The Florida Chiropractic Physicians Association (FCPA) has applied for membership in the Chiropractic Summit Group. The FCPA is the largest trade association of chiropractors fighting for prescription drug rights along with full scope primary care status. The FCPA currently has 2,600 members and 38 state associations.
According to Rod Lacy of the FCPA they will be attending the National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC) in Washington DC which is hosted by the American Chiropractic Association and the FCPA will also be attending the Chiropractic Summit meeting ocurring during that time. According to Lacy the original FCPA was a Founding member of the Summit Group.
The Chiropractic Summit is part of a larger group within chiropractic known as the Chiropractic Cartel. The Chiropractic Summit’s goals include establishing chiropractors as physicians and securing third party pay.
Through years of painstaking efforts, the Chiropractic Cartel has developed a very deep, centrally organized and coordinated structure. This structure includes the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) as the largest national trade organization representing chiropractors. The International Chiropractors Association (ICA) has been a member of the Summit since its inception. Adding to this structure is the control the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) and their member boards have over licensure. The individual state chiropractic boards have mandates in the majority of states that only graduates from a school accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) can get a license. The FCLB receives a bulk of its funding from the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE). The Cartel exerts its international reach through the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) as well as the international arms of the CCE.
The ACA is considered to be the most powerful of the Summit members and has routinely pushed and supported expansion of state scopes of practice including drugs. The ACA has a "States Rights" policy regarding scope exansion.
ACA Supports New Mexico's Drug Fight
ACA Pushes for Scope Expansion Nationwide
ACA Surveys its Membership on Drug Rights
The Congress of Chiropractic State Associations (COCSA) also promotes a policy of "States Rights" when it comes to scope exansion.
The Summit Group recently adopted a policy stating that no organization in the Summit promotes the inclusion of drugs into chiropractic. Given the blatant contradictions among the largest members of the Summit and their stance on scope expansion and drug rights for chiropractors it will be intersting to see if they admit the FCPA into the Cartel and if not how they justify it given the contradictory actions by Summit members.
While the International Chiropractors Association has historically been against drugs as part of the scope of chiropractic, the ICA has embraced the practice of primary care, and as many point out, primary care includes so called necessary drugs.
The FCPA is planning a 1000 chiropractor march on Tallahassee to begin an intense lobbying campaign to add drugs and full scope practice in the state of Florida for chiropractors.
