Chiropractic physicians in Illinois enjoy one of the broadest scopes of practice in the country. However, D.C.s sometimes encounter a lack of understanding or outright misinformation as to procedures they are authorized to perform especially diagnostic procedures. This can arise in the form of a health insurer refusing to reimburse for a particular test or treatment, or a health facility refusing to perform the testing (such as blood testing), because of a misapprehension as to the scope of chiropractic medicine in this state. The following review of legal authority in Illinois might be useful to you if an insurance company or lab ever questions your scope of practice.
Doctors of chiropractic in this state have for years been licensed under and regulated by the same Medical Practice Act (today codified at 225 ILCS 60/1 et seq.) as allopathic and osteopathic physicians, creating two categories of physician under one Act: one that may practice medicine in all of its branches (allopathic and osteopathic physicians) and one that may practice any method of diagnosing and treating human ailments without the use of prescription drugs or operative surgery (chiropractic physicians). The 1924 Illinois Supreme Court case of People v. Witte, 315 Ill.282, still good law, recognized that "there is no distinction between the two classes of practitioners as to the diseases which they may treat."
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