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Orange County Chiropractic District
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Memorandum to: ACA Members, Board of Governors, House of
Delegates and Other Interested Parties 1. TRIGON CASE CONTINUES TO HEAT UP 1. TRIGON CASE CONTINUES TO HEAT UP The discovery phase of the lawsuit is at a critical junction. It appears that Trigon and the Medical Society of Virginia have strenuously objected to and refrained from producing what we feel are highly relevant documents. After exhausting the normal efforts to reach an agreement with these organizations, we have filed various motions before United States District Court Judge James P. Jones. These motions ask the court to resolve the matters, since most of them go to the very core of the alleged conspiracy between Trigon and the medical physician community to harm doctors of chiropractic and their patients, and to correspondingly benefit medical physicians. Final decisions from the court in this matter can be expected within the next 3 to 6 weeks. In the meantime, sworn testimony from the plaintiff chiropractors, as well as from other individuals from Trigon who are expected to be knowledgeable about the events, is going forward. As soon as all discovery is complete, the plaintiffs will ask the court for a trial date. 2. NORTH DAKOTA ASSOCIATION COMES THROUGH Once again a small Midwestern chiropractic association comes through with a major contribution for the lawsuit. The North Dakota Chiropractic Association submitted a check for $10,000, bringing its total contribution to $40,005. With a total of only 142 members, the North Dakota Chiropractic Association is certainly carrying its load. In fact, the entire state of North Dakota holds only 210 doctors of chiropractic. If you combine the contributions of the North Dakota and South Dakota associations, you come up with $100,005! 3. CANADIAN INQUEST UPDATE: NEUROLOGIST CAN'T REMEMBER PREPARING REPORT Surprising revelations continue in the Canadian inquest, and things continue to go well for the chiropractic profession, according to the Canadian Chiropractic Association (CCA). Last week, Dr. John Norris, immediate past chair of the Canadian Stroke Consortium and a practicing neurologist admitted during testimony that he could not remember preparing a medical/legal report in January 2001 that connected 45-year-old Lana Dale Lewis' stroke to a chiropractic adjustment. (If Dr. Norris' name sounds familiar to you, there's a good reason. In February, he headed up the group of neurologists that presented the outrageous "Chiropractic Stroke in Canada" study during an American Stroke Association conference in San Antonio, TX.) "Even when presented with his own report bearing his signature, Dr. Norris had difficulty remembering preparing such a report," the CCA wrote in a May 17 news release. "Moreover, Dr. Norris stated that he could not remember what information he had used on which to base his opinion that Ms. Lewis' stroke may have been precipitated by a neck adjustment." Surprisingly, Dr. Norris admitted that he had no knowledge of Ms. Lewis' medical history and had never even reviewed her medical records before writing his opinion. Dr. Norris was also questioned about his participation in a November 1999 news conference organized by the Lewis family during which they announced their $12 million lawsuit. He had been invited to participate by Dr. Murray Katz, whose name is even more familiar to the chiropractic profession and whom even Dr. Norris characterized as a "crusader against chiropractic." When asked why he participated in the news conference, despite knowing Dr. Katz' history of unfair attacks on the chiropractic profession, Dr. Norris replied that Dr. Katz was "a friend." He did, however, admit that he doesn't share Dr. Katz' views toward the profession. While Dr. Norris testified that he doesn't refer patients to chiropractors, he did admit that patients have told him they "feel better" after chiropractic treatment. The inquest will resume on May 21, but Dr. Norris will not take the stand again until June 3. 4.. ACA HELPS NEW JERSEY In 1998, the ACA vigorously opposed a regulation in New Jersey to limit provider reimbursement to an arbitrary fee schedule for personal injury insurance. EVP Gary Cuneo testified with ACA Government Relations staff against the regulation at an open hearing. Pressures from Governor Christine Whitman to control the cost of auto insurance premiums in the state allowed insurers to prevail. Now regulators come forward with an even more limiting proposal that targets the chiropractic profession. ACA goes on record to oppose this ridiculous discrimination by pointing out flaws in the original data used to calculate the fee schedule that artificially lowered MD data and inappropriately inflated DC charge data. Pat Jackson, ACA's Vice President of Professional Development and Research, worked for the company that submitted the wrongful data, and recently in a letter to New Jersey officials highlighted the absence of hospitalization and pharmaceutical costs to the Department of Banking and Insurance while challenging the diagnosis and code discrimination in the current proposed regulation. It is our contention that in addition to abandoning the discriminatory stance, insurers should not seek regulatory fixes to claim severity conditions because they lack the proper training and skills to evaluate chiropractic bills and coding. While ACA will help the department in problem solving on this issue, we stand strong on opposing any limiting regulation on fees. 5.. FOCUS GROUP HELPS SHARPEN MESSAGE ON LEGAL ACTION The National Chiropractic Legal Action Committee is responsible for coordinating the fundraising campaign for the lawsuit. The committee includes: Drs. Mike Flynn (Whip/Chair), George McClelland, James Edwards, Daryl Wills, Mario Spoto, Kenneth Luedtke, Doug Cox, Dick Thompson, Howard Fidler, Glenn Manceux, Kevin Donovan, Edward McKenzie and Kent Greenawalt. As a way to determine the effectiveness of our efforts thus far, the committee authorized a focus group of doctors in the field. On Thursday evening, twelve doctors representing a cross section of the profession from throughout the country, met via conference call with Rick Miller, Leigh-Anne Perialas and me for two hours. We asked them a series of questions to determine the effectiveness of our campaign and suggestions on improving it. We learned a lot. While we need to do a better job in communicating the impact of our suits and about how the legal funds are being spent, the good news is that once doctors understand the importance of the suits, there is little trouble in getting them to contribute. Included on the call were the following: John De Camp (Nebraska) and Drs. Bill Watkinson (Rhode Island); Mark Kruse (Louisiana), Jerry DeGrado (Kansas); Steven Perman (Florida); Glenn Heese (Kansas); Jerry Willis (Virginia); Bill Matura (Pennsylvania); Peter Spencer (California); Juden Sprandler (Ohio); Gary Black (Louisiana) and Steven Conway (Wisconsin). Earlier, the committee received input from Dr. Bill Holmberg, former chairman of the fundraising campaign for the Wilk suit. If we rely on our own instincts and experiences, we will miss what the doctors in the field are thinking. These focus groups help us to keep things in perspective. 6.. WALKING, BABY JOGGER FACT SHEETS NOW AVAILABLE ACA members can now access a new For Your Health fact sheet on walking, and a newly updated fact sheet on the proper use of baby carriers and joggers on our Web site at www.acatoday.com/media/tips/. Hard copies of the fact sheets will also be included with the May/June "members only" issue of ACA Today, which you'll be receiving soon. The "Just Try Walking" fact sheet offers patient education information on the benefits of good, old-fashioned walking, as well as tips on how to get the most out of your walking routine. The "Exercise Good Judgment While Enjoying the Outdoors with Baby" fact sheet guides patients in the safe use of an array of products unheard of a generation ago - like baby carriers, slings, joggers and trailers. Just paste your business card over the rectangular box on the reverse side of the fact sheet, copy and distribute to patients and staff. You can encourage additional readership by asking patients and staff to display the sheets on refrigerators and office bulletin boards. 7. FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT If you are questioned on whether a doctor of chiropractic is authorized to sign a certification attesting to the need of an employee to take medical leave, our legal counsel has prepared an opinion that clearly shows our right to sign one. Let us know if you need a copy. 8. PROJECT-BASED BUDGETING If participating in the Long Range Planning Committee is difficult, you can imagine the pain these days in participating in a Finance Committee meeting for preparing our budgets. Nevertheless, we have an excellent process that leads to the development of a budget tied to our long-range plan. We are in the process of preparing the budget for fiscal year 2003. As was the case with the last two budgets, this budget is project-based, where all approved expenditures must be tied to a specific project or activity. Project-based budgeting requires ACA staff and leadership to identify all projects that will require funding in a year, and accumulate all the costs associated with that project. All costs in the projects have to be justified. For instance, costs for a particular meeting are justified by indicating how many people will attend, how many days the meeting will last, and at which meetings expenses will be incurred. Each project must have a project manager, a beginning and ending date, as well as an indication of where it fits in ACA's long-range plan. Project-based budgeting has enabled ACA to control costs, better understand its priorities and ensure the most efficient and optimal use of its resources. 9.. MISSISSIPPI DOES IT AGAIN Boy, are the doctors in Mississippi well connected! Dr. Al Norville reports that Dr. Raymond Foxworth, ACA member, has been appointed by the Governor of Mississippi as Director of the Mississippi State Board of Health. 10. ACA LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE: NOW AVAILABLE IN ALL STATES You've worked hard to save for your retirement dream. Don't let a long-term illness leave you stranded. ACA has chosen UNUM for our long-term care insurance program, which is available through our administrator, JLT Services. UNUM is a leading company in this field, and offers a range of products to fit the needs of individuals. If you would like personalized assistance in reviewing a UNUM plan, please either phone Wil Loeber at 800-544-2672, or email him at wloeber@jltservices.com. 11. CAN'T ACCESS THESE LINKS? Some of you have been unable to download my PDF links. To view these file types, you need Adobe's Acrobat Reader. This is a free utility available at www.adobe.com. If you need further assistance viewing anything referred to in this report, please email me at gcuneo@amerchiro.org. We have placed my weekly EVP report on our Web site, where members and non-members can download the report in various formats. We will have the report available in "Publications," "EVP Report." The report is available in .html and .txt formats. |
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