Big, Breaking News! NYSCA’s #1 legislative priority - a long overdue update to the chiropractic scope of practice - cleared the NYS Senate late this afternoon by an overwhelming majority vote. The focus of NYSCA’s lobbying efforts now shifts to the legislature’s lower house, where the bill’s Assembly sponsor, Assemblymember Sarah Clark, will spearhead the effort to achieve a similar outcome among the Assembly’s 150 members.

A lot has changed since the 1960’s.  One thing that hasn’t changed is the chiropractic scope of practice, which is why this is one of the  legislative priorities for the New York State Chiropractic Association on behalf of the chiropractic profession. 

The NYSCA would like to flag a recent practice alert that was issued by the New York State Board of Chiropractic that you should have all received in your email. We know that you get a lot of email, but this was an important practice alert, and we wanted to make sure you received it and understand the context for the alert.

Pursuant to Education Law §6551(3) and Part 73 of the Commissioner’s Regulations, diagnostic ultrasounds may be used for the detection and diagnosis of conditions that are treatable by a licensed chiropractor. However, a licensed chiropractor must have appropriate training and competency prior to utilization of a diagnostic ultrasound in the course of their practice.

A member poses, and then asks. . .

Recently, the New York Chiropractic Council (the Council) released a video regarding the Scope Modernization Bill. As a result of this video, we felt that some clarification is in order.

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On behalf of the NY State Board for Chiropractic's Public Information Committee, we are disseminating the following Practice Alert:

On behalf of the NY State Board for Chiropractic's Public Information Committee, we are disseminating the following Practice Alerts: 1) "The Treating Peripheral Neuropathy" and 2) "Treating Concussion Practice Alerts" have been posted as #12 and #13 on the Chiropractic Practice Alert webpage in the links below:

As you may be aware, in New York there a two-year legislative cycle. As this year is the start of a new legislative cycle, we have new bill numbers for our scope modernization bill. In addition, due to changes in the Assembly, we have a new Assembly sponsor.

The Congress of Chiropractic State Associations (ChiroCongress) is seeking to develop a strategic plan for the future of the Chiropractic profession through a robust stakeholder engagement process. The resulting vision and strategic plan will become a public resource that will guide the profession and its stakeholders for the next five years.

The Chiropractic fee schedule for work and automobile related injuries in New York State (NYS) is governed under the regulations set forth by the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB).

Chiropractors licensed in New York State may provide nutritional advice within their chiropractic scope of practice as part of an overall treatment plan for a chiropractic patient. Under Education Law §6551(1), chiropractors licensed in New York State may detect and correct by manual or mechanical means structural imbalance, distortion, or subluxations in the human body for the purpose of removing nerve interference and the effects thereof, where such interference is the result of or related to distortion, misalignment or subluxation of or in the vertebral column.

 There are various educational sources, both internet-based and non-internet-based, offering certificate and non-certificate programs in functional medicine for chiropractors. However, although segments of the functional medicine body of knowledge may be consistent with both a chiropractor’s training and portions of the chiropractic scope of practice, its overall patient treatment approach, as well as the term “medicine’ is not within the chiropractic scope of practice. Thus, chiropractors should refrain from using the term functional medicine in their advertising.

There are various educational sources, both internet-based and non-internet based, offering continuing education courses in functional medicine for chiropractors. However, although segments of the functional medicine body of knowledge may be consistent with both a chiropractor’s training and portions of the chiropractic scope of practice, its overall patient treatment approach, as well as the term “medicine’ is not within the chiropractic scope of practice. Thus, functional medicine courses are not acceptable for satisfying your triennial registration requirement of 36 hours of continuing education.

The New York State Chiropractic Association and the New York Chiropractic Council recently announced that both state organizations have jointly submitted a draft Chiropractic Scope Modernization Bill to the Legislature.

New York State Education Law, section 6551(1) defines the practice of chiropractic as:

Current statute does not authorize chiropractors to use acupuncture as part of their practice. Article 160 of the Education Law authorizes those persons licensed in acupuncture to treat “diseases, disorders and dysfunctions of the body…by means of mechanical, thermal or electrical stimulation effected by the insertion of needles.” The definition of chiropractic in Article 132, section 6551, does not include such authorization.

Section 6551 of Education Law defines the practice of chiropractic as: