Drew Wilson
Hialeah Republican Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. filed a bill last week that would change the rules surrounding continuing education credits for Florida chiropractors.
The bill (SB 1676) would require the state Board of Chiropractic Medicine to approve continuing education credits earned through distance learning and would prohibit the board from capping the “number or type” of distance learning credits chiropractors may earn.
Current law explicitly requires chiropractors to complete “40 contact classroom hours of continuing education” to renew their license to practice.
Diaz’s bill would also prohibit the board from limiting CE credits to a list of preapproved courses. The board has at times barred certain classes, such as basic drug classes, from counting toward the renewal requirement.
Additionally, the measure spells out instructor qualifications for CE courses.
Under the legislation, a course may be taught by a person with a doctor of chiropractic or other terminal degree who has three years of experience in the subject matter taught; a current faculty member of a board-approved chiropractic college or accredited medical or osteopathic college; or a postgraduate level instructor at an approved chiropractic, medical or osteopathic college.
The bill, filed Thursday, has not yet received committee assignments and no companion bill has been filed in the House.
If passed into law, the bill would take effect July 1.
