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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 In this report: 1. VIRGINIA STUDY CONFIRMS CHIROPRACTIC EFFICIENCY The American Chiropractic Association and the Virginia Chiropractic Association are continuing to press in court against Trigon Blue Cross/Blue Shield the fact that in all of the studies in referred journals that doctors of chiropractic are not only equal to medical doctors, but superior to them in the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal conditions. In 1992, the University of Virginia (Robins School of Business) study pointed to a potential economic shift form medical doctors to chiropractic doctors by concluding, "If chiropractic care were insured to the extent of the other specialists… [chiropractic] may emerge as a first option for patients with certain medical conditions. The ACA is pressing this matter before the court and expects a reasonable explanation of why lesser trained, less cost-effective and less efficient practitioners should be paid more under any rational program to help finance what Trigon Blue Cross/Blue Shield calls health care. 2. MEDICARE REFORM LEGISLATION UPDATE: STILL NO CIGAR The House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Ways and Means Committee continue to work behind the scenes in an attempt to reach consensus regarding a comprehensive Medicare bill. As I indicated in my report last week, this is a highly complicated and political process where both committees are trying to reach agreement not only among the members within the committees, but also between the committees themselves. The issues are expensive and controversial. Within this atmosphere, we are attempting to push a chiropractic provision through. We are making great progress with the members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, particularly through its chairman, Congressman Billy Tauzin. Drs. J. Michael Flynn and Glenn Manceaux, along with the Louisiana Chiropractic Association, are to be congratulated for their efforts in persuading the Congressman to take a close look at our provision. Our efforts on the Ways and Means side are meeting some resistance. While Congressman Nancy Johnson, subcommittee chair, was given authority to prepare the bill for this committee, the overall chair of Ways and Means, Bill Thomas, seems to be exhorting his influence in this decision. Thomas is no friend of the chiropractic profession. We are continuing to push the Ways and Means Committee members, and Congressman Wes Watkins, author of our bill, is weighing it. Watkins has made this his number one priority. We need to continue to push the members of the Ways and Means committee to support a chiropractic provision by contacting both Nancy Johnson and Bill Thomas with this request. 3. REPORT ON CANADIAN INQUEST BY OUR PAST CHAIRMAN Immediate Past ACA Chairman, Dr. J. Michael Flynn, attended a couple days of the Canadian Inquest. Here are his personal observations: While attending the WFC Council meeting in Toronto, I was able to attend parts of two days of testimony in the Coroner's Inquest Lewis stroke trial along with Drs. Pedigo, Winkler, Sportelli and representatives of the profession from across the globe. Also with us were DeAnna Beck and Dr. Tony Rosner of FCER. The first thing you notice is that the Judge is actually a medical coroner. The jury is five with three women and two men chosen by the Coroner without any opportunity of challenge by the attorneys. A three juror majority decision will determine if death was natural, accident or undetermined. The trial just finished seven weeks of testimony and will be taking a recess soon to be re-convened after the Labor Day Holiday, and expected to conclude the first weeks of September. Evidence is showing that there was a collaboration by two medical physicians (Katz/Norris) to harm the practice of chiropractic and cause undue alarm to the practice of cervical manipulation. Testimony is also proving no relationship to the cervical manipulation and the unfortunate stroke of this woman. Media coverage has in many instances been sensational and brutal to the profession in Canada, with practices down a reported 30%. In speaking with many of the leaders in Canada I find their resolve to be courageous in withstanding this assault on the profession. Bringing this travesty to a successful conclusion will shed greater light on the safety of cervical manipulation, and I am optimistic that chiropractic will gain even higher esteem by having weathered this inquest. Henry Ward Beecher said once "We are always in the forge, or on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things." To keep posted, go to HYPERLINK "http://www.ccachiro.org" www.ccachiro.org and pull up "media" for weekly summaries of the trial and recent press releases. 4. HATCHET JOB BY PBS I will never watch another episode of MASH again. Alan Alda, who played Trapper John, M.D., on the TV sitcom MASH, was portrayed in that series as a credible person. Last week, he moderated a one-hour episode of "Scientific American Frontiers" on the subject of alternative medicine that was anything but credible or scientific. Using Robert Baratz, M.D., president of the notorious National Council Against Health Fraud, plus a former chiropractic doctor named John Badanes, as "objective" reviewers of chiropractic is like asking Yasser Arafat to present a history of the state of Israel. We have responded directly to the President & CEO of Public Broadcasting System (PBS), and have sent copies of our letter to other appropriate parties. As a foundation supported in part by federal grants, there are other opportunities for action to explore and we intend to do so. To view a copy of our response, please go to HYPERLINK "http://www.acatoday.com/media/record/pbs.shtml" http://www.acatoday.com/media/record/pbs.shtml . If this program aired in your community, and you wish to contact your local PBS affiliate, feel free to use this letter as a base for your own response. You can find the contact information for your local affiliate by using this PBS "Station Finder:" HYPERLINK "http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html" http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html 5. PDR HELPS MICHIGAN The Automobile Club of Michigan (AAA) recently contacted the ACA Automobile Club of Michigan (AAA), a member of the ACA's Claim Solutions Work Group (CSWG) and a large state auto insurer, to obtain the name of a local clinician/consultant to work with AAA's Medical Benefits Review Unit. The group was interested in upgrading their chiropractic medical review practices and to receive comment on network participation requirements for doctors of chiropractic. AAA's upgrade is the result of the CSWG-developed Medical Review Benchmarks and payor education efforts undertaken by the ACA. This is another example of the success the ACA has had in working with major payors through the ACA-sponsored CSWG. . 6.. GOOD NEWS FROM CIGNA HEALTH PLAN OF HOUSTON, TX A practitioner in the Houston, Texas, market recently contacted the ACA concerning the CIGNA health plan's network participation requirement that doctors of chiropractic be "board certified." ACA's PDR staff spoke with the plan's credentialing supervisor for clarification on the policy. Indeed, the health plan required practitioners to be specialty council certified in addition to being a licensed doctor of chiropractic. PDR staff and ACA's legal department developed a 2-page document that provides a basic explanation of 'DC' licensure vs. council certification. This document was forwarded to the health plan for review. Based on ACA's questioning of their policy, and by providing this 2-page document, the health plan changed its credentials policy. Specialty council certification is no longer required to participate in the health plan. In addition, this document will be used by PDR staff and the Insurance and Managed Care Committee to educate networks and payers that might implement similar health plan/network participation requirements. This position is consistent with the policy adopted by the House of Delegates in the late '90s, which stated that specialty certification should not be a prerequisite for inclusion into a managed care provider network. 7. STUDENT LOAN ISSUE There is nothing new to report on the student loan issue. The bill including the chiropractic provision passed the Senate, but is still held up in the House by attempts to include a pro-life amendment. The House Energy and Commerce and the House Ways and Means committees have jurisdiction over the issue. There is not much we can do until the pro-life issue is resolved. 8. ERISA REGULATION STILL IN PLACE Despite strong opposition by the managed care industry, the Department of Labor has indicated that it plans to move forward with the implementation of its new regulations on ERISA, which if not the silver bullet, is an important tool in fighting the managed care industry. The deadline for implementation is July 1st, 2002. Refer to the EVP Weekly Report dated May 28th, 2002, for details regarding what the new regulations accomplish. This is significant. 9. ACA PART OF A NATIONWIDE AWARENESS EFFORT The number of organ donors across the United States increased by almost 7 percent in 2001, fueled primarily by a substantial rise in Hispanic and African-American donors and in "living donation," HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said recently, in marking the first anniversary of HHS' Gift of Life Donation Initiative. In releasing the 2001 donation statistics, Secretary Thompson was joined by Chris Klug, a snowboarder who won the bronze medal in the Men's Parallel Giant Slalom event in Salt Lake City just 18 months after receiving a liver transplant. To date, more than 1,000 partners - including the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) -- have joined the initiative's Workplace Partnership for Life. Workplace partners raise awareness among their employees and members about the urgent need for donation. In addition to ACA, partners include labor unions, corporations, nonprofit organizations, small businesses and others. More information about organ and tissue donation - as well as an organ donor card that you can sign and carry in your wallet -- is available on ACA's Web site at HYPERLINK "http://www.acatoday.com/hot_topics/donor.shtml" www.acatoday.com/hot_topics/donor.shtml , or on the HHS Web site at HYPERLINK "http://www.organdonor.gov" www.organdonor.gov . 10. NEED HELP WITH HIPAA? Register for the ACA's live phone conference, "HIPAA De-mystified," and get the facts you need now. No need to travel. Dial into the phone conference from your office or home. Invite your staff to participate at no additional charge. This session will focus on the administrative simplification aspects of HIPAA with a primary emphasis on medical records privacy. The speaker, Marc Cohen, Esq., will discuss the impact of the recent law, the requirements of this statute and medical records privacy. Interactive Q&A will ensure all of your concerns are addressed. Participants receive handouts and an audiocassette of the 90-minute session free with conference registration. Can't make the live call? Just order the conference audiocassette instead. Date: Thursday, July 11, 2002, Time: 12:30 - 2p.m., ET About the Speaker: Marc Cohen, Esq. is a principal at the Health Law Department of Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver. Cohen's areas of expertise are: scope of practice, professional compliance, regulatory and disciplinary matters related to doctors of chiropractic and other licensed health care professionals. To register, call 1-800-986-4636 today. ACA. Your Solutions Start Here. 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 HYPERLINK "http://www.adobe.com" www.adobe.com . If you need further assistance viewing anything referred to in this report, please email me at HYPERLINK "mailto:gcuneo@amerchiro.org" 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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