Variables Affecting Standards

The areas effecting standards as reviewed by the Board are as follows: educational attainments of candidates, the relevant work experience of each, candidate, prerequisites needed before testing, individual histories of any felonies or convictions of past or present, individuals' examination performance and requirements, review and verification of licensure, practice requirements in order to perform rehabilitation, and continual competency efforts to reinsure the public's trust.

Candidates

Are defined as individuals attending in any 100hr of a Board/College approved rehabilitation certification program.

Applicants

Are defined as Chiropractors that have completed at least 100hr of a Board/College approved rehabilitation certification program and wishing to sit for ACRB testing for a level provider and/or diplomate. They must fulfilled Variable Affecting Standards and all of the following requirements:

The applicants must show completion at least 100 hrs Board approved rehabilitation module hours for each individual level that they are Appling for via an official transcript for the educational institution.

Testing

The standards of the test will be based on a psychometric process. The task analysis of Rehabilitation performed in Chiropractic is developed via a consensus study.

The topics are based upon the results of the current consensus study. A criteria‑referenced syllabus will be generated by the College based on these topics. The Board will utilize the consensus study topics and percentage per topic area to drive weighting of the generation of exams. The items on all four (4) exams are formatted from the criteria‑referenced content material which are topic related to all participating in the program.

The test items are formatted for multiple choice for the ACRB Level I, II, and III exams only. Each item has a question, an answer, and three (3) distracters. The test may be administered by a Board designated computer accessed system and/or hard copy. With computerized formats, the administrators of the test are hired by the Board as professionals in the areas of testing and compilation. All items are grouped in topic sets on the form. This is done for easy equating, reporting, and item tracking for good and poor responses. On hard copy formats, a Board officers will perform the above tasks.

Each written test has one hundred (100) items. The time, from beginning to end on each one hundred (100) item test is two (2) hours and this serves as part of the equating aspect for each candidate. At this time, the one hundred (100) items test format is sufficient to demonstrate competency of the topic material.

The first 100 hr educational material and requirements is based upon the consensus study and the College determined syllabus. The successful applicant upon completion of the first 100 hr test with a passing grade determined by the cut score will be designated "ACRB Level I" registered.

The second 100 hrs educational material and requirements is based upon the consensus study and the College determined syllabus. The successful applicant upon completion of the second 100 hr test with a passing grade determined by the cut score and having been designated "ACRB Level I" registered will be designated "ACRB Level II" registered.

The third 100 hrs educational material and requirements is based upon the consensus study and the College determined syllabus. The successful applicant upon completion of the third 100 hr test with a passing grade determined by the cut score and having been designated "ACRB Level II" registered will be designated "ACRB Level III" registered.

Applicants having successful completed with ACRB Level I, II, and III with level III status are eligible to sit for the non-written oral practical exam.

Once the applicant has successfully passed the non-written oral practical examination based on the cut score and has the appropriate Board approved documentation for at least “accepted for publication with out revision” by a Board/College approved peer review journal they will have achieved a level of Diplomate and can use the designation "Diplomate American Chiropractic Rehabilitation Board (DACRB)".

The non-written oral practical examination will consist of an evaluation of the a candidate by designated Board testers based on the candidate’s clinical documents along with their ability to demonstrate reason and rational in use of this paper documents in the design, demonstrate and explanation of a treatment plan per a designated clinical case study given by the tester and their ability to make progressive clinical decision in all phases of rehabilitative care based on treatment plan outcomes with final instruction.

Practice

Since rehabilitation is a domain of Chiropractic, candidates, applicants, ACRB Level providers and diplomates cannot practice this domain of Chiropractic without a state Chiropractic license. The Board can grant special exemption to this for ACRB Level providers and diplomates who practice/administer rehabilitation outside the practice of Chiropractic as define by state and/or provincial statutes or law.

Registration & Re‑certification

The ACRB must guarantee a minimum competency of all ACRB certified levels 1, 2, 3 and diplomates chiropractic rehabilitation doctors to protect the public. To accomplish this recertification will be required to perform on a yearly basis. This process will take the place of all ACRB and ACCRS continuing education requirements.

Recertifying will consist of an ACRB level or diplomate rehabilitation doctor paying the ACRB predetermined annual dues in the spring of each year. Once dues are received by the ACRB office an access code and multiple choice questions will be sent to the doctor both to be used in the recertification process. The access code will allow the doctor the ability to gain access to the recertification articles posted on the acrb.org website. These recertification articles will reflect specific rehabilitation trends and clinical approaches. Once the articles have been reviewed the multiple choice questions pertaining to the posted articles must be completed and the doctor’s answers sent back to the ACRB home office for grading. A score of at least 75% must be obtained on the multiple choice questions. Once all of these steps have been accomplished the doctor will have completed their yearly recertification requirement. The ACRB will contact those doctors that do not meet the 75% cut score. Doctors that do not perform these activities may potentially be dropped from the registry.

Starting January 1, 2003 an ACRB predetermined annual fee will be utilized to cover both ACRB and ACCRS dues and will be used by both organizations for budgetary concerns.

Doctors that do not complete their recertification before October 1, of the missed year will have the opportunity to maintain active status on the registry by successful completion of that year’s recertification questions along with next year’s recertification questions. Dues for that year will be the equivalent of two annual dues along with an ACRB predetermined reinstatement fee. A score of at least 75% must be obtained on each of the multiple choice questions.

If the rehabilitation doctor misses two consecutive recertification years (October 1 deadline) a 100 question multiple choice written exam and an oral practical exam must be successfully completed with a cut score of 75% on each along with submitting an ACRB predetermined reinstatement fee.

If a doctor does not meet the required 75% cut score on the submitted answers to the test questions they will be notified by the ACRB home office and be required to accomplish the same amount of multiple choice questions on the same articles and submit their answers to the ACRB home office by a December 15 deadline. A score of at least 75% is needed on this second set of questions for successful completion of this requirement. Doctor’s that do not meeting either the deadline or successful makes the 75% cut score on the follow-up questions will loss active status.

If they wish to regain active status their case will be reviewed by the ACRB officers on a case by case basis.

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