Arizona Administrative Code: Board Rules, Standards of Practice, and Recordkeeping
Where the rules live
The Administrative Code translates the Practice Act into daily obligations. Candidates should know the categories of Board rules: licensure and renewal mechanics, standards of practice, recordkeeping, sanitation and equipment, advertising, and disciplinary procedure. Questions often ask which rule governs a fact pattern, so learn the categories rather than memorizing isolated numbers.
Standards of practice
Expect rules on patient evaluation before care, informed consent, appropriate use of diagnostic measures, and referral when a condition is beyond chiropractic scope. A recurring theme is documentation supporting the clinical decision: the record should show the history, examination findings, diagnosis or clinical impression, the care plan, and the patient's response to care. Sanitation, equipment maintenance, and safe practice environment requirements are also fair game.
Recordkeeping
Records must be legible, contemporaneous, and retained for the period the Board requires; they must identify the patient, date of service, services rendered, and the treating licensee. Traps include assuming records may be destroyed immediately on closure of a practice, believing records belong solely to the practitioner (patients have rights of access), and forgetting that incomplete records can themselves be the basis of discipline even when care was adequate.
Worked example
A complaint alleges poor care, but the chart contains only a billing sheet. Rule of thumb: when documentation is missing, treat the record as the evidence. The Board evaluates whether the licensee can demonstrate an evaluation, a rationale, and a plan; absent that, the deficiency is a records violation independent of clinical quality.
Question traps
Distinguish "shall" from "should"; rules using mandatory language create enforceable duties. Also separate federal privacy law from state recordkeeping duties; both can apply, and a question may test only the state rule.