UPFRONT | Roundup PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT B.C. chiropractors seek practice scope expansion VICTORIA – Chiroprac-tors in British Columbia are hoping for legislation to ex-pand their scope of practice, including the ability to order diagnostic imaging covered by provincial health care. The B.C. Chiropractic Association (BCCA) has been engaging the provincial government for better inte-gration of the profession into primary care. At the association’s recent annual general meeting, BCCA president Dr. Jay Robinson said association executives have met with members of the legislative assembly to explore ways chiropractic can help solve some of the province’s health-care challenges. “We’re starting to inte-grate better into the health-care system, and we now have a very strong case to be able to be players in the health-care system,” Robin-son told Canadian Chiroprac-tor . Widening the chiroprac-tic scope of practice to allow DCs to prescribe diagnostic imaging for patients, Robin-son said, will help patients get the right care they need at the right time. Currently, B.C. patients need to get a referral from their family doctor for diag-nostic imaging. A patient who’s had an injury or suf-fering from musculoskeletal pain, for example, would have to wait weeks to get appropriate treatment. Few who are willing to pay out of pocket to get x-ray right away could get the right care quicker, but the majority would prefer the government pick up the tab on this health-care service, Robin-son noted. ing.” “The Minister did meet with the association earlier this year. They had a pro-ductive meeting; however, there are currently no plans at this time to extend MSP coverage to chiropractic care,” the statement said. Dr. Dean Greenwood makes a case for chiropractors as primary spine care provider at the recent BCCA Chiropractic Convention. “If (chiropractors) refer the patient directly for x-ray, they can go that day or the next day, the result comes back, then they go back to the chiropractor – if it’s ap-plicable – and they get treated. They are getting treated within a couple of days instead of a couple of months.” Members of B.C.’s legis-lative assembly were gener-ally receptive to the chiro-practic cause, according to Robinson, adding the gov-ernment is increasingly be-coming aware of the need for more collaboration among health-care providers to in-crease efficiencies in the health-care system. Association executives hit a snag, however, when they met with B.C. Health Min-ister Terry Lake. Robinson said the meeting was to ob-tain the minister’s support for expanded scope of prac-tice for chiropractic and in-creasing chiropractic in-volvement in the health-care system. Lake’s “less-than-hospi-table” reaction was unex-pected. “He didn’t want to hear about it, and didn’t want to talk about it,” Rob-inson said. Lake, a veterinarian by profession, told BCCA offi-cials he has a “bias,” alleg-edly, but the minister gave no further clarification. The minister’s office has since reconnected with the BCCA and relayed that the “minister regrets his com-ments” and is willing to meet with the BCCA again, Rob-inson reported. No word yet on when that next meeting would be. Canadian Chiropractor attempted to get clarification from Lake about what tran-spired at the meeting with the BCCA. As of this writ-ing, the minister was una-vailable for interview. The minister’s office did provide an e-mail response to this writer’s inquiry, in which it called Lake’s en-counter with the BCCA of-ficials a “productive meet-CASE FOR SPINE CARE One important role chiro-practors can play in inter-professional primary care is as spinal care provider, ac-cording to Vancouver chiro-practor Dr. Dean Green-wood, citing this expertise is currently an urgent health care need. Greenwood was one of the speakers at the BCCA’s annual chiropractic convention. One in eight people suffer from a spinal disorder and musculoskeletal disability is on the rise, Greenwood said. “With an aging popula-tion, there is urgent need for further research to better understand spinal pain,” he told conference attendees. Greenwood, who is co-founder of the Vancouver Spine Care Centre, urged chiropractors to consider pursuing additional educa-tion and advanced learning to further increase chiro-practors’ credibility as spinal care experts. In addition to his doctor of chiropractic degree, Greenwood has a Master of Science in Advanced Clini-cal Practice from National University Health Sciences. “Clinical expertise and professional authority are essential (for chiropractors) to be included in integrated spinal care,” Greenwood stressed. -Mari-Len De Guzman www.canadianchiropractor.ca 10 Canadian Chiropractor December 2015
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