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Memorandum to: ACA Members, Board of Governors, House of
Delegates and Other Interested Parties
From: Gary Cuneo
Re: ACA EVP Weekly Report
Date: December 2, 2002
" The ACA seeks a transformation in health care from a focus on disease to a focus on wellness." -ACA Vision Statement
The following items are included in this week's report:
1. ACA MAKES PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING ITS WELLNESS POLICY
2. NO NEWS FROM THE JUDGES
3. WILK SUIT vs. TRIGON AND HHS SUITS: COMPARABLE COSTS
4. ACA MEMBER HELPS RECRUITS NON-MEMBERS
5. MARK THE DATE - NATIONAL CHIROPRACTIC LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE 2003!
6. ACA GETS INVOLVED IN LOUISIANA SENATE RACE
7. ADHD SERIES IN JACA SPARKS INTEREST OF DOCTORS, PATIENTS
8. EVP ADVISORY COMMITTEE CALL
9. DYNAMIC ACA LONG RANGE PLAN DESIGNED TO TRANSFORM THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
10. COLLECT ON YOUR ACCOUNTS WITH NATIONAL CREDIT SYSTEMS (NCS)
11. CAN'T ACCESS THESE LINKS?
1. ACA MAKES PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING ITS WELLNESS POLICY
In an effort to move chiropractic wellness into the public eye, a survey has been completed to assess the amount of wellness education doctors of chiropractic receive and how that translates into practical applications in day-to-day clinical settings. Surveys were sent to the Chief Academic Officers, as well as students, at each accredited chiropractic college. All the schools participated in this survey.
The survey includes questions about specific topics that are studied, teaching and assessment methods for clinical screenings, as well as practice philosophies following degree completion. The survey seeks to demonstrate strong points in wellness education, as well as areas that may warrant improvement. The ultimate goal is to move doctors of chiropractic into the forefront of wellness care within the nation's health care system. .
Following an analysis of the survey responses, ACA will move forward with an implementation plan to execute a public advertising and health policy integration program. This is one initiative members have requested to replace disease management protocols with a preventive/wellness- based care model.
Two years ago the House of Delegates approved a policy on wellness that directed the association to take a more proactive role in this area. A copy of ACA's policy statements can be found listed alphabetically here. Click and scroll down to "Wellness Model." <http://www.acatoday.com/pdf/2002_aca_policies.pdf>
2. NO NEWS FROM THE JUDGES
Another week has passed with no news from the judge on the motion for summary judgment in our suit against Trigon.
Likewise, the federal judge handling our suit against the Department of Health and Human Services has not ruled on the motion in that case. We have already succeeded in this particular suit by keeping physical therapists from providing the chiropractic-specific treatment under Medicare of "Manual Manipulation of the Spine to Correct a Subluxation."
3. WILK SUIT vs. TRIGON AND HHS SUITS: COMPARABLE COSTS
During focus groups that we have conducted regarding our lawsuits, a concern that came up numerous times is why this litigation is so expensive, and what is happening with all the money. Both are legitimate questions. Since the lawsuit against HHS began in 1998, we have raised more money than any other single fundraising campaign with the exception of the Centennial. The money certainly isn't going into ACA coffers. Only 15% of lawsuit expenses have been directed to overhead (i.e., costs of telemarketing, mailing and other promotional activities). In any business, that is a very low expenditure for fundraising. In fact, the majority of overhead costs are subsidized by the ACA. 85% of the expenses associated with these suits are directly related to litigation cost. And when you consider that we are taking on the largest law firm in the world in our suit against the federal government, and equally impressive firms representing Trigon Blue Cross/Blue Shield, it should come as a surprise to no one that the costs are high. At any given time, our lead attorney, Mr. George McAndrews, has used up to fourteen attorneys and paralegals in filing motions and responding to the various actions of Trigon. Proving antitrust and other violations on the part of Trigon is a difficult and costly process. The brief we filled against Trigon's motion for summary judgment, including backup documentation, stacked up to 30 linear inches.
Believe it or not, the costs up to this point are not unlike the costs associated with the landmark Wilk suit. That suit, which lasted ten years, cost $4.5 million. In today's dollars (1.68 inflation factor), that amount would equal $7.5 million. Our lawsuits against HHS and Trigon have cost a total of $5 million. Of this amount, one third has been directed to the suit against HHS, while the remaining has been directed toward the suit against Trigon. It is an expensive process, but a necessary one considering the high stakes involved.
4. ACA MEMBER HELPS RECRUITS NON-MEMBERS
ACA member Dr. Jim Schwietert of South Dakota took my suggestion to forward to the ACA names non-member DCs who might be interested in joining the ACA. In fact, he forwarded us the names of two such doctors, which we are following up on. We are an effective organization that could be even more effective if we only had more members. Please help us by either recruiting a new member or forwarding names of prospective members to us. I have provided a link to a two-page fact sheet that may be helpful in explaining to a non-member what we are trying to accomplish and why he or she should become a part of the ACA
<http://www.acatoday.com/membership/done_lately.shtml>
5. MARK THE DATE - NATIONAL CHIROPRACTIC LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE 2003!
The American Chiropractic Association would like to invite you to attend the 2003 National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC) scheduled for March 5-7, 2003 in Washington, D.C. 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 $219.00 per evening for a single or $244.00 for a double room. The Hyatt Regency is located at 400 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. Please note the room reservation cutoff date is February 7, 2003. After that date, the hotel will not guarantee room availability or the special group rate.
The Hyatt Regency Washington has created the following Web site to allow NCLC 2003 attendees to book their hotel room reservations on-line:
www.washingtonregency.hyatt.com/groupbooking/acha
6. ACA GETS INVOLVED IN LOUISIANA SENATE RACE
The ACA is getting involved in another Senate race where the outcome is still too close to call. The incumbent is Senator Mary Landrieu, a first-term democrat who is opposed by republican challenger Suzanne Haik Terrell. Louisiana has a very peculiar election process in which its primary election is held the same day that the rest of the country is having its general election. If any candidate receives 50% of the vote, he or she is declared the winner. Landrieu received 46% against three republican candidates, with Terrell receiving the highest vote among the three republicans.
Senator Landrieu has a good relationship with the Louisiana Chiropractic Association, and in particular its executive director, Kathy Chittom. Additionally, Landrieu is supportive of the ACA's proposal on Medicare. In fact, in a letter she wrote to a chiropractic doctor who asked for her support on our legislation, she stated, "As your letter states, the current system for Medicare reimbursement unfairly discriminates against doctors of chiropractic in favor of other physicians or therapists. Most often, a distinction of this kind exists because of CMS' desire to ensure that Medicare services are provided by physicians or other medical providers equipped with the education and training deemed necessary to perform the covered service. While I am generally in support of this desire, it appears to me that if a state law has determined that a doctor of chiropractic is not only competent but authorized to perform a particular service, then they should be eligible for reimbursement.
HR 902 proposes a sensible solution to a complicated problem. If this bill or a similar amendment comes to the Senate for consideration, I would be happy to give it my support."
As always, we support those candidates who support the chiropractic profession.
7. ADHD SERIES IN JACA SPARKS INTEREST OF DOCTORS, PATIENTS
A recent two-part series of articles in the Journal of the American Chiropractic Association (JACA) on chiropractic approaches to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has generated numerous phone calls, not only from not ACA members and non-member doctors, but also health care consumers across the country.
Written by ACA's Associate Director of Production Nataliya Schetchikova, PhD, the JACA series was featured in a recent news release distributed by ACA's media relations staff - prompting interested doctors and patients to call ACA for copies of the articles. The articles point out that many parents are growing leery of the traditional medical approach to ADHD and feature the promising results that doctors of chiropractic are experiencing with non-drug treatments that focus on postural muscles, nutrition and lifestyle changes that affect brain activity.
Visit ACA's Web site at <http://www.acatoday.com/media/releases/adhd.shtml> for a copy of the news release, as well as a copy of the two-part series, "Children with ADHD-Medical vs. Chiropractic Perspective and Theory," from the July 2002 and August 2002 issues of JACA.
8. EVP ADVISORY COMMITTEE CALL
On November 5th, ACA vice presidents, legal counsel and I participated on a conference call with the leadership of a number of state associations to discuss issues of mutual concern. Joining us on the call were representatives from Alabama, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa and Arizona. The topics discussed on the call included an update on HIPAA, our recent student loan legislation, NCLC and Wal-Mart. The next meeting of the EVP Advisory Committee is scheduled for December 12th at 1:00pm Eastern.
9. DYNAMIC ACA LONG RANGE PLAN DESIGNED TO TRANSFORM THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
With an eye toward transforming the nation's health care system from a focus on disease to a focus on wellness, the ACA's House of Delegates approved an updated long-range plan during the association's annual meeting, August 28-30, in Kansas City, MO. The culmination of months of work by the ACA's Long-Range Planning Committee, chaired by Dr. Rick McMichael, the new plan is designed to serve the needs of the chiropractic profession and patients nationwide by fully integrating doctors of chiropractic as decision-makers in the nation's health care delivery system.
The major goals contained in ACA's updated long-range plan include:
 | Access, Utilization and Parity Reimbursement
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| Majority Membership (majority of licensed DCs being ACA
members)
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| Public Awareness
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| Quality Patient-Centered Health Care
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| Visionary Leadership
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| DCs as Decision Makers |
If you wish to receive a detailed copy of the long-range plan, either drop me an email or go directly to:
<http://www.acatoday.com/membersonly/external_goals.pdf>.
You will need your ACA username and password to access this link. If you do not have this information, please call 800-986-4636 to obtain it.
By the way, unlike many long-range plans that are drafted by various organizations, this one does not gather dust in someone's closest. We are required by the ACA House of Delegates to provide two yearly reports on the progress being made in implementing the plan. Also, the job performance plans of the vice presidents, including my own, include provisions regarding the plan. We can't afford to allow the plan to languish.
10. COLLECT ON YOUR ACCOUNTS WITH NATIONAL CREDIT SYSTEMS (NCS)
ACA's member benefit program with National Credit Systems (NCS) helps you collect on your large and small delinquent accounts. Collection costs are based on the number of NCS claim forms ordered, and on the percentage of the monies collected. If you submit 100 claim forms to NCS, on average, 56% of those delinquent accounts are paid in full.
For more information about NCS collection and credit reporting services available to ACA members, click here: <http://cliserv.nationalcredit.com/goodnews.html>.
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 e-mail me at
gcuneo@amerchiro.org.
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