August 30, 2013 — The California Chiropractic Association (CCA) announced that Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law Assembly Bill 722, authored by Asm. Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), allowing doctors of chiropractic to perform physical evaluations as part of the certification process for bus drivers. CCA was a sponsor of AB 722.
“We are grateful for Assemblywoman Lowenthal’s leadership and Governor Brown’s recognition that California’s doctors of chiropractic should be permitted to conduct school bus driver physicals,” said Dr. Kenneth Winer, CCA Governmental Affairs chair. “California chiropractors are pleased to provide bus drivers better access to highly-trained and qualified providers all over the state.”
Doctors of chiropractic have been appropriately performing the identical physical examination for commercial truck drivers for more than twenty years. By adding doctors of chiropractic to the list of providers who can perform the required medical examination for additional applicants, this new law allows commercial drivers license holders access to providers who often are able to schedule the examination more quickly and at less cost than many other practitioners.
The new law is particularly timely because the U.S. Department of Transportation, beginning in May 21, 2014, will require all providers who perform such examinations to pass a certification test in order to be placed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners. Only providers on the Registry will be allowed to perform these examinations.
While federal law allows doctors of chiropractic to perform these exams for all drivers, until now California law only allowed chiropractors to perform physical exams for school bus drivers over the age of 65. AB 722 ends this discrepancy, allowing California chiropractors who are certified under federal regulations to perform the exams for all drivers, improving access to qualified providers for the thousands of bus drivers in the state.
Source: California Chiropractic Association, calchiro.org
