Memorandum
To: ACA Members, House of Delegates, Board of
Governors and Other Interested Parties
From: Garrett Cuneo
Re: ACA EVP Weekly Report
Date: November 3, 2003
This week’s issue includes the following items:
1. LEGAL UPDATE
2. ANTHEM TIGHTENS ITS GRIP ON HEALTH CARE
3. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
4. ACA DISASTER RELIEF INITIATIVE MOVES FORWARD
5. HOW TO HELP VICTIMS OF CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
6. STATE ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE CALL FOCUSED ON MEDICARE DOCUMENTATION AND APPEALS: LMRP THE FOCUS IN FUTURE CALLS
7. LONG RANGE PLAN AT A GLANCE
8. CAN’T ACCESS THESE LINKS?
1. LEGAL UPDATE
The appeals court in ACA’s lawsuit against Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield has copies of our 14,000-word appeals brief, Trigon's 14,000-word response and our 7,000-word reply (a word limit is enforced). It’s now up to the courts to take the next action. We do anticipate that they will schedule oral arguments and we are expecting them before Christmas in Richmond, Virginia. Guess where I will be when they are scheduled?
The three panel judges will be announced one day before the oral arguments are presented. This gives our attorneys 24 hours to research cases involving these judges and ,where possible, citing their opinions in the oral arguments.
We are hoping that a decision will come down within 90 days following the oral arguments, but it could be much longer. The 4th circuit court has a reputation for quick turnaround on decisions, but this isn't any normal case. As you will note from the Anthem story below, the significance of this decision continues to grow.
2. ANTHEM TIGHTENS ITS GRIP ON HEALTH CARE
Anthem, which recently purchased Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, expanded its grip over health care by purchasing Wellpoint Networks, Inc. This will make ANTHEM the largest health insurance company in the United States, with 26 million enrollees and operating Blues plans in 13 states.
3. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Medicare: The conference committee continues to deliberate in its attempt to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the Medicare drug bill. While our provision has not yet been considered, our doctors in Connecticut have followed up with Congresswoman Nancy Johnson, who remains supportive.
AHP: There will be no action taken in the Senate this year on the legislation supported by the business community that would preempt state insurance equality laws. The bill did pass the House and will certainly be a battleground next year in the Senate. As you may be aware, we are in a coalition with the national Blues and the National Governors Conference in attempting to defeat this measure.
Veterans Affairs: The House and Senate conference committee is trying to reconcile differences on a VA bill that includes, in the House version, a chiropractic provision permitting the immediate hiring of chiropractic doctors in the VA system. The Pennsylvania doctors have been contacting the office of Senator Arlen Specter -- a key member of the conference committee -- regarding the measure.
DOD: The House and Senate conferees of the Defense Authorization Bill are also meeting. Part of their job is to reconcile the House language that includes an acceleration on implementing the chiropractic provision in the DOD by one year and increasing the annual appropriations for the chiropractic project by $6 million, bringing the total to $18 million. The Senate version doesn't have these provisions but includes strong report language that addresses many of the problems we are having with the DOD and strengthens the hand of the DOD chiropractic Advisory Committee in dealing with a bureaucracy in some of the branches that have been dragging their heals.
DOD Expansion: Congressman Lane Evans and Congressman Ed Schrock are circulating a letter to members of the House requesting that they become cosponsors of legislation to expand chiropractic benefit under DOD TRICARE plan to include family members of servicemen, retirees and survivors. You should have received an email alert on this last week.
For further details regarding this legislation, please contact ACA’s Government Relations office at 800-986-4636.
4. ACA DISASTER RELIEF INITIATIVE MOVES FORWARD
As our nation witnessed the horrific tragedies that took place in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC, just two short years ago, many in the chiropractic profession heeded the call to serve. And while the chiropractic profession demonstrated its mettle through this unforgettable experience, it was not the first time doctors of chiropractic had banded to help their country and their community. In cases of natural disasters, terrorism or other tragedies, our profession has stepped up to the plate time and time again.
The difficulty, however, is that not every doctor of chiropractic who offers to serve is granted easy access to a disaster site. The lack of a "passport," such as an ID card connecting a doctor of chiropractic with an official oversight organization, often acts as a roadblock to access. Recognizing this impediment to serving, the ACA's House of Delegates passed an historic resolution in March, 2003, that aims to integrate doctors of chiropractic more freely into the disaster relief community. At ACA's recent annual meeting in Albuquerque, NM, ACA's Arkansas delegate Karen Konarski-Hart, DC, reported on the progress of the initiative and distributed a related video, media kit, pamphlet and CD-ROM. For copies of these materials, or to discuss ACA's disaster relief initiative, please contact Patrick Bernat at ACA headquarters at
pbernat@amerchiro.org.
5. HOW TO HELP VICTIMS OF CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
Southern California has been ravaged by wildfires. The sheer immensity of the destruction is overwhelming: 750,000 acres blackened (about the size of Rhode Island), 3,400 homes destroyed and 20 killed. California Chiropractic Association (CCA) member doctors of chiropractic, their staff and patients have been displace by the fires, and some are sure to loose their homes and businesses. Members of the California Chiropractic Association have been extending helping hands -- literally and figuratively. Many, many doctors of chiropractic have closed their practices and traveled to the fire scenes to render adjustments to hundreds of brave firefighters. The CCA San Gabriel Valley District has established a collection effort to assist victims of the wildfires. Money, clothing, nonperishable foods, baby supplies are being collected for distribution by relief agencies. If you would like to contribute, please send checks made payable to "CCA Fire Assistance Fund" to 638 West Duarte Road, Suite 11, Arcadia, CA 91007.
Clothing, foods, diapers, etc. can also be sent to the same address.
6. STATE ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE CALL FOCUSES ON MEDICARE DOCUMENTATION AND APPEALS: LMRP THE FOCUS OF FUTURE CALLS
The monthly call of the ACA EVP Advisory Committee, held on October 14th, was one of the best attended calls yet. The following states were represented: Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona, Alabama, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, Colorado, Nebraska, Alaska and Missouri. The call was led by Ms. Susan McClelland, ACA Medicare consultant, with input from Dr. Ritch Miller. The focus was Medicare Documentation and Appeals.
The next call is scheduled for November 11th at 1:00 Eastern. For the next three months we will be inviting CAC representatives from various states to share their experiences and hopefully help establish a more unified position in dealing with local medical review politics that influence the implementation of Medicare in the area. The November call will include states covered by the following carriers: Noridian Mutual Insurance Company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arkansas.
7. LONG RANGE PLAN AT A GLANCE
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. Without a long-range plan, an organization would be in a constant state of re-action. ACA has spent a lot of time putting together a plan and its implementation is tied to the performance plans of ACA staff, including mine. Spend some time reviewing our plan, and please let me know what you think:
The entire long-range plan can be found here: http://www.acatoday.com/about/vision.shtml.
The executive summary can be found here:
http://www.acatoday.com/about/executive_summary.shtml.
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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