ICA Endorses CCE

ICA Endorses CCE

Move Shocks DaVinci

According to a press release from the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) they have agreed to engage in talks with the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) regarding the CCE’s Governance structure.  Other groups involved in the discussion included:

• The Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB)
• The National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE)
• The Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC)
• The Congress of Chiropractic State Associations (COCSA)
• The American Chiropractic Association (ACA)

Collectively this group has been referred to as the Roundtable and part of the Chiropractic Cartel operating within the chiropractic profession. It is part of a larger group known as the Chiropractic Summit. The Chiropractic Summit’s goals include establishing chiropractors as physicians and securing third party pay.

ICA President Dr. Michael S. McLean and ICA representative to the Summit Steering Committee Dr. Stephen P. Welsh represented ICA at the Round Table where CCE is alleged to have made this deal. 

According to the ICA press release the CCE has expressed a “grave concern” regarding the upcoming hearing the CCE has before the US Department of Education (USDE) since the CCE has not shown that it represents the entire chiropractic profession and because it has neglected to address governance concerns. The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) met on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 to consider the Council on Chiropractic Education’s (CCE) petition for renewal of recognition.  The process of continuing the recognition of an existing agency is generally unremarkable, often requiring only 15 minutes or so of discussion.  The proceeding involving CCE was anything but routine, with four hours of public comments, agency responses, and deliberations.

The Department of Education staff identified over 40 compliance issues.  Arthur J. Rothkopf, president emeritus of Lafayette College and vice chairman of NACIQI told CCE, “You’ve hit the jackpot on deficiencies,” noting that the problems enumerated by the department suggest a “sloppiness” in CCEs actions as an accreditor.

Since that time the CCE has been forging deeper alliances amongst the members of the Chiropractic Cartel and the addition of the ICA to that alliance was a major victory for the CCE.

Previously the ICA had been instrumental in the development of the DaVinci Group which formed following the 2011 hearing. DaVinci represented a larger faction of the chiropractic profession than the Summit group with over 70 organizations involved. DaVinci made a written submission to NACIQI calling for deferral of a decision to recognize the CCE until they demonstrate their widespread acceptance by the chiropractic profession along with several other recognition criteria. DaVinci was expected to make related comments during oral testimony at the upcoming hearing on December 12, 2013.

Now that the ICA has agreed to get behind and support the CCE and recommend full recognition this has created a split within DaVinci.  Some of the other organizations in DaVinci are also ICA affiliates so the decision to support the CCE may pull those other organizations with it.

At the time of this writing many members and organizations within DaVinci expressed frustration at the ICA’s decision as well as disappointment that the ICA did not communicate its actions to DaVinci and instead made a stealth decision to endorse the CCE through the Summit, of which CCE is also a member.      

While the Summit and the ICA have reported the CCE’s agreement to address its longstanding governance problems there has been no public report by the CCE that it has agreed to anything of this nature.