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Orange County Chiropractic District
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| Memorandum The following items are included in this week's report: 1. LEGAL ARGUMENTS NOW AVAILABLE TO DOCTORS OF
CHIROPRACTIC 1. LEGAL ARGUMENTS NOW AVAILABLE TO DOCTORS OF CHIROPRACTIC Last year, during a contested hearing before Judge Jones in our lawsuit against Trigon Blue Cross/Blue Shield, ACA attorney George McAndrews presented a brief that included citations from a number of medical publications that reaffirmed our position that chiropractic care is superior in the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal conditions. He quoted from numerous medical and government sources in making this point. Included in the brief were citations from the Annals of Internal Medicine, Rand, the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Duke University, the AHCPR guidelines, various workers' compensation studies and more. In response, Judge Jones commented that:
Trigon failed to provide any contrary study. Instead it chose to rely on the greater expense of education for medical doctors over that spent by chiropractors to justify its discriminatory actions. Mr. McAndrews has put together many of the quotations from the publicly available literature into a single, 11x17 colored promotional piece that lays out the best argument for chiropractic care. He strongly urges that each doctor make hundreds or even thousands of colored copies of the document and circulate it far and wide to, for example: insurance carriers hospitals unions Ever the patriot, McAndrews even suggested that we should ask the Department of Defense for permission to drop them as leaflets over Baghdad. What better way to promote the positives of the profession than by quoting extremely reputable sources that aren't even chiropractic? Called the "Spokes of Chiropractic Progress," we urge that you take advantage of this opportunity to promote chiropractic. An introduction to the Spokes, as well as instructions on downloading the document, can be found on ACA's web site at: http://www.acatoday.com/legal/spokes.shtml. How to download and print the document: Click on the link below to download this PDF file to your computer. Then save it to a disk and take it to your local copy center to have it printed out and copied. The reason this method is necessary is that the document is size 11x17, which most personal printers cannot handle. http://www.acatoday.com/pdf/SpokesofChress011403.pdf 2. ACA WEB SITE NOW HOSTS NATIONAL 'FIND A DOCTOR OF CHIROPRACTIC' SEARCH FEATURE Any consumer can now search to find an ACA member doctor of chiropractic in their local community using our award-winning web site. Visit http://www.acatoday.com/search/memsearch.cfm and enter a zip code, city, chiropractic specialty, last name, or any combination to search for a member in your area. 3. PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING CHIROPRACTIC DOD LEGISLATION One year after the implementation of the DOD legislation, we have some good news and some not so good news. The good news is the number of bases where chiropractic is offered has nearly doubled. The Navy continues to push the implementation of chiropractic into their service. Bethesda Naval Hospital is very supportive of chiropractic and doesn't hesitate to promote its availability to its Navy personnel. Navy physicians in charge at Bethesda have publicly indicated their strong support for the chiropractic program, as it has exceeded even their wildest predictions. DOD has indicated that we will be considered for commissioning. And the Coast Guard, while not affected by the legislation, has reached out on its own in attempting to include the chiropractic benefit. The Army, however, is a different story. If you were to go to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., you would be hard-pressed to find the word chiropractic anywhere. There is no effort to promote the profession. We understand through the grapevine that some of the brass might be saying that now that Senator Thurmond is gone, there will be nobody there to protect chiropractic. I sure hope their judgment is better than this when it comes to fighting Iraq. Our DOD Advisory Committee has not had a meeting with the DOD in some time. They sent a letter to DOD expressing concerns about a number of issues that weren't being addressed. The type of response we receive will determine whether we need to go back to the legislature. We have briefed members of Congress regarding the possibility. The legislation called for the implementation of the chiropractic benefit in the armed services within five years. We will continue to push this deadline and attempt to get chiropractic fully implemented even more quickly. 4. CAC MEETING AT NCLC WAS A SUCCESS On Friday, March 7, 2003, during the ACA's National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC) held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington D.C., a workshop meeting was held for chiropractic Carrier Advisory Committee (CAC) representatives from across the country. The highlight of the meeting was a presentation by Richard Lawlor, DC, MBA, Senior Outreach Specialist for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Dr. Lawlor, the first chiropractic physician appointed to a position within CMS, gave an interesting report about his chiropractic background, his job description, and his experience with CMS thus far. He will undoubtedly be a great representative for the chiropractic profession within CMS! Joe Johnson, DC, who serves on the Practicing Physicians Advisory Council (PPAC), gave a presentation about what role this council plays in determining Medicare/Medicaid policies and the significance of having a chiropractic physician on this council. Ritch Miller, DC, Chairman of the ACA Medicare Committee, and Susan McClelland, BS, CCA, ACA Medicare Committee member, spoke of the importance of the CAC representative to each state and to the nation. They also addressed the importance of required documentation, as well as the need to appeal denials. 5. HOD ADOPTS DISASTER RELIEF PROTOCOLS: INFORMATION REQUESTED The ACA House of Delegates has passed a recommended protocol for chiropractic doctors who wish to serve in disaster situations. ACA will be distributing this information to all states, councils and colleges along with potential sources of disaster education. If you, your state, college or specialty council offers training in any form related to disasters, first aid, emergency or if you are aware of public sources of training (state, Internet or organizations), please contact Patrick Bernat at the ACA with the information at: pbernat@amerchiro.org. 6. SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE AWARDS Chiropractic has many friends in Congress and within the administration. Each year at NCLC we recognize some of these friends. Here is a list of prominent leaders who we recognized this year: Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson -- recognized for his visionary leadership on the health care challenges facing America, steadfast support for chiropractic care, including through his department's development of a pilot program to allow doctors of chiropractic to participate in the National Health Service Corps student loan re-payment program, and for maintaining an open door tothe ACA throughout his tenure as the nation's top health policy official. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) -- recognized for his enlightened understanding of the benefits of chiropractic care, his active support for legislation to allow doctors of chiropractic to participate in the National Health Service Corps student loan repayment program and his leadership as chairman of a key House committee on expanding access to chiropractic care. Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) -- recognized for his outstanding leadership of the House Veterans Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Health, and his successful efforts to enact and support implementation of legislation to provide a chiropractic care benefit for America's active duty military personnel and veterans. Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) -- recognized for being a leading friend in Congress of the chiropractic profession and an effective supporter of legislation creating a chiropractic care benefit for America's veterans. James White, Legislative Director, Office of Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) - for being a friend of the ACA and doctors of chiropractic in the State of Louisiana, and for leadership efforts at the staff level to enact legislation allowing doctors of chiropractic to participate in the NationalHealth Service Corps student loan repayment program. Adam Gluck, Legislative Assistant, Office of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) - for being a friend of the ACA and doctors of chiropractic in the State of Iowa, and for leadership efforts at the staff level to enact legislation to establish a chiropractic benefit for America's veterans and allow doctors of chiropractic to participate in the National Health Service Corps student loan repayment program. Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi -- recognized for his years of distinguished military and public service, leadership in strengthening the veterans health care system and creation of a special advisory committee within the Department of Veterans Affairs that is now developing a plan to provide America's veterans with the chiropractic care they need and deserve. 7. ACA PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FEATURING DEREK PARRA -- GOLD AND SILVER MEDAL WINNER -- IS WORTH CONSIDERING ACA has worked with Olympic speedskater Derek Parra, who won both a gold and silver metal at the 2002 Winter Olympics to tout the benefits of chiropractic care in a professionally produced Public Service Announcement (PSA) and television ad spot. PSAs are a highly effective way for individuals or non-profit organizations to reach a large audience. PSAs help to raise funds, increase public awareness of an issue or trend, make a call to action, or change attitudes or perception. Included with both the PSAs and the ad spot are tips on how to place them on your local television or cable system. To view samples of the ad spots and the PSAs, visit ACA's web site at http://acatoday.com/media/related/070102.shtml. You will need to download Windows Media Player at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download. PSA (one tape includes a 15, 30 and 60-second
version) -- $90 To order your ad spot or PSA, call 800-368-3083. 8. 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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