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Board enforcement staff report backlog down, audits to increase in 2025
Summary
Staff told the Board of Chiropractic Examiners Enforcement Committee on Dec. 19 that pending complaints and disciplinary caseloads have declined as the unit adds investigators, but continuing-education audits scheduled for 2025 may temporarily raise enforcement caseloads.
The Board of Chiropractic Examiners Enforcement Committee was told Dec. 19 that the board’s enforcement unit now has 355 pending complaints and 47 pending disciplinary cases as staff ramp up continuing-education audits for 2025.
The update, delivered by Ms. Walker, enforcement staff, said the pending-complaint count has declined from summer levels and that the unit now employs three full-time special investigators. “They've been doing quite well,” Walker said, briefing the committee on staffing and workload. She said staff expect continuing-education (CE) audits to increase board-initiated enforcement cases next fiscal year but do not expect the audits to substantially slow case throughput.
Walker reviewed performance targets and timelines: active investigations are being routed toward a target average of 120 days — roughly 90 days for investigation plus 30 days for expert review — while acknowledging that complex matters may take six months to a year. She said the office plans to separate active investigation time from inactive case-management time in its reporting, noting that matters such as pending criminal matters can remain inactive for years until an outside process completes.
Committee members asked for context on whether the decline will continue and on typical case timelines. Walker said annual complaint volume generally ranges from 500 to 700 new complaints; pending caseload around 250 would be a longer-term target. “We generally tend to as far as complaints received every fiscal year, we're generally between 500 to 700,” Walker said, adding that a healthy pending caseload would be closer to 250.
Walker also flagged operational items that could affect enforcement figures in 2025: increased CE audits, work related to the 2026 sunset review, and the need to refine reporting metrics that separate active investigation work from inactive holds. The committee did not take any formal action on the update.
The committee briefly discussed scheduling and national travel approvals: staff are seeking approvals for the board to send two representatives to FCLB and NBCE events in 2025, and tentative board meeting dates in February were discussed.
