Stand Tall for Chiropractic

Many doctors of chiropractic work with families to identify and manage food allergies and sensitivities as part of their ongoing care, yet they’re currently barred from signing the forms schools require to modify a child’s meal plan. This means a parent who has already discussed and documented an allergy with their chiropractor must find a second provider to sign off on information their own doctor already confirmed. That duplication doesn’t make students safer, it just adds friction and cost to a process that should be straightforward for parents who are simply trying to keep their child safe at school.

Doctors of chiropractic already evaluate and manage concussions as part of their existing scope of practice, and many serve as team doctors for school athletic programs across Kansas. The problem isn’t what DCs are allowed to do clinically; it’s that current law prevents them from signing the return-to-play clearance form once that evaluation is complete. A licensed healthcare provider who is qualified to assess and treat a young athlete’s concussion should not be blocked from certifying the outcome of that same assessment. When a family is sent to a second provider solely to sign a form confirming what their chiropractor already determined, it delays the athlete’s return to activity and adds an unnecessary cost for no clinical benefit.

Chiropractors routinely conduct the kind of health assessments preschools and daycare centers require for enrollment, evaluating a child’s general health and readiness within their licensed scope of practice. What’s missing isn’t clinical capability; it’s the legal authority to sign the enrollment form itself. This forces parents who already trust their chiropractor as their child’s healthcare provider to schedule a separate appointment with another provider just to duplicate an assessment that has already been done. That’s lost time, extra cost, and an added barrier for families.