SD5 - Study of the Merit of an Independent Board of Chiropractic


Executive Summary:
Senate Joint Resolution 433, patroned by Senator Edward Schrock and passed by the 1999 Session of the General Assembly, requested the Virginia Board of Health Professions to examine the efficacy of establishing an independent board of chiropractic. Chiropractors are currently licensed and regulated by the Board of Medicine. By statute, one of the seventeen members appointed by the Governor to the Board must be a chiropractor. Issues expressed in the body of the resolution refer to the myriad of practitioners regulated by the Board, ranging from physicians to occupational therapists and the possibility that the Board may not be able to adequately address the issues relating to all its licensees. The resolution further notes that the modalities and expertise of the various practitioners of the healing arts are quite different and that it may be time for chiropractic to be "regulated by a board with the expertise in the skills necessary to providequality services to the public."

The Ad Hoc Committee on Independent Boards of the Board of Health Professions functioned for the purpose of reviewing background information on the regulation of chiropractic in Virginia and other states, gathering data on the feasibility of an independent board, receiving public comment, and bringing recommendations to the Board. The Regulatory Boards Administrator for the Department, Elaine J. Yeatts provided staff and research assistance for the Committee.