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The chiropractic board’s purpose was to inform the committee that it is deadlocked after trying to work with the Physical Therapy Board to amend its bill.
Dr. Benjamin Lurie, who testified as president of the Nevada Chiropractic Physicians Board, says that SB 437’s current language doesn’t even address what the chiropractic board wants. In fact, he says it actually broadens the scope of mobilizations that the physical therapists could perform. If SB 437 passes as is, Lurie says that it will give Nevada physical therapists the legal right to perform some adjustments that have been defined by Nevada law as the domain of chiropractic physicians for many years. The Physical Therapy Association of Nevada calls such adjustments “manipulations or Grade V mobilizations”.
“The Physical Therapy Association hides behind a word to get around state law that prohibits physical therapists from performing chiropractic manipulations,” said Lurie.
Dr, Jason O. Jaeger says that it is also a safety issue.
“Chiropractic physicians have extensive radiology training that corresponds with their adjustment/manipulation education. Manipulating the spine without obtaining proper x-rays of that region and having the knowledge and licensure to assess the imaging could pose a safety concern” stated Jaeger.
However, the committee sent the bill back to both boards with instructions to work out a friendly amendment. Lurie says that he’s disappointed, because previous efforts to work with the Physical Therapists Association to amend the bill have failed. If there is no friendly amendment, Lurie says that the chiropractic board hopes that SB 437 will be killed or vetoed before the end of the current 2017 session, which is in 60 days.
Still, Dr. Lurie says that yesterday’s hearing did help a little, because it unveiled to the Senate Commerce, Labor, and Energy Committee that physical therapists have been performing Grade V mobilizations, (aka adjustments or manipulations) in their practices, thereby breaking the law, specifically NRS Statute 640.
“It’s a huge public safety issue for the State of Nevada that needs to be addressed immediately,” said Lurie.
The chiropractic board was represented before the committee by attorney Louis Ling in Carson City; board president Dr. Benjamin Lurie in Las Vegas; Dr. Jason Jaeger in Las Vegas, speaking as a chiropractic physician and business owner; and Michele Kane speaking as media specialist for the Nevada Chiropractic Council.
The Chiropractic Board for Nevada will have its bill heard tomorrow, April 7, 2017, by the Assembly’s Commerce Committee on Labor. The chiropractic bill would codify regulations put into Legislative Code 634 that precisely define the meaning of controlled force (thrust) used by chiropractic physicians for adjustment, manipulation, or mobilization. Dr. Lurie says that the Chiropractic Physicians Board expects to get blowback from the Physical Therapy Association, due to the outcome of yesterday’s hearing.
For more information, please contact the Nevada Chiropractic Council, www.nevadachiropractic.org.
