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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 This week report includes the following items: * UPDATE ON LAWSUIT UPDATE ON THE LAWSUIT Nothing from the judge on the ruling regarding Trigon's Motion for Summary Judgment. The judge needs to rule shortly as the trial is set for November 12th in Virginia. It will be a jury trial estimated to last at least 30 days. The issues are involved and the outcome critical. September was an excellent month for the Legal Action Fund. We collected $184,942. $120,000-plus came from 860 ACA members. Just for your information, there are 457 doctors on the EZ Pay NCLAF program that automatically give $100 per month for the fund. Please consider becoming a monthly contributor. Contact the ACA or go to the web site: http://www.acatoday.com/pdf/legal_action.pdf OUR GRASSROOTS EFFORTS ARE WORKING We have been hearing from the staff of the Senate Finance Committee regarding the level of calls that members of the Senate are receiving regarding the failure to include our provision in the Medicare bill that is under consideration. Keep up the heat! LOUISIANA, MAINE, AND WEST VIRGINIA ADDED TO LIST OF MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED AREAS The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued its listing of medically underserved areas (MUA's) for 2003. Chiropractors in those states may be reimbursed for all covered services within their scope of practice provided to federal employees and their dependants covered by a non-HMO federal employee health benefit (FEHB) plan. Louisiana, Maine, and West Virginia have been added to the 2003 listing of underserved states, which also includes: Alabama, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. OPM has removed Georgia from the 2003 listing. Please contact the ACA Legal Department for more information on FEHB and MUA's. ACA AT CMS Tom Daly, along with Jay Witter and Karen Stavenjord, visited with Dr. Kevin Gerold, Deputy Director of Program Integrity for CMS. During the hour-long discussion, the ACA raised a number of ongoing issues of concern. One concern centered on a member's complaint that although the medical director of a regional CMS office had recently addressed their state association and had invited more open communication from the chiropractic community, questions directed to him had not been answered. Dr. Gerold explained that the focus of the carriers is being shifted more toward customer service and provider education, and away from investigational and enforcement activities. He also stated that CMS is still very much in a transitional phase with this and it will probably take a while for this change to become evident system-wide. Another issue of concern deals with the recent regulations promoting the release of utilization guidelines used in connection with chiropractic services by the carriers. The ACA expressed the concern that some carriers do not fully understand the significance of the CMS directive. Dr. Gerold assured us of CMS' continued cooperation on this issue as well as its cooperation in addressing other carrier-specific issues. ACA's strategy is to continue to follow up with the carriers, and if necessary, the regional offices or CMS, in cases of overly restrictive application of Medicare policy when it comes to our attention. NCLC; MARK YOU CALENDAR-MARCH 5-7, 2003 The American Chiropractic Association would like to invite you to attend the 2003 National Chiropractic Legislative Conference scheduled for March 5-7, 2003 in Washington, DC. NCLC will be held at the Hyatt Regency Washington conveniently located on Capitol Hill. To make your room reservation, please call the Hyatt Regency Washington at 202-737-1234. When making your room reservation, please mention that you are with the American Chiropractic Association to get the special group room rate of $219 per evening for a single or $244 for a double room. The Hyatt Regency is located at 400 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001. Please note the room reservation cut-off date is February 7, 2003. After that date, the hotel will not guarantee room availability or the special group rate. We will start posting more detail information on our Web site. ACA WEB SITE RECOGNIZED I am pleased to report that the ACA Web site has won a "Standard of Excellence" Award in the 2002 Web Marketing Assocation Web Award Competition. The ACA staff and in particular the Web Site Task Force, chaired by David Cundiff, are to be complimented for this recognition. WHITE HOUSE AND REPUBLICAN SENATORS COME TO THE ASSISTANCE OF FORMER ACA EMPLOYEE I figured this would get your attention, but actually this is true. Last week, Senator Thurmond made an appearance on the Senate floor expressing outrage over the actions of Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for going back on his commitment to consider the nomination of U.S. District Judge Dennis Shedd to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia. It looks like it won't happen now until next year. The White House and other Republican Senators weighed in, criticizing this action. Judge Shedd was a consultant to the ACA in the early 90s. Now you know the rest of the story. OCTOBER IS SPINAL HEALTH MONTH This October, during Spinal Health Month, educate your community about the potential dangers of overweight backpacks using the kit that was inserted into the July-August "Members Only" issue of ACA Today. You can also access the kit on ACA's Web site at http://www.acatoday.com/media/tips/ by entering your username and password. OUR LEADERSHIP'S GOT GUTS Dr. Glenn Manceaux, delegate from Louisiana and Vice President of the ACA Council, reported on his recent visit to the Oklahoma Chiropractic Association. With the assistance of Dr. Michael Taylor, Glenn was given opportunities to discuss the ACA activities and, in particular, the lawsuits. The association presented him with a check for $5,000. Additionally, a number of doctors signed pledge sheets deducting $100 per month. Dr Manceaux had a successful trip, but also a long one. He originally planned to take a flight to Oklahoma, but with the hurricane in the area, the airport at New Orleans was closed. This would have been enough for me to cancel the trip and head for the bunkers -- but not Glenn. He drove 665 miles to the convention and then, of course, had to drive back after the program. This guy has commitment. Our chairman and president have shown the same commitment right after 9-11, fulfilling commitments that required them to fly to another city. It's amazing the level of commitment that can be found in parts of the country. PUBLICATION PURCHASES SUPPORT NCLAF Doctors of chiropractic can now support the National Chiropractic Legal Action Fund (NCLAF) with every purchase of two popular consumer-oriented publications: Sitting on the Job and Peak Performance Body and Mind. The author of these publications, Dr. Scott W. Donkin, an ACA member and a past president of the ACA Council on Occupational Health, has generously offered to contribute a significant portion of each purchase to the NCLAF effort. The classic Sitting on the Job, recently revised and
updated, guides These publications are available for $14.95 each, plus
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