We Get Letters & E-Mail

"When you change your mind, please let me know"

Dear Editor:

The following is a letter sent to the offices of Wal-Mart in reaction to "Largest Private Employer Axes Chiropractic," in your Nov. 30, 2002, issue. [For other responses to Wal-Mart's decision, please see We Get Letters & E-Mail in the Feb. 24, 2003, issue.]

I have purchased items from your stores over the past two decades. Approximately two years ago, we started buying our corporate items from your stores. Wal-Mart has always been very friendly to me, along with being convenient. As a member of the Chase Rewards Program, I actually picked your store over the past two years as the store of choice. (Chase provides a 5-percent discount on a monthly basis for items purchased at your Wal-Mart facilities.) I have enclosed a copy of a recent statement from my Chase card with the amount that has been redeemed to date. Since this represents 5 percent of purchases, you can easily calculate that I have spent over $30,000 at your stores over the last two years.

It was brought to my attention that you are no longer providing chiropractic benefits to your employees. This discourages me from shopping at your stores. We have four chiropractic offices and 27 employees. We have been in business since 1975 in Northeast Florida. One of our main philosophies is that we can only support the companies or individuals who support us; therefore, we will no longer be purchasing from your stores until such time that your policy changes.

I look forward to shopping at Wal-Mart again one day; when you change your mind [on this issue], please let me know. Copies of this letter will be sent to all the major chiropractic publications.

Thank you for your consideration.

Martin M. Monahan, DC
St. Augustine, Florida

Dear Editor:

The New Jersey Board of Chiropractic Examiners has requested that a letter be directed to your publication to clarify the actions taken by the board with respect to its approval of Life University after a site visit was conducted in November 2002. The action taken by this board has been mischaracterized as a "rebuke" of the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Chiropractic Education. This statement is wholly incorrect.

After the action taken by the CCE, and the concerns emanating therefrom, the board undertook this effort as its obligation under our statute, and on the advice of the attorney general. The site visit undertaken was not unlike those historically undertaken for the purposes of board approval at every chiropractic college in the United States. The board did not, in any way, shape or form, respond to political pressures or cave in to pressure from any outside sources. It acted under its statutory responsibilities.

New Jersey law (NJSA 45:41.6) reads, as follows, with respect to the process of approving chiropractic schools:

The board shall accept as an applicant for licensure as a chiropractor any individual who has graduated from a school, institution or college of chiropractic which was approved during the individual's entire course of study by the board, and accredited by the Council of Chiropractic Education, or the Straight Chiropractic Academic Standards Association, or other accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education.

The board, in approving a school, institution or college of chiropractic, shall consult with and take into consideration the standards suggested by the Council of Chiropractic Education, the Straight Chiropractic Academic Standards Association, or other accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education.

Board approval of a school, institution or college of chiropractic accredited by the Council of Chiropractic Education, the Straight Chiropractic Academic Standards Association, or other accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education shall be based upon the standards set forth below and may include an on site inspection (emphasis added).

The board was advised by the Attorney General that Life, while losing CCE accreditation, was required to maintain either CCE or SACS accreditation, at minimum, to maintain continued board approval. Nevertheless, it was further advised that it appeared that given the circumstances and concerns expressed by the CCE action, the board was obligated to conduct its own site visit to report on the situation as it existed in November 2002 (not April 2002, when the last CCE site visit occurred).

The site team's report evaluates the program based on conformance to the specific requirements set forth in New Jersey Statute (not CCE or SACS standards). The matter was considered at its December 2002 board meeting. Knowing the importance of their decision, board members traveled for several hours through a severe snowstorm to be there to consider the report.

Unfortunately, observers of the public-session discussion took quotations out of context and reported these to the chiropractic press. During the discussion, individuals who participated in the review process commented on the state of affairs at Life University in November 2002. Others may have expressed personal opinions with regard to the CCE action to require Life University to wait for two years before the CCE would consider an application for accreditation. The board, however, did not collectively comment on or address this issue and certainly did not "rebuke" the CCE.

The review process was articulated clearly in the site team's report. The report was approved unanimously by the board, and stands on its own merits. The board concluded that Life University, in November 2002, met the minimum statutory requirements to permit the board to consider Life University graduates for licensure in New Jersey. No further conclusion or inferences should be drawn from the board's action.

I trust this will give the chiropractic community a clear understanding of the circumstances of the process. Please be assured that the New Jersey Board of Chiropractic Examiners takes its statutory responsibilities seriously to "do the right thing" for the protection of the public, with the best interests of the entire profession at heart.

Brian Atkisson, DC
President, New Jersey Board of Chiropractic Examiners
Newark, New Jersey