Fw: ACA President: Important message for Leadership aned Staff

[Guest guest]



F.Y.I., From the ACA President Dr. Overland on the CCE and the continued attempt by some in the profession to yet again "circle the wagons and shoot inward?"

Vern Saboe DC

ACA Delegate for Oregon

ACA President: Important message for Leadership aned Staff

Dear ACA Leadership and Staff:

I trust you all had a great weekend honoring our fallen heroes while enjoying time with family and friends. Normally, I create 2 or 3 variations of my Monday morning message. My goal is to nuance it a bit with information that is more appropriate for the different audiences. Also, as you know the messages are sent in such a way that the recipient cannot respond to the entire group with their thoughts and comments. Today, this message is for our leadership only and I modified that so you can respond if you feel the desire to do so.

Why the change this week? Simple. Your leadership received an urgent presentation last week that was most disturbing. In fact it was disturbing on several layers. Please allow me to elaborate.

As you probably know, the ACA has taken a very strong posture in support of the CCE. You have heard me say several times that the "institution" of the CCE is vital to our profession, while the "organization" itself can always improve and strive to do better. Yet, attacks persist on the very institution. They, now along with the NBCE, have become the targets for some in the profession that simply refuse to accept that their ideas are not embraced by the profession at large.

The new leadership of the CCE has been working diligently on improving communications. In fact, Dr Guy Riekman, the president of Life University is chairman of one such committee. The CCE held one meeting so far, about 2 months ago, with others planned in the near future. In addition there is a CCE presidential search committee that has representation from many segments of the profession. These are but two examples that reveal the CCE now understands the importance of improved communications with the profession. However, once debate of an issue is over, as in any democratic process there is then often a winning and losing opinion. With regards to the CCE, the usual re-accreditation process was followed and the United States Assistant Secretary of Education agreed that the CCE should be re-accredited for another year. They were given a list of issues that needed to be addressed and the CCE is working on those and expect to have them resolved in the next year. This will allow them an additional 4 years of accreditation. This process has worked for years. It is one the chiropractic profession has held dearly ever since it was determined the AMA Committee on Quackery had as its goal the prevention of formal federal accreditation of chiropractic institutions.

Yet today it seems the threat to the CCE, NBCE and others is coming not from the AMA but from within our own profession. There are those who want to see our education revert to a more doctor focused approach heavy on certain philosophical tenets versus the patient centered preparation of our students to become conservative physician level providers. These various organizations state they are: "formed to protect "chiropracTIC" education."

As a result of their actions in the last few weeks two disheartening actions have taken place

The first is the call by a major chiropractic organization for chiropractors and their patients to write their congressman and the US Dept. of Education Assistant Secretary to encourage a reversal of the ruling to approve some and eliminate other CCE requirements for accreditation. The ACA feels the secretary's opinion was a correct one. But even if we didn't, bringing the US Congress into an internal professional debate is simply the wrong tactic. It is not only outside of the Chiropractic Summit principles, of which we all agreed to follow, but for obvious reasons can prove to be very harmful to the profession as a whole.

Second, certainly anyone or group has the right to meet at any time. However, what was brought to the ACA BOG by two past board chairmen is that a recent meeting was held by some to discuss the CCE 'Situation." It appears that at some time surrounding one of these meetings a rumor was created that stated that some in the ACA leadership, unbeknownst to the rest of the board, authorized and attended meetings with Leader Dick Gephardt, Senator Tom Harkin's wife and two congressmen--for the sole purpose of lobbying the assistant secretary of education on behalf of the CCE. They further suggested, as Mr Gephardt is paid with CHAMP funds, that this meeting was in violation of the use of those funds. Since some funds provided are donated by people outside of the ACA, this group was going to file or has filed a freedom of information act request to determine the content of the alleged meetings and bring lawsuits against the ACA.

Let me tell you unequivocally, this meeting did not occur. It was not authorized or even discussed by any leadership or staff. EVER!

So this brings me to the real point of this note. Together we all have been working day and night over the past several years to make certain our profession is properly represented in the health care reform debate and so we achieve Medicare expansion. Regardless of the end result of the election or Supreme Court decision, we can and should be proud of the accomplishments made. Yet, there is a lot of work to be done. Implementation is as important as legislation. We are seeing the states have more of a burden than first anticipated. We are hearing about the formation of ACOs and PCMHs throughout the country. We cannot afford to be distracted from our goals, mission and vision. Yet these distractions continue to persist. Often they are from the third party payer system but now they seem to be more and more from our own ranks. While I do not want to minimize the internal issues important to our profession, I cannot see any value in allowing them to derail our quest for parity and a level playing field in the health care system. Our graduates deserve the opportunity to successfully compete with any other health care provider. Patients deserve to have the opportunity to seek out a doctor of chiropractic without artificial discriminatory barriers. The drug free approach we take is the right one. However, every minute your volunteers and staff take addressing the ongoing squabbles is one less minute to work on our future.

Today, as we still have only a small percentage of the profession as members we are forced to work towards finding common ground and messaging--so when the profession speaks, it is for the majority. Therefore, we have worked diligently to make the summit work and continue open dialogue with all of our professions' organizations. However, at times like these those relationships are tested. It is my opinion that we must continue at all costs to work to have one professional voice whenever possible--even if others don't. Yet, I can't help thinking that if we were just able to build a membership that represents the majority, who do share the ACA views, we then would then have the resources to better accomplish the vision our doctors and their patients deserve..

Thanks for always being there for the ACA and the profession. If I can answer any questions you may have please feel free to reach out at any time.

Sincerely

Overland, DC, CCSP, FICCPresident, American Chiropractic Association