On Nov. 3, 1998, the Council on Chiropractic Practice (CCP) was notified that its clinical practice guideline, the "Vertebral Subluxation in Chiropractic Practice," had been accepted for inclusion in the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC).

The NGC is a comprehensive electronic database administered by the Agency for Policy and Health Care Research (AHCPR) which allows access to accepted guidelines from various health care disciplines.

According to AHCPR Administrator John M. Eisenberg, M.D. the NGC offers major benefits over less sophisticated methods of guidelines retrieval. "With guideline summaries in a standardized format, this unique resource will allow users to compare and contrast guideline recommendations on similar topics. Ultimately, all of us will benefit from the availability of this information."

The Clearinghouse was developed in partnership with the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) to promote widespread access to guidelines.

"The relative explosion of scientific literature, combined with increasing demands on physician time, has created a pressing need to provide physicians with easier access to credible, peer-reviewed scientific information," said Yank D. Coble, M.D., AMA trustee and chair of the AMA's Practice Parameter Partnership.

To be accepted into the NGC, the CCP guideline had to meet a set of stringent inclusion criteria. Among these was the requirement that it produce documentation showing that a systematic literature search and review of existing scientific evidence published in peer reviewed journals was performed during the guideline development.

"This is an important 'first' for chiropractic," said CCP president Christopher Kent, D.C. "Our meticulous attention to sound methodology, including the opportunity for input by any D.C., has paid off. We now have nationally recognized guidelines for subluxation-based chiropractors."