NBCE accused of ‘dirty politics’

Badge unseated amid calls for reform

James Badge, DC, of Arizona, was unseated as District IV director to the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners’ (NBCE) Board of Directors at its Annual Board and State Delegates’ Meeting in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on May 7.

In his place, members of the organization chose Theodore J. Scott, DC, of Kaysville, Utah. As a result of his failure to hold onto a board position, Dr. Badge also was forced to surrender his position as president of the NBCE to Dr. Peter Ferguson.

The results of the election appeared to stun many NBCE members and chiropractic observers, although it came as welcome news to critics of the controversial Arizona doctor. His opponent in the race was running on a reform platform, and had voiced concerns over the lack of financial responsibility on the part of the NBCE in the past. The NBCE has refused to provide records of its financial dealings, including payments made to board members.

In a keynote speech given during the meeting, David Brown, DC, the mayor of Charlottesville, Va., who has served as president of the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) and on the NBCE board, shocked the audience by noting that, “the dirtiest, the most underhanded politics I have ever experienced have occurred here, at the annual FCLB and NBCE meeting.”

He added: "I am talking about misinformation, untruths and backroom deal-making that have regularly occurred in our elections, especially national board elections.” He noted that the tactics used during the two organizations’ elections are “unethical” and asked "why do the best and brightest of our profession ­ who oversee the ethics of the profession become so cutthroat at times when it comes to winning a National Board election?"

Like Dr. Scott, he alluded to financial irregularities, including “excessive spending on the board, especially on travel by the leadership of the board,” and revealed that the NBCE’s travel budget in the year 2000 was more than a half million dollars. “I have been told that travel by the current leadership of the National Board is as great or greater than it has ever been,” he noted.

In addition, he stated that each NBCE board member received more than $3,000 in per diem payments for the meeting and urged state board representatives to “ask the NBCE leadership what their 1099s from the National Board were this year.”

This is not the first time that the NBCE’s financial dealings have been called into question. In 1997, the World Congress of Chiropractic Students (WCCS), expressed disapproval over a controversial funding arrangement between the NBCE and the FCLB.

The WCCS is an international organization representing more than 17,000 future doctors of chiropractic. They meet annually to discuss issues concerning the chiropractic community, especially as it pertains to students.

“We as students find it unjust for the NBCE, a not-for-profit testing organization, to financially support the FCLB,” stated Dana Kind, 1997 chairperson of the WCCS. He referred to page 17 of the FCLB’s “1995 Annual Report and Member Handbook,” which explained that, “The FCLB is currently financially solvent, with much credit due to a generous operating grant provided by the NBCE.”

That same book also revealed that 46% of the operating costs of the FCLB come from the National Board. The report went on to say, “The NBCE contribution has stabilized our finances considerably ...”

The students opposed using testing fees to fund the FCLB, which would be financially insolvent without the outside money. “Testing fees derived from the administration of National Board exams should only be used for NBCE-related operating costs, i.e., recuperation of expenses of test preparation and administration,” noted Kind. “It is unacceptable for the NBCE to give $500,000 to the FCLB and claim to be a not-for-profit organization.”

Kind added that, “It is a further conflict of interest for NBCE to be giving money to FCLB, which has influence over state boards accepting National Board Examinations, which NBCE administers… NBCE gets more test money from the increase of students taking exams, and shares a portion with FCLB -- the very organization that favors state boards to have students take these exams. For NBCE to be an effective testing agency, they must be independent of outside influence.”

At the recent NBCE meeting, Badge -- in one of his final official acts as president -- presented a check for $250,000 to the FCLB for 2005 operating expenses.

The relationship between the NBCE and FCLB -- often deemed ‘incestuous’ by critics -- has also been the subject of much discussion within the profession.

In 1997, the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) called for an investigation of the NBCE’s ties with the FCLB. In an “Open Letter to the NBCE,” it stated that it “calls for the complete severance of financial relations between the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners and the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards. The blatant conflict of interest inherent in this relationship has troubled a broad segment of the chiropractic profession, including the ICA, for many years. For a vendor marketing testing services to dominate and fund an organization comprised of the consumers of those testing services is, on its face, inappropriate. That the FCLB has worked so aggressively to promote the power, reach and revenue of the National Board is clear evidence of the need to separate those organizations for the greater good of the chiropractic profession.”

The ICA also reviewed NBCE’s public financial records and revealed that the organization had grown into a huge entity, with millions of dollars in assets and more than $1 million in annual profits. “ICA estimates that the National Board has added over $50 million to the student debt burden over the past 12 to 14 years,” stated then ICA President Dr. Robert Hoffman. “In light of what we know about the financial strength of the National Board, the fees they charge and the delays they cause in obtaining licensure are indefensible and must be reformed.”

In an 2002 article titled, “Is There an Alliance Between the FCLB & the NBCE?” for the ICA’s “Chiropractic Choice” newsletter, Maxine McMullen, DC, then ICA vice president, warned that FCLB -- supported by the NBCE -- was “indeed engaged in serious discussions regarding the accreditation of a program that would evaluate all hours of continuing education that would be deemed ‘acceptable’ to qualify for your re-licensure credits.”

Obviously, reforms are needed and wanted, even by many NBCE board members. Whether those reforms will occur will depend on the influence that Scott and his supports have on the organization or whether Dr. Ferguson will work for change or for the status quo. After the election, he noted that his goal was to “continue building upon Dr. Badge’s work over this past year and to also build upon the work that I accomplished during my previous tenure as president. I am dedicated to the continual pursuit of reducing expenses of the Board and increasing communication with the delegates, alternate delegates, state board members, chiropractic colleges and students and the chiropractic profession.”