Recent Grads Adjusting

I have an employee who is a recent graduate of an accredited chiropractic school and expects her license to be issued by the IDFPR very soon. Am I allowed to delegate adjustments to her as long as I remain on site? She will be working for me as a chiropractic physician as soon as her license is issued.

NO. This is an issue that is answered by the prevailing standard of care. Although the Medical Practice Act permits physicians to delegate certain tasks to qualified licensed and unlicensed employees, adjusting bony structures is an activity that, by standard of care, may only be performed by a licensed under the Medical Practice Act, i.e., a chiropractic, medical or osteopathic physician. Whether or not the supervising physician remains on site is irrelevant for this purpose. Therefore, you may not delegate this service to anyone other than an Illinois licensed physician; i.e., you must wait until your associate’s license is issued.

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