On September 17, 1992, the Florida Chiropractic Association's board of directors considered the approval of the Mercy Guidelines for recommendation to the state of Florida. The following is the board's action as reported in the official minutes of the meeting:
"Consideration of Mercy Conference Guidelines: It was clarified that the board is dealing with two different topics, one being recommendations pertinent to the Mercy Document itself, and the second being FCA recommendations to the State of Florida on Standards of Care, as required by statute. MOTION #1 MSC (Hinton-Hyde) to approve the final draft guidelines of the Mercy Conference document in principle, and to prepare additional amendments to same for use in submitting guidelines to the State of Florida. Discussion followed. Motion to call the question carried. Motion #1 carried unanimously."
After approving the Mercy Guidelines "in principle," the FCA board then made fifteen motions to modify the Guidelines to allow them to conform to Florida law. The FCA's Standards of Care Committee was then "commissioned to bring the amended document back to the board for final consideration/adoption as the Florida guidelines at the next regular board meeting."
The FCA board's actions are in response to the Florida Health Care Reform law which requires practice parameters to be developed by each health care profession by the end of 1992 (please see "Mercy Guidelines Meet New Florida Law Mandate" in the September 1, 1992 issue). The new Florida law is model legislation that is being considered by a number of other states. This makes the situation in Florida a test for both the law and the chiropractic practitioners.
The date of the next FCA board meeting is October 22, 1992.
