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Orange County Chiropractic District
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Memorandum To: ACA Members, House of Delegates, Board of
Governors and Other Interested Parties Members Only Report Note: This will be the final EVP report for this year. Your next report will be sent to you on or around January 7, 2004. This week's report includes the following items: 1. APPEALS COURT SETS DATES FOR ORAL ARGUMENTS IN THE TRIGON SUIT 2. GRASSLEY FUNDRAISER A HUGE SUCCESS 3. ACABizDoc-THE NEW ACA LIST SERVE DEDICATED TO MANAGING YOUR PRACTICE - GOES 'LIVE' ON JANUARY 5TH 4. NEW WORKERS COMPENSATION LEGISLATION IN CALIFORNIA: ANOTHER THREAT TO THE PROFESSION 5. DEADLINE FOR PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ACA BYLAWS AND RESOLUTIONS FAST APPROACHING 6. ACA LEADERSHIP ON THE ROAD 7. THERAPY WHILE YOU SLEEP-A SPECIAL OFFER FROM THERAPEUTICA SLEEPING PILLOWS 8. ACA OFFICE CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAYS 9. CAN'T ACCESS THESE LINKS? 1. APPEALS COURT SETS DATES FOR ORAL ARGUMENTS IN THE TRIGON SUIT The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit has agreed to accept our request for oral arguments in the Trigon case and has set the hearing for Richmond, VA. At this point, the court has instructed the attorneys to keep open February 24th through the 27th. A more precise date will be provided as we get closer to February. Both the attorneys for Trigon and ACA/VCA will present their positions before a three-judge panel and answer questions from the judges. Both sides will learn of the panel members 24 hours before the hearing so they have an opportunity to research the decisions by each of the judges and sharpen their presentations accordingly. It is possible that a decision from the appellate court would be rendered in the case 60 to 90 days after these oral arguments are presented. 2. GRASSLEY FUNDRAISER A HUGE SUCCESS The ACA-PAC sponsored a fundraising event for Senator Chuck Grassley that took place on December 12 here in Washington, D.C. More than 30 doctors from IA, VA and SC attended, along with ACA staff, Gary Mohr of Palmer College, David O'Bryon of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC), and members of Grassley's staff. Senator Grassley spoke at length about the difficulty he faced in overcoming the objections of Senator Frist in getting the chiropractic provision included in the final Medicare bill. He read directly from his PDA (personal digital assistant) the email message he sent to Senator Frist the day before the final vote was taken by the conference committee on our project (excerpts provided below). He also advised us on being vigilant to make sure the demonstration project is being conducted properly. ACA Chairman George McClelland, DC, sat next to Senator Grassley and expressed the appreciation of ACA members for his help. The other attendees were equally appreciative, including Dr. Ken Storjohann, President of the Iowa Chiropractic Society and longtime friend of the Senator... Here is an excerpt from Senator Grassley's actual email to Senator Frist: "I hope that this can be handled at the staff level…but your staff have been refusing my chiropractic demo…knock it off. I have been fighting AMA for years to get crumbs off the table for the chiropractors. I got $54 billion for the docs in January ... so back your staff off of this demo..." The Grassley Campaign has informed us that our fundraiser has thus far resulted in a total of over $50,000 collected from over 200 individual doctors. We have asked the Grassley Campaign to send us the list of contributors and the amounts contributed. Once received, I will post the list in my next EVP report. The ACA appreciates the efforts and contributions of these doctors to the campaign of a man who is a true champion for chiropractic patients and the Medicare program. 3. ACABizDoc-THE NEW ACA LIST SERVE DEDICATED TO MANAGING YOUR PRACTICE - GOES 'LIVE' ON JANUARY 5TH ACA invites you to share your experiences on managing your practice through the new ACABizDoc networking forum. Through the ACABizDoc list serve, you'll be able to question your peers or respond to their comments on the issues such as management of managed care, ERISA, efficiencies in handling insurance documentation, starting a new practice, and more. To support the list serve, relevant resources will be available on a new section of the ACA web site--the ACABizDoc Networking Forum page. Featuring JACA articles on practice management, speaking points on managed care, and more, the resources found at www.acatoday.com on the ACABizDoc page will support many of the issues up for discussion on the list serve. Your participation will make ACABizDoc a success. Subscribe now and begin participating on January 5th. To subscribe, go to http://ww3.chirolists.com/mailman/listinfo/acabizdoc 4. NEW WORKERS COMPENSATION LEGISLATION IN CALIFORNIA: ANOTHER THREAT TO THE PROFESSION In what I imagine would be a disappointment to the chiropractic profession in the state of California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced legislation that further carves away the position of the profession in workers compensation. Among the highlights of the legislation, which he has threatened to place on the ballot if its not passed, are the following: A proposal to prevent doctors of chiropractic from making a determination regarding disability under workers compensation. A proposal that enables employers to block patients from selecting their chiropractor for work- related injury treatment. A proposal that requires "objective" verification of injuries. A proposal that bases "medical treatment" on "necessity" rather than the "cure and relief" of the injured workers The California Chiropractic Association has their hands full on this one. 5. DEADLINE FOR PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ACA BYLAWS AND RESOLUTIONS FAST APPROACHING The ACA's 29th annual National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC) will be held March 3-6, 2004, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, D.C. Proposed amendments to ACA's bylaws must be submitted to the ACA corporate secretary at least sixty (60) days prior to the meeting, per Article V, Section G(1), and amendments to the ACA Specialty Council Bylaws, per Article XII, Section C(2)-ACA Bylaws. The deadline for receipt of the proposed amendments to bylaws is January 5, 2004. Per Article V Section A (5)(a) of the ACA Bylaws, proposed amendments to the bylaws are allowed if they are designated as an "emergency" after review by the Council of Delegates and by a two-thirds vote of the House of Delegates. Proposed resolutions must be submitted to the ACA corporate secretary at least 45 days prior to the meeting (Article V, Section F(4). Deadline for proposed resolutions is January 20, 2004. A preparation kit for revisions is available by calling 1-800-986-4636. Ask for the "Bylaws Kit." The kit includes the appropriate criteria with examples (including line numbering). All submissions are to be double-spaced and submitted on Microsoft-compatible disk accompanied by hard copy. 6. ACA LEADERSHIP ON THE ROAD ACA President Don Krippendorf, DC, attended the recent Florida Chiropractic Association (FCA) seminar in Naples, Florida. In addition to meeting and talking with ACA members and non-members at the ACA booth, he was given an opportunity to speak at a fundraiser sponsored by the FCA's PAC for Democrats (They do something similar for Republicans as well). Over 60 people attended, including prominent members of the democratic legislature. Dr. Krippendorf discussed the efforts of Senator Grassley in promoting our demonstration project, including his email to Senator Frist telling him to "back off" their opposition. Dr. Krippendorf also discussed the recent story in the Washington! Times where ACA was list among the top 25 grassroots lobbying organizations for health care in the country. The timing couldn't have been better. He also presented Presidential Achievement Awards to Debbie Minor Brown, EVP of the FCA, and to Dr. Randy Harding for his efforts on the Florida Board of Directors and as a member of the CCE. Dr. Daryl Wills, ACA Immediate Past President, traveled to Palmer College in Davenport, IA, to deliver a number of lectures to Palmer students and to help man the Student ACA (SACA) booth. He had an opportunity to visit all 12 classrooms at the school. On Saturday morning, he presented a 2-hour presentation on chiropractic philosophy and the importance of diagnosis, and in the afternoon a 2 ˝ -hour program in which he discussed numerous ACA activities. Dr Jim Edwards, Immediate Past Chairman of the ACA attended the VA Committee meeting in D.C. on December 2-3. 7. THERAPY WHILE YOU SLEEP-A SPECIAL OFFER FROM THERAPEUTICA SLEEPING PILLOWS Therapeutica Sleeping Pillows are available to ACA Members at a special package price during the months of December and January. Exclusively endorsed by the ACA, the Therapeutica Sleeping Pillow has helped many people have a good night's sleep by providing correct spinal alignment. This special offer allows you to purchase a special package containing four sleeping pillows and a display stand at a special rate that includes free shipping. Help your patients find a good night's sleep with Therapeutica Sleeping Pillows. For additional details, go to http://www.acatoday.com/pdf/special_pillow_offer.pdf. You may also contact Innovative Choices, the manufacturer of the Therapeutica Sleeping Pillows, at 800-348-5729 for more information. 8. ACA OFFICE CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAYS The ACA office will be closed for the holidays from Thursday, December 25, 2003, through and including Thursday, January 1, 2004. I will be monitoring my emails in case you need to reach me. Hope you all enjoy the holidays…and let's gets make a pledge for 2004 for each of us to bring in at least one new ACA member. With additional support, we can accomplish even greater things for the profession in the year ahead. 9. 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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