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Orange County Chiropractic District
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Memorandum
to: ACA Board of Governors, House of Delegates and other interested parties In
this report:
NEW
LEADERSHIP ELECTED AT HOD As I have mentioned previously, the ACA held its annual meeting during the last week of August at the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida. As is customary, the ACA elected its new officers during the meeting. The results are as follows:
ACA
FILES SUMMARY JUDGEMENT IN LAWSUIT AGAINST THE FEDS ACA
legal counsel George McAndrews has filed a summary judgment with the court in
our lawsuit against HCFA and HHS. It
is a remarkable document that lays out in detail our arguments supporting our
case, particularly that Congress intended only chiropractic doctors to be
reimbursed under Medicare for manual manipulation of the spine to correct a
subluxation. It includes citations and documents that I had never even seen
before. I would strongly recommend
that you review it. It is available
on our Web site at: http://www.acatoday.com/lawsuit_info/ I
asked Mr. Tom Daly, ACA counsel, to briefly describe the purpose of a summary
judgment and to explain what may happen next in the suit.
Here was his response: Rule
56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits any party in an action to
move for summary judgment when the party believes that there is no genuine issue
of fact at issue and the party is entitled to prevail as a matter of law.
The court may rule on such a motion and expedite the case to a conclusion
if it believes that there is no dispute as to the material facts at issue and it
is only a matter of the Court applying the law to the undisputed facts.
Both the government and ACA have filed a Motion for Summary Judgment.
Both sides have argued the facts and the applicable law. Such motions are
common in federal civil proceedings, however it is not common for a Court to
grant Summary Judgment to one party or another.
If the Court denies both motions the case will proceed to trial where
both the facts and the law will be argued in more detail. There is no way to
determine how long the Court may take in ruling upon the Motions for Summary
Judgment. SIGNIFICANT
LAWSUIT CONTRIBUTIONS Mr.
George McAndrews made an excellent presentation to the House of Delegates as he
updated them on the developments of our lawsuit. Following the
presentation, the following parties offered financial contributions: Dr. Terry
Webb (Hutchinson, KS) contributed $2,500 in honor of Dr. Daryl Wills, ACA's new president; Dr. Kenneth Luedtke
(Madison, WI) contributed $3,000; Dr. Wayne Wolfson (Orlando, FL) contributed
$1,000; the Georgia Chiropractic Association, through ACA delegate Dr. John
Dull, contributed $2,000 (bringing its total to $3,000), and pledged an
additional $8,500; the Northern Illinois Chiropractic Society contributed
$1,500, through ACA delegate Dr. Lawrence Pyzik, bringing its total $3,600; and
Dr. John Gentile, ACA delegate to Florida, presented a check for $1,000 on
behalf of Quality Managed Health Care, Inc.
Please make your contribution to the National Chiropractic Legal Action
Fund today. ACA,
ICA, WCA AND ACC AGREE TO SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE REGARDING CHIROPRACTIC INCLUSION
IN THE VA SYSTEM Undoubtedly,
the worse nightmare for the bureaucrats from the Veterans Administration, who
had learned to use our differences to their advantage, came true.
The representatives of the American Chiropractic Association,
International Chiropractic Association, World Chiropractic Alliance and the
Association of Chiropractic Colleges agreed to language for the implementation
of chiropractic into the Veterans Administration.
Now all the major chiropractic groups will speak with one voice
when presenting our case to Congress. ACA
LEADERSHIP SHOWS ITS DEFIANCE OF TERRORISM The
ACA chairman James Edwards, DC, showed his defiance of the actions of the
terrorists by boarding a plan last Friday and traveling to Dallas, Texas, to
speak to the attendees of the Kats Management seminar regarding ACA activities.
Although not traveling by plane, ACA president Daryl Wills, DC, showed
his defiance by traveling to Colorado and speaking to the attendees of the
Colorado Chiropractic Association convention. Also showing their defiance were
the McClellands. Dr McClelland , 3rd member of the ACA Executive Committee
traveled to North Carolina to speak before the doctors attending the convention
of the North Carolina Chiropractic Association.
Joining him was his wife, Susan, who taught a Coding program The best way
to beat the terrorists is to continue to do what we do best, and by supporting
the Red Cross. Our leaders are
leading by example. DOD
RELEASES REPORT TO CONGRESS The
long awaited report from the DoD Secretary to Congress regarding the
implementation of chiropractic into the military over a five-year period was
released to the Hill. Our
preliminary review of the document indicates that it follows the recommendations
of the Chiropractic Oversight Committee including full scope and guaranteed
access to our doctors. We are
continuing in our efforts to expedite the implementation of the program by
seeking an additional nine million dollars above the six million dollars that is
already in the president's budget. FIRST
COMMISSIONED OFFICER INTO THE MILITARY SYSTEM The
ink on the DoD report is still not dry, but the ACA is pleased to report the
first commissioning of a doctor of chiropractic. Dr. Floyd Miller received a commission at the rank of Captain
(03), as a chiropractor, on July 23, 2001 in the New York National Guard.
Dr. Miller served in the Air Force in 1974 and worked as a weapons
control system mechanic on F-4's. In
1983, Dr. Miller took advantage of the GI Bill to attend chiropractic college.
Please join the ACA in congratulating Dr. Miller on his commission.
Late breaking news: Dr Miller has just been placed on Active Duty. ACA
ASSISTS THE ALABAMA ASSOCIATION At
the request of the Alabama Chiropractic Association, the ACA sent a letter in
response to the position taken by the Alabama Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the
Alabama Workers' Compensation Board that based several of their chiropractic
coverage policies on Medicare regulations and guidelines.
This letter was intended to clarify that Medicare definition, and to
clarify that limitations on chiropractic are for federal Medicare reimbursement
purposes only and should in no manner affect the state license practice rights
of our doctors. ACA
TO MEET WITH UNITED HEALTH CORPORATION A
meeting between UHC and ACA has been scheduled for Tuesday, October 16th. So
far, the only known representative from UHC is Bruno Piquin, vice president of
operations. His assistant says
there will probably be at least 1-2 more representatives in attendance.
This has not yet been confirmed, however.
Pat Jackson and Drs. Gentile and Krippendorf will represent the ACA.
The topic of discussion will be the global fee situation, and Pat will
invite UHC to discuss any chiropractic concerns they may have. AMA
CANCELS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CHAMBER AMA
terminated a more than half-century-old relationship with the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce after they opposed the Patients' Bill of Rights.
They are a little late in learning of the Chamber's pro-managed care
sentiment. ACA dropped its membership, which included a seat on the Chamber's
Health Policy Committee, three years ago when the Chamber opposed the PARCA
Coalition's manage care reform bill sponsored by Congressman Norwood. PAIN
MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE The
ACA opened a booth at the exhibit hall of the American Academy of Pain
Management's 12th annual clinical meeting from September 6-9 in Arlington, VA,
in support of Dr. Chester Wilk, who received an award and gave a presentation at
the meeting. His speech was titled
"Politics and the Role of Chiropractic." In addition to selling
several copies of Dr. Wilk's book,
ACA staff took advantage of the opportunity to talk with health care providers
of all stripes and to hand out promotional chiropractic materials. |
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