Fw: ACA Week

[Guest guest]

Dear young colleagues, just take a look at what the American Chiropractic

Association is doing for you! Please dear colleagues consider joining the

only politically viable " national " trade organization??

Vern Saboe, DC

ACA Delegate

ACA Week

>Memorandum to: ACA Board of Governors, House of Delegates, and Other

>Interested Parties

>From: Cuneo

>Re: EVP Weekly Report

>Date: August 6, 2001

>

>In this report:

>

>· SIGNIFICANT LEGISLATIVE VICTORY

>· LAWSUIT UPDATE

>· MANAGED CARE: CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE

>· SAME OL' VA

>· MORE COMPARISONS WITH OTHER HEALTH CARE GROUPS

>· CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS SOUGHT FOR PROGRAM IN FLORIDA

>· ZONNYA IN FLORIDA

>· LEADERSHIP IN ACTION

>

>SIGNIFICANT LEGISLATIVE VICTORY

>

>On August 1, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee

(HELP)

>completed work on the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) reauthorization

>legislation. Although Senator Frist (R-TN), the only medical doctor in the

>Senate, objected, the committee moved to include doctors of chiropractic in

>the NHSC program for a three-year period. This provision guarantees that

>doctors of chiropractic will receive loan reimbursement under the NHSC

>program. This is a significant victory. While the committee removed the

>podiatrists and optometrists from the program, doctors of chiropractic, for

>the first time, will be eligible for student loan reimbursement in the NHSC

>program. After the three-year period, Congress will decide whether or not

to

>make chiropractic a permanent part of the NHSC. It will be very difficult

>for Congress to not permanently include chiropractic in the NHSC program.

>Once the chiropractic profession is made permanent in NHSC, doctors of

>chiropractic will be granted a federal designation as primary care

providers.

>

>If the bill passes the Senate as we anticipate, it will then go to the

House

>of Representatives for a vote. With the podiatrists and optometrists out

of

>the program, it will not be easy to have the same success in the House.

>While we still have a fight on our hands, we have taken a significant step

>toward helping our young doctors. The ACA and ACC, along with the help of

>hundreds of students and doctors, have made this happen. No other national

>organizations were involved in this important effort.

>

>LAWSUIT UPDATE

>

>With the judge's decision to dismiss only two of the eight counts filed by

>the ACA and the other plaintiffs against Trigon Blue Cross/Blue Shield of

>Virginia, our attorneys are preparing for the discovery phase of this

>lawsuit.

>

>Needless to say, there has been a good deal of interest from the public

media

>regarding this decision. Since our press release went out on July 31st,

>publications such as the Richmond-Times Dispatch, Mealey's Managed Care

>Liability Report, Managed Care Outlook, and the A.M. Best Company's Best

>Wire/Best Day News Summary have published stories on the lawsuit or have

>contacted ACA for interviews on the suit. This activity has been generated

>as a result of phone contacts by our Media Relations staff, which is also

>pitching the story to the major dailies throughout the country.

>

>The A.M. Best coverage is very significant. A.M. Best Co. offers

>comprehensive data to insurance professionals and is considered the world's

>oldest and most authoritative source of insurance company ratings and

>information. Its Best's Ratings are the industry's standard measure of

>insurer financial performance.

>

>For a copy of the article by A.M. Best visit the ACA's Web site at:

><http://www.acatoday.com/hot_topics/am_best.html>

>

>As an aside, Trigon sent out a press release the morning after we had

>released our story to the media. This is interesting for two reasons:

>

>1) It was the first time that Trigon had sent out a press release on this

>lawsuit.

>2) Their decision to send the release out may have been the result of a

>phone call from the reporter at A.M. Best who was trying to get Trigon's

side

>of the story(something we generated).

>

>We are certain that the people at Trigon aren't happy campers, despite the

>positive spin they've put on this ruling to the media. As a further aside,

we

>have been watching the stock market since the press release was sent out on

>July 31st. Here are the closing prices of Trigon(TGH/NYSE):

>Aug. 1st: 67.21(down 1.23);Aug.2nd:65.62(down 1.59); and Aug 3 65.50(down

..12)

>

>MANAGED CARE CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE

>

>To my surprise, and to the surprise of many political prognosticators, the

>Congress voted on Thursday night largely along party lines to pass out a

>radically different Norwood/Dingell Patients' Bill of Rights. President

Bush

>and Congressman Norwood (R-GA) had crafted a compromise the day

>before that was accepted by the Republicans but lost most Democratic

>supporters as well as the vast majority of the health groups that were

>originally with Norwood. Prior to last night's final vote, there were a

>number of amendments tacked on to the bill from the Fletcher bill,

supported

>by Republican leadership, that were not good for providers, but assured the

>conservative support. This thing still has a long way to go. With the

Senate

>version of the Patients' Bill of Rights being radically different from the

>House version, there will have to be a conference committee where the two

>sides could try to reach a compromise. But given the virtual breakdown of

>bi-partisanship in the House, a compromise may be very difficult.

>

>With the amendment from the Fletcher bill including a MEWA provision, we

will

>be unable to support the House version. The Senate version is

substantially

>better, but still contains the provision regarding appeals that we have

>objected to previously. The ACA will be working with the key members of

the

>Conference Committee, once officially named, to address the issues of

concern

>to the chiropractic profession. Once again, the ACA was the only national

>professional chiropractic organization working on a this important matter..

>

>SAME OL' VA

>

>Sometimes in this political world, you have to jump through hoops to

convince

>members of Congress that they should force an agency to take a particular

>action. They prefer to work with the bureaucracy to see that their

favorite

>projects are implemented successfully. The last thing they want is a

>confrontation with a particular agency. We faced the same problem with

DOD,

>and it took a long time before Congress was persuaded that talk would not

be

>sufficient and that a legislative fix would be necessary. We are going

>through the same hoops with the Veterans Administration. Congress asked us

>to try and work with the VA in developing a comprehensive implementation

plan

>for chiropractic, but so far we have been stonewalled. The latest was a

>meeting on Monday with their representatives. This was the second meeting

>with them. The first was not very satisfying, and this one was not much

>better. The chiropractic community was represented by the ACA, ACC, ICA,

>FCER, WCA and NACM. The VA invited five major veterans groups to the

>meeting, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

For

>the first 45 minutes of the meeting, the VA questioned the efficacy of

>chiropractic. Our representative finally reminded the VA that this is an

>issue that has already been decided by the Congress and the American

People,

>and they should be concerned instead with the implementation. The VA then

>tried to solicit support for their position with the veterans groups

claiming

>that their people may lose some benefits if a comprehensive chiropractic

plan

>was proposed. The VA groups, having been lobbied over the last six months

by

>the ACA, generally supported an aggressive implementation of chiropractic,

>particularly the VFA and the American Legion. The last straw was the

>acknowledgement of the VA that they didn't intend to change their

restrictive

>policy statement on chiropractic. So our obvious question then was " Why

>bring the chiropractic groups together? " No one received a satisfactory

>action. During most of the discussion of the day all the chiropractic

groups

>appeared to be in lock step, or at least did not contradict one other, with

>the exception of Dr. " Chuck " DuVall, representing the National

>Association of Chiropractic Medicine. During the discussions regarding the

>need for direct access, only DuVall opposed it, saying that chiropractors

>should only be treating low back and neck conditions on a referral from a

>medical doctor. This was not much different from his statement at the

>meeting last year, when he quivered with fear at the possibility that

>veterans would be seeing doctors of chiropractic outside of a hospital

>setting without the supervision of a medical doctor.

>

>We have one more meeting with the VA, and the results appear to be

>preordained. We are gearing up for the legislative push in September, and

we

>believe that sufficient ground has been laid to persuade the committee that

a

>legislative fix is necessary. While I have no doubt a fix will happen, we

>need to make sure that it is as comprehensive as possible. You should take

>the opportunity of the August congressional recess to lobby your veterans

>groups to push for support.

>

>

>

>MORE COMPARISONS WITH OTHER HEALTH CARE GROUPS

>

>Last week I reported the comparison of resources between the ACA and the

>American Physical Therapy Association, noting that the APTA had an annual

>budget of $25 million and 168 employees.

>

>This week, I thought you would like to see the same comparisons with the

>American Medical Association.

>

>American Medical Association:

>· 297,000 members

>· 1,200 employees

>· $190 million annual budget

>

>American Chiropractic Association

>· 18,000 members

>· 40 employees

>· $6.5 million

>

>Last time I checked, medical doctors were competing for the same health

care

>dollar that we are. Do you still need more reasons to be a member of the

ACA?

> Sign up now here: http://www.acatoday.com/about_aca/application.html

>

>

>

>

>CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS SOUGHT FOR PROGRAM IN FLORIDA

>

>ACA has requested that the Florida Board of Chiropractic Examiners approve

>the seminar being presented by Dr. Alan Sokoloff, team doctor for the

>Baltimore Ravens football team. Dr Sokoloff will be presenting a " boot

camp "

>for sports chiropractors that will take place on Saturday, September 1st,

>from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. sburg,

>FL. The presentation will include the following:

>· Establishing a purpose!

>· What makes your practice a 'sports medicine' practice?

>· Fundamentals of marketing a sports medicine practice.

>· Where will your referrals come from?

>· Where opportunities exist

>· Options for level of athletic involvement

>· How to develop relationships with other sports medicine practitioners.

>· What is the DC's role outside his/her office? In a training room? On

the

>field?

>· And More

>Special prices: $50 for ACA members, $20 for SACA members and $75 for

>non-members. As an added feature, you may also be able to hear a special

>presentation by Mr. Mcs, lead attorney in ACA's lawsuits

against

>HHS and against the Blues. His presentation begins at 8:15 am.

>

>ZONNYA IN FLORIDA AS WELL

>

>Don't forget that also during HOD week at the Vinoy there will be a special

>presentation by Dr. Zonnya, a motivational trainer who teaches systems that

>are practical and applicable to increase every area of life. She is the

> " First Lady of Motivation, " has appeared on the Oprah show and is a

favorite

>at the Karl Seminars. The program is set for August 30, between

7:30

>and 9:30 pm. Sponsored by the ACAuxiliary, tickets are $40 in advance or

$50

>at the door.

>

>

>

>LEADERSHIP IN ACTION

>

>ACA President A. Mertz, DC, presented the commencement address to the

>graduating students of Northwestern University of Health Sciences (formerly

>Northwestern College). By the way, Minnesota delegate Fidler, DC,

>converted 37 of the 38 graduates to first-year ACA members.

>

>This past week, Dr. J. Flynn, Chairman of the ACA Board of

Governors,

>spoke to two assemblies of the Chiropractic College, and this

weekend

>will do the commencement address at the New York Chiropractic College. Dr.

>Flynn was able to announce to the students the great news regarding the

loan

>program.

>

>Last weekend, Dr. , member of the ACA Executive Committee

>addressed the doctors attending the homecoming weekend at Texas College of

>Chiropractic.

>

>Thanks to the efforts of Florida delegate Dr. Gentile, the Florida

>Chiropractic Association has agreed to include in the registration

>information for their upcoming convention in Orlando some promotional

>materials regarding our annual meeting. Thanks, Dr. Gentile.

>

>