People in New York state can now access online the vital licensing information of the state's 38 licensed professional groups (610,000 professionals), plus get any disciplinary information taken against them by the state licensing boards (dating back three years). New York is the first state in the nation to make this kind of online consumer information available for so many licensed professionals.
The New York State Board of Regents, which regulates the 38 professions in New York state, announced the decision. The licensed professionals include all health professionals, including chiropractors, plus other professionals: psychologists, accountants, architects, et al.
"Our most important job is to help educate and protect the public," said Carl T. Hayden, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents. "The regulation of the professions serves that goal. These efforts will help people make educated choices about the professionals to whom they entrust their lives."
The information was first placed on the World Wide Web in January and was expanded on March 31 to include disciplinary information dating back to January 1994. It is available on the New York State Education Department home page and will be updated regularly. The address is http://www.nysed.gov.
The online information available to the public includes: the individual's profession; license number; city and state of practice; end date of current registration period; original license date; and summaries of any misconduct that led to the final disciplinary action by the Board of Regents.
The disciplinary information for physicians, physician assistants and specialist assistants is available on the State Department of Health home page (http://wwww.health.State.NY.US) and, through a cooperative effort, can also be accessed via the State Education Department home page. The Health Department disciplines physicians; the State Education Department licenses physicians.
The New York State Education Department will also publish a Consumer Bill of Rights and individual consumer brochures for each of the 38 professions. These brochures, which describe important information on each of the professions, will be published in 1997 and will be translated into Spanish, Chinese, and, believe it or not, Haitian-Creole. The public can also access the brochure information online.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
On Feb. 1, 2024, two more legislators – John R. Carter (R-Texas) and Robert “Bob” Good (R-Va.) – co-sponsored the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2023, bringing the co-sponsor total to 155, two more than the total achieved over the entire two-year congressional cycle in which identical legislation last appeared (2021-22).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
