Ohio ACEP' s President, Dr. John Lyman, expressed appreciation today that Governor Kasich used his line-item veto authority Sunday to remove language from HB 59, the state’s biennial budget bill, that would have allowed chiropractors to return student athletes to play after showing signs of concussion without consulting a physician. The veto protects the safety of Ohio's student athletes.
Ohio ACEP acted as part of a collaborative team that requested the line-item veto, noting that expanding the scope of practice for chiropractors would have been ill-advised and would have undermined the hard work by legislators on both sides of the aisle, youth sports officials, healthcare providers and other interested parties that went into passing HB 143 with near-unanimous support last year. This bill, known as Ohio’s Return-to-Play Law, established requirements by which youth athletes are permitted to return to play after suffering a suspected concussion, including the requirement that youth athletes receive written clearance by a physician or other authorized health care provider.