Board staff says licensing unit fully staffed, Connect upgrade back on track

The Board of Chiropractic Examiners Licensing Committee heard on Dec. 5 that the board’s licensing unit has been fully staffed since July 2025 and is pursuing system and process changes intended to speed application processing.

Miss Walker, a board staff member who presented the update, said the unit has focused on training and business process improvements and that ‘‘our licensing unit has been fully staffed now since, since July 2025.’’ She told the committee the team has reduced processing times for initial and renewal applications and will shift next year to project-based work supporting the Connect upgrade and other business-process improvements.

Why it matters: staffing and faster processing affect applicants and public access to licensed chiropractic care across California. Walker said the vendor is ready for the Connect upgrade and that DCA’s Office of Information Services is finalizing workflow documentation; staff anticipate about a six-month timeline for the upgrade once work begins.

Details: Walker said the board removed ‘‘about 300 to 400’’ obsolete items from its website and expects new consumer, applicant and licensee content by January, with a move to the state template targeted for March. She also outlined planned enhancements to support regulatory changes — including implementing new address and contact-information formatting approved by the Office of Administrative Law and effective Jan. 1 — and said staff will roll address/phone/email collection into the renewal process.

The committee discussed incomplete applications as a main driver of slower initial-application processing. Walker said many incompletes occur when applicants do not release NBCE scores or when transcripts are delayed; she recommended clearer web content, an in-application checklist and outreach to schools to reduce those backlogs. "We wanna try to use the web content to try to drive what you need before you start your application," Walker said.

Legislative and regulatory timetable: Walker flagged two legislative deadlines for 2026 — Jan. 16 for policy-committee action on fiscal bills and Jan. 31 for house passage — and identified SB 687 (animal chiropractic) as a bill that must clear committee by Jan. 16 and pass the Senate by Jan. 31 to survive. She also reported that OAL approved the board’s fee update (section 100 filing) and an addresses/contact-information regulation; staff expect to implement related Connect changes early next year.

What’s next: Staff will finalize Connect testing and messaging, continue outreach to schools and applicants to reduce incomplete submissions, and proceed with the planned website and Connect upgrades. The committee asked staff to produce additional metrics breaking licensee populations down by birth month and to track out‑of‑state licensee trends for future discussion.

The committee received the update; no formal vote was taken on the staffing or upgrade items.