The Westin Hotel, Portland, OR

Participants

 Facilitated By Mary Rowe

The meeting opened with general introductions and the laying of "ground rules" for discussions. We all shared with the group our expectations of the meeting.

 
ACHIEVEMENTS / BENCHMARKS

 Upon listing many of the profession's "achievements" it became obvious that many of them couldn't be considered positive advancements of subluxation-centered chiropractic and the list was instead characterized as the profession's "benchmarks."  These included events and developments such as:

CHALLENGES

 The group then worked to identify the key challenges facing the profession as a whole and subluxation-centered chiropractic in particular. These challenges included:

These challenges were discussed and then grouped into five major issue areas: Scope; Context (External Environment); Internal Governance and Accountability; Research; and Professional Cohesion. Participants broke off into groups in order to examine each of these issues in more detail, set priorities, identify the "players" involved, and determine what steps might be undertaken to address them. Afterwards, each group gave a summary of its conclusion to the rest of the assembly.

 HIGHLIGHT: When the idea of "Philosophy Nights" was suggested as a way to promote subluxation-centered chiropractic, Laurent Goldstein, president of Brican Corp., offered to sponsor such meetings. 

TAKING ACTION 

By the next morning, Mary Rowe had miraculously managed to synthesize all of this input and develop a draft for the group's statement of purpose as well as a list of the five major tasks facing the group. The draft has evolved into the "Advancing Chiropractic: The Portland Project" paper and is undergoing final editing now.

 The five major tasks were:

 Communication: Make communication a priority by forming a broadly constituted Task Force charged with increasing awareness and understanding of the role of vertebral subluxation correction within and outside the profession. This will benefit the profession as a whole, reminding members of chiropractic’s roots and clarifying for consumers what makes chiropractic unique and how it differs from allopathic diagnosis and treatment.

 Research: Create a vertebral subluxation-centered research culture within the profession. This will involve equipping doctors of chiropractic to collect data on vertebral subluxation correction, supporting the development and application of subluxation-centered guidelines, encouraging practice-based health outcomes research, increasing subscriptions to subluxation-centered peer reviewed journals, and exploring ways to involve all stake holders -- students, practitioners, colleges, researchers -- in this process.

 Governance & accountability: Enhance the internal accountability of the profession by creating a network of active subluxation-centered practitioners who can monitor national and local regulatory agency actions, serve on licensing and regulatory boards, take leadership roles in professional organizations, host local leadership development workshops, and participate in inter- and intra-disciplinary forums.

 Remove non-chiropractic requirements: Initiate a targeted campaign to remove any adjunctive therapy as a mandatory requirement of chiropractic licensure in order to safeguard the right to practice for those who do not wish to include therapeutic approaches in their scope of practice.

 Model practice act: Develop a model chiropractic practice act that strengthens the legal status of subluxation-centered chiropractic, clarifies our scope of practice, and allows for differentiation from chiropractors wishing to obtain optional certification. 

To this was added one more undertaking:

 Mutual support: Assist vertebral subluxation-centered chiropractors to develop effective practices that meet patient needs, maintain the highest ethical standards and incorporate sound business and financial principles. This can be accomplished through mentoring programs, practice consultation, business training, and the development and provision of information and resources for chiropractors wishing to maintain a subluxation-centered practice. 

Each participant chose which issue or issues he or she was most interested in and once more broke off into individual task force groups to choose a coordinator and determine an outcome measurement, plan of action, and a timeline.

 TASK FORCES

 1) Communication

Members: Drs. Langley, Morgan, Reid, Rondberg, and Steve Simonetti* (leader: Morgan)

* not a participant 

2) Research

Members: Drs. Bellows, Blanks, Browning, Campanale, Kent, Koch, McCoy, Morgan, Pauli and Stenzler (leader: Blanks)

 3) Accountability

Members: Drs. Gutierrez, Kevorkian, Mikula, and Plummer (leader: Plummer) 

4) Licensure Requirements

Members: Drs. Brown, Decker, Kent, and Sinnott (leader: Brown)

 5) Model License Act

Members: Drs. Campanale, Kent, Koch, and Schubel (leader: Koch)

 6) Mutual Support

Members: Dr. Bellows, George, Rice, and Schubel, (leader: George)

 Some participants were unable to attend the final stages of the meeting and did not join the task forces. They are encouraged to become involved in at least one group and to contact that group's leader.

 Note: one-page summaries of the outcomes, plans and timelines were submitted by four of the task forces but are not included here since most consisted simply of rough notes and more time is needed by the members to discuss and formulate these points.