Memorandum
To: ACA Members, House of Delegates, Board of
Governors and Other Interested Parties
From: Garrett Cuneo
Re: ACA EVP Weekly Report
Date: January 20, 2004
This week's report includes the following items:
1. ORAL ARGUMENTS IN TRIGON SUIT SET: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
2. DECISION IN CANADIAN INQUEST IS PUZZLING
3. ACA CONDUCTS SURVEY ON ACUPUNCTURE
4. NCLC INCLUDES BLUE CCHIP WORKSHOP 2004
5. AMERICAN MEDICAL NEWS REPORTS ON VA COMMITTEES RECOMMENDATIONS
6. REMINDER TO PARTICIPATE ON CAC CONFERENCE CALL
7. EXPANDING CHIROPRACTIC IN THE TRICARE PROGRAM A HIGH LEGISLATIVE PRIORITY
8. CAN’T ACCESS THESE LINKS?
1. ORAL ARGUMENTS IN TRIGON SUIT SET: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
We have been informed by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that our oral arguments are scheduled for Tuesday, February 24th in Richmond, Virginia, before a three-judge panel. We have also learned a little more about the process. One week before the hearing, two copies of all the appeal briefs filed by either side will be given to each of the three panel judges. Each judge will then provide a copy to his/her clerk, and for the next week they will discuss with each other the case and begin to form their individual decisions. Judges will not speak to one another during this period. Following the oral testimony, the judges will meet together for the first time; discuss the case and issue their decisions. The most senior member of the court will decide who will write the majority opinion. We could receive the majority opinion anywhere from one to six months later. The decision could range anywhere from an outrigh! t denial of our appeal, to issuing an order supporting one or all parts of our appeal, including the remanding of the case back to the original judge ordering a jury trial.
2. DECISION IN CANADIAN INQUEST IS PUZZLING
As you are probably aware, an inquest had been ongoing in Ontario, Canada to determine the cause of death of Lana Dale Lewis, a woman who had suffered a stroke under a set of controversial circumstances. On January 16, 2004, the five-member jury involved in the inquest reported a finding of "accidental," In delivering its finding, the jury also made a series of recommendations based on the proceedings.
While the inquest found no evidence that chiropractic care caused the stroke death of Ms. Lewis, ACA feels that many of the jury’s recommendations are incompatible with the “accidental” ruling in the case.
According to ACA’s official statement on the decision, “The American Chiropractic Association is not surprised that the jury in a recent Canadian inquest into the death of Lana Dale Lewis was unable to find any evidence that chiropractic manipulation caused her stroke. In ruling that Lewis' death was ‘accidental,’ the jury effectively conceded that it was unable to determine exactly what caused her death…”
For a full listing of the jury’s recommendations, or for a copy of ACA’s official statement, contact Patrick Bernat at
pbernat@amerchiro.org. In the meantime, the ACA offers the following links to information that may be helpful in dealing with the issue of chiropractic safety, as the topic may generate concern among patients and local media:
http://www.acatoday.com/pdf/informed_consent_bullets.pdf
http://www.acatoday.com/pdf/chiro-risks.pdf
3. ACA CONDUCTS SURVEY ON ACUPUNCTURE
The ACA, in conjunction with three professional associations that represent acupuncturists, will be conducting a survey as part of the AMA CPT process. The survey's purpose is to develop relative values for acupuncture codes. The ACA, who holds a seat on the AMA's Health Care Professional Advisory Committee (HCPAC), will be coordinating the effort. Roughly ten percent of the chiropractic profession performs acupuncture, and the ACA has selected a random sample of these doctors as survey participants. Within the week, these surveys will be sent out. If you receive one of these surveys, please be diligent in completing it and returning it by the assigned deadline, as this is the only means by which to fairly assign relative values to these services.
4. NCLC INCLUDES BLUE CCHIP WORKSHOP 2004
For the third consecutive year, ACA will host a Blue CCHIP (BCCHIP) workshop during its annual National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC) in Washington, DC. This closed meeting will take place Friday, March 5th from 10:00am-3:00pm. All BCCHIP liaisons, state delegates, and state association representatives are encouraged to attend. Attendees at this year's meeting will learn about the working relationships of a particular model state from the perspective of both the liaison and internal Blue Cross Blue Shield contacts. They’ll also hear about new research and measures ACA is taking on specific problem areas that have arisen over the past few years, such as chiropractic coverage for children. Additionally, the BCCHIP meeting provides a forum for liaisons, delegates, and state associations to exchange strategies and ideas to overcome problems and frustrations inherent in working within the BCCHIP program. ! This is a very important meeting for everyone involved with BCCHIP to attend.
5. AMERICAN MEDICAL NEWS REPORTS ON VA COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
In its January issue, the American Medical News published a fairly extensive article on the recommendations made by the VA Chiropractic Advisory Committee. The article states in part, "Chiropractic care at the Department of Veterans Affairs could expand dramatically, if the final recommendations of the VA chiropractic advisory committee are followed."
A review of a portion of the 38 recommendations made by the committee to Secretary Anthony Principi bears out this statement. The Secretary does not have to adopt the recommendations, and there is already strong pressure on him by the bureaucrats and political medicine to water them down. However, the strong majority vote from the committee and our own discussions with the Secretary give us hope of a favorable outcome. The recommendations include:
(a) Inclusion of doctors of chiropractic under Title 38, along with other health care professions (MD, DO, OD, DPM, and DDS)
(b) Direct access to chiropractic care for newly discharged veterans who received chiropractic care in the military for service-connected condition(s)
(c) Inclusion of doctors of chiropractic as full voting members of medical staff
(d) A goal of providing chiropractic care at all major VA health care facilities, consistent with distance and travel standards for access to specialty care
(e) Continuance of fee-for-service chiropractic care in areas where veterans do not have easy access to VA facilities with chiropractic services
(f) Inclusion of chiropractic in VA research projects
(g) Inclusion of chiropractic in VA training programs
(h) Comprehensive educational programs on chiropractic for VA physicians, other health care providers, ancillary personnel and the patient population
For more details regarding these recommendations, please view the following statements from Drs. Bill Morgan, Cynthia Vaughn and Rick McMichael:
http://www.acatoday.com/government/va/morgan_response.shtml
http://www.acatoday.com/government/va/
advisory_recommendation_comments.shtml
http://www.acatoday.com/government/va/setrecord_vahcs.shtml
6. REMINDER TO PARTICIPATE ON CAC CONFERENCE CALL
Just a reminder to those CAC/state association leaders in states covered by the Medicare carriers listed below to participate in a conference call with our Medicare experts to review local medical review policies. The call is scheduled for Thursday, January 22nd at 1:00 pm Eastern. Call Mary Brown at the ACA office (800-986-4636) for call-in and pass code
numbers...
Administar Federal Inc., Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, Empire Medicare Services, First Coast Services Options, Inc., Group Health Inc. (GHI Medicare), HealthNow of Upstate New York, Medicare Northwest, National Heritage Insurance Company and Wisconsin Physicians Services.
7. EXPANDING CHIROPRACTIC IN THE TRICARE PROGRAM A HIGH LEGISLATIVE PRIORITY
We continue to solicit cosponsors for Rep. Ed Schrock's bipartisan bill (HR 3476) to extend chiropractic care benefits to military retirees, dependents and survivors through the Department of Defense’s (DoD) TRICARE program. There are currently 27 members of Congress who have signed up as cosponsors. We urge that you contact your member of Congress and request that he become a cosponsor. A summary of the legislation and its deposition is provided below. For more information or to obtain a list of the current cosponsors, contact ACA’s Government Relations office at 800-986-4636 or visit:
http://econstituent.votenet.com/(kxzme2vddpzkag55rgic5cm5)/
index.aspx/aca/letterwriting.aspx?issueid=538
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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