The right of a physician to employ physical therapists was a hot issue in the Senate last week. On Thursday morning in a packed hearing room, S.1031 (Hayes) was amended by the chiropractic lobby and passed out of a Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee. The amendment is part of a long-term plan for chiropractors to be granted physician status under state law and eventually could have provided a loophole allowing physical therapists to circumvent medical doctors by working in collaboration with chiropractors.

In the full Senate Medical Affairs Committee meeting immediately following the subcommittee hearing, the SCMA and the SC Academy of Family Physicians were successful by working quickly to have the chiropractors' amendment stripped off of S.1031. The full committee passed the bill, unamended, by a vote of 11-4 out to the Senate floor.

Senator Ralph Anderson (Greenville) did place a minority report on the legislation, making it more difficult to get to a debate on the bill unless the body votes to set it for Special Order.
The debate on the issue continues in the House this week, as a House 3M subcommittee holds its second hearing on the House companion bill, H.4329.