Texas chiropractors argue scope-of-practice

The Texas Medical Association (TMA) and the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners (TBCE) will continue a court battle over whether or not Texas chiropractors will be allowed to perform a diagnostic procedure called Technological Instrumented Vestibular-Ocular-Nystagmus Testing (VONT). Although a district court previously ruled that chiropractors cannot perform VONT because it is beyond their scope of practice, the court of appeals reversed the decision in November 2012, noting that VONT must be clearly defined before a final ruling is made.

TMA claims that VONT is used to diagnose problems of the brain, inner ears, or eyes, which would expand chiropractors’ scope of practice into the practice of medicine. But the TBCE claims that VONT is used to “evaluate posture and/or joint positional controls relating to involuntary eye movements” and say that the procedure can be used to analyze disorders associated with the musculoskeletal system, which would mean it falls under chiropractors’ scope of practice under Texas law. The trial court will make the final determination in the case.