provide a conservative, traditional chiropractic education.

The proposal calls for the restructuring of the CCE to offer accreditation of two programs leading to chiropractic degrees that could be offered by institutions. One program, focused on vertebral subluxation, would lead to the already existing Doctor of Chiropractic and the other would lead to an as yet unnamed degree. 

The FVS stressed that this proposal involves parallel tracks and does not include the concept of tiering or a hierarchy in any way as it is detrimental to both factions. More so, it suggests that the subluxation centered chiropractor is inferior.  Under no circumstances would this proposal move forward under such concepts.

The Foundation hopes the profession and the conservative, traditional organizations within it, take the opportunity provided by the current crisis to push for drastic reforms as it is not felt that such an opportunity will present itself again in our lifetimes.