Southern California University Cheers The Passage Of The Lowenthal Bus Drivers Bill By The State Of California

WHITTIER, Calif., Sept. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU), the nation's leading post-graduate college for chiropractic, acupuncture and oriental medicine, celebrates the passage of the new Lowenthal Bus Drivers Bill, Assembly Bill 722. Authored by Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) and signed into law last week by California Governor Jerry Brown, AB 722 permits registered certified chiropractors within California to perform medical evaluations as part of the required certification process for all school bus, youth bus, school pupil activity bus, general paratransit, and farm labor vehicle bus drivers within the state. SCU and the California Chiropractic Association (CCA) co-sponsored Assembly Bill 722.

While federal law permits doctors of chiropractic to perform these exams for all drivers, until now California law only allowed chiropractors to perform physical exams for school bus drivers over the age of 65. AB 722 ends this discrepancy and allows California chiropractors who are certified under federal regulations to perform the exams for all drivers, improving access to qualified providers for the thousands of bus drivers in the state.

"To comply with federal regulations, we're going to need thousands of certified examiners in California alone," said Lowenthal, Chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee. "AB 722 will help fill the gap, allowing bus drivers better access to trained and qualified medical examiners in communities across the state."

Additional information on AB 722 is also available on Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal's web page at: http://www.asmdc.org/members/a70/press-releases/lowenthal-bus-driver-bill-signed-by-governor.

"SCU was committed to Lowenthal's Bus Drivers Bill from its very inception and we see its passage as part of SCU's ongoing commitment to play a leadership role in chiropractic, protect our scope of practice, and extol its application for a variety of critical needs at the local, state and national level," says Southern California University of Health Sciences President Dr. John Scaringe. "We were honored to work closely with the Asm. Bonnie Lowenthal, the California Chiropractic Association (CCA) and Deborah Mattos of Mattos & Associates, who lobbied tirelessly for the passage of this important law. Chiropractors are eminently qualified to perform these examinations and evaluate all commercial vehicle operators. The Lowenthal Bus Driver Bill is an important milestone in the efficacy of chiropractic in healthcare."

"It has been a great pleasure to work on this important new law which clarifies and protects the scope of practice for chiropractors," says Deborah Mattos, President and Founder of Mattos & Associates. "Throughout the past 10 years, SCU's Board of Regents, Presidents, faculty, students, alumni and various chiropractic supporters were a tremendous and necessary part of our success. With everyone's support, we were able to achieve this important stepping stone for DCs by allowing them a stronger presence in the health care field." 

This law is significant because of the large numbers of school, public transit, private coach operators, and other commercial drivers license holders that travel state roads every day, and the ability for these individuals to receive their required medical examination from an even wider range of certified chiropractic practitioners with increased scheduling flexibility and often at lower cost than traditional medical providers.

The Lowenthal Bus Drivers Bill is the fruition of a decade-long campaign, led by SCU and the CCA, to make it possible for board-certified chiropractors to perform medical exams for DMV certifications. The law's passage is also timely because the U.S. Department of Transportation, beginning on May 21, 2014, will require all providers performing such examinations to pass a certification test in order to be placed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners. Only providers on the Registry will be allowed to perform these examinations.

About The Southern California University of Health Sciences
For over a century, SCU has trained men and women for successful and significant careers in patient care. SCU is located on a beautiful 25-acre campus located in Whittier, California, about 20 miles Southeast of Los Angeles and on the border of Orange County. Students enjoy a quiet suburban atmosphere and the advantages of being near a large city. The school offers a dual degree program in Chiropractic and Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and was one of the first to be accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) and the only dual program accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). SCU offers a Diagnostic Imaging residency program, a Chiropractic Sports Medicine residency program, and is also the only school of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine to offer an on-campus anatomy lab, radiology lab and extensive hands-on experience. For information on the Southern California University of Health Sciences, please visit: http://www.scuhs.edu.

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SOURCE Southern California University of Health Sciences