Patricia Merkle, New York Chiropractic College’s Quality Engineer, was named a Senior Baldrige Examiner by the Baldrige National Quality Program.  The Program, part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is overseen by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Merkle will be qualified to lead a team for the Baldrige process. As an examiner, she will be responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Award.  The board is composed of approximately 500 leading experts selected from industry, professional and trade organizations, education and healthcare organizations, and nonprofits – including government.  All members of the board must take part in a preparation course based on the Criteria for Performance Excellence and the scoring and evaluation processes for the Baldrige Award.

The award may be given annually in each of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, healthcare, and nonprofit.

In addition, the American Society for Quality has accepted Merkle’s presentation titled “Using the Baldrige Framework as a System for Change and Assessment in Education” for presentation at the annual National Quality Education Conference, to be held in Chicago this November.

On June 25, 2010, President Obama signed into law the “Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010.”  This law establishes a 2.2 percent update to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) payment rates retroactive from June 1 through November 30, 2010.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has directed Medicare claims administration contractors to discontinue processing claims at the negative update rates and to temporarily hold all claims for services rendered June 1, 2010, and later, until the new 2.2 percent update rates are tested and loaded into the Medicare contractors’ claims processing systems.  Effective testing of the new 2.2 percent update will ensure that claims are correctly paid at the new rates.  CMS expects to begin processing claims at the new rates no later than July 1, 2010.  Claims for services rendered prior to June 1, 2010, will continue to be processed and paid as usual.

Claims containing June 2010 dates of service which have been paid at the negative update rates will be reprocessed as soon as possible.  Under current law, Medicare payments to physicians and other providers paid under the MPFS are based upon the lesser of the submitted charge on the claim or the MPFS amount.  Claims containing June dates of service that were submitted with charges greater than or equal to the new 2.2 percent update rates will be automatically reprocessed.  Affected physicians/providers who submitted claims containing June dates of service with charges less than the 2.2 percent update amount will need to contact their local Medicare contractor to request an adjustment.  Submitted charges on claims cannot be altered without a request from the physician/provider.  Physicians/providers should not resubmit claims already submitted to their Medicare contractor.

On Friday, the FTC issued a notice indicating that the Red Flags Rule would not be enforced until January 1, 2011.  Over the past few months Congress has been debating whether this regulation should apply to healthcare providers.  The AMA has also filed a lawsuit against the FTC because they believe that the FTC has overstepped its bounds by attempting to apply this regulation to healthcare providers.  In the next few months I believe we will see a bill passed which would exempt healthcare providers from this regulation.

For more information on the Red Flags Rule visit: www.acatoday.org/redflags.  Read the FTC’s release here. 

NYSCA's 2010 ELECTION RESULTS ANNOUNCED The New York State Chiropractic Association is proud to announce the May 2010 election results.
The individuals below are elected to the Board of Directors :
Dr. Lloyd Angel
Dr. Patrice Carroll
Dr. Lloyd Kupferman
Dr. Malcolm Levitin
Dr. Susan Schliff
Dr. Doug Van Vorst
The new Directors will assume their elected office on June 1, 2010. NYSCA thanks all the candidates that participated in this year’s election and congratulation to the winners.

More Than $350 Million Available to Affected Parties

With a focus on looking ahead to chiropractic’s future role in the evolving health care system, this year’s Association of Chiropractic Colleges Educational Conference and Research Agenda Conference (ACC- RAC) was held at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, March 17 to 20, and attracted a record number of participants. ACC president, Frank J. Nicchi, DC, was pleased with the event: “I feel like we accomplished a great deal this year, attendance was robust and important issues in chiropractic education were addressed.  I should also add that the papers, posters and panel discussions presented at the conference were outstanding.”

The conference’s theme, Chiropractic and Public Health in the 21st Century, was advanced by keynote speakers, best-selling author, Nortin M. Hadler, MD, who discussed the personal, social and policy consequences of low back pain in a thought provoking presentation and Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, who spoke to the challenges and opportunities associated with improving population health and providers’ roles in reaching society’s goals. The resoundingly successful conference that included 200 scientific papers submitted for peer review from which 66 were selected for poster presentation and 92 for platform presentation concluded with a lively panel discussion, Subluxation Theory as a Component of Public Health.

During the business meeting, the ACC presidents’ group deliberated on a number of issues including the implementation of action steps related to several strategic directives developed at a July 2009 board retreat. Among those strategic directives are: to achieve consensus among member institutions as to how the chiropractic academic community may contribute to integration within the existing and emerging health care systems; promote collaboration in research efforts among member institutions; increase the quantity, quality and diversity of applicants pursuing chiropractic education; review the ACC Paradigm from an educational perspective; develop relationships with other chiropractic and allied health institutions globally that complement ACC’s mission, vision and values and to look at the possibility of developing clinical residencies as part of the doctor of chiropractic program training. Additionally, ACC working groups , consisting of the chief academic officers, chief financial officers,  directors of clinic, development, institutional assessment, research, libraries, admissions and postgraduate education, met to discuss common challenges facing member institutions.

The ACC-RAC planning committee was chaired by ACC vice-president Fabrizio Mancini, D.C. and included Richard Brassard, D.C. (ACC secretary-treasurer), Cheryl Hawk, D.C., Ph.D., Claire Johnson, D.C., William Meeker, D.C., David O’Bryon (ACC executive director), Robyn Patkus and Rodger Tepe, Ph.D.  Dr. Claire Johnson, Peer Review Chair for the scientific platform and poster sessions for the ACC-RAC conference said, “The 2010 program had the largest turn out of chiropractic research in the history of the conference and remains the premiere scientific venue for which all forms of chiropractic research are presented – which is essential to the future development of the chiropractic profession.”    

Event sponsors included renowned maker of whole food nutritional supplements premier sponsor Standard Process, Inc., and platinum sponsors Foot Levelers and NCMIC.   Next year’s conference, themed integration, will also be held at Caesar’s Palace.  For more information, please visit www.chirocolleges.org.

After returning from its spring recess on Monday, the Senate quickly turned its attention to the Medicare fee schedule cuts.  In mid-March, the House passed a bill to delay the fee cuts until May 1.  The Senate has been debating that bill this week. On Wednesday, an amendment to the bill was presented that would delay the cuts until May 30.  The extension to the end of May would give Congress additional time to develop a longer-term solution to the proposed cuts.   If the delay until May 30 passes the Senate, the bill would have to return to the House for consideration. The House is already taking measures to swiftly pass the bill if it returns to its chamber.  House officials have indicated they could pass the bill by the end of the week. ACA will send out a notice to all members as soon as any final action is taken.

The NBCE Board of Directors has approved the move of public health exam content from the Microbiology and Public Health examination in the basic sciences battery of exams (Part I) to the Chiropractic Practice examination of clinical sciences series of exams (Part II).  The new Microbiology exam will be administered with the September 2010 Written Examinations, while the changes to the Chiropractic Practice exam will be instated with the March 2011 administration.  This change increases the weighting of the public health content of the NBCE exams, a change made to better reflect current chiropractic educational and practice standards and is based on a recent Delphi study that elicited feedback from chiropractic colleges on their curriculum.

The new Microbiology test plan weightings are:

The Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters (CCGPP) is very pleased to announce that the literature syntheses published in JMPT have now been accepted for inclusion in the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) and are available at www.guideline.gov. The NGC is a comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents. NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

This important recognition represents the culmination of a three-year effort by the best and brightest of chiropractic researchers reviewing and analyzing thousands of research articles in an effort to compile the most valid available clinical evidence. The CCGPP Scientific Commission is composed of dozens of doctors of chiropractic from around the United States and Canada and chaired by Dr. Cheryl Hawk. These doctors have donated thousands of hours of their time in this effort and deserve a resounding thank you from each and every doctor of chiropractic in this country. We would also like to recognize the countless number of people who logged in to the CCGPP site and provided valuable stakeholder input. Additionally, Dr. Claire Johnson, editor of JMPT, also deserves special recognition for the extraordinary assistance she provided in guiding CCGPP through the listing process.

“The CCGPP is very excited about the literature syntheses being accepted for inclusion by the National Guideline Clearinghouse”, said Dr. Mark Dehen, CCGPP Immediate Past Chair. “To have the CCGPP’s literature syntheses and treatment recommendations listed is a significant and historic step in our long-term Dissemination, Implementation, Evaluation and Revision (DIER) process. This level of acknowledgment will make these literature syntheses broadly available to all of our stakeholders, better educating them about the chiropractic profession and encouraging collaborative opportunities. More importantly, it will provide another avenue to make this information available to our chiropractic practitioners as they seek to continue to increase the quality of care they provide their patients.

According to the agency’s website, the NGC mission is to provide physicians, nurses, and other health professionals, health care providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers and others an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation and use.
The spectrum of evidence utilized ranged from randomized controlled trials to case series and consensus opinion. The draft documents were made available for stakeholder review and comment on the internet in an effort to improve the transparency and promote profession-wide input before these documents were published in a peer reviewed journal.

The chiropractic profession owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to Dr. Cheryl Hawk, current Commission Chair; Low Back Cochairs, Drs. Dana Lawrence and William Meeker; Low Back Consensus Chair, Dr. Gary Globe; Myofascial and Fibromyalgia Cochairs, Drs. Howard Vernon and Michael Schneider; Tendinopathy Chair Dr. Mark Pfefer; Lower Extremity Cochairs Drs. James Brantingham and Gary  Globe; as well as all of their teams and research assistants.  We also thank our previous Commission Chairs, Drs. Skip Lantz, Jay Triano and Al Adams, as well as our current and former Council members. We also would like to acknowledge our tremendous debt to all of our benefactors, most especially our former Vendor Representative, the late ChiroCode founder, D. Henry Leavitt.

On Saturday, April 3, 2010, 46 NYCC Doctor of Chiropractic graduates crossed the stage to receive their diplomas. John A. Catena, DC, (NYCC 1997) an instructor in NYCC’s Chiropractic Clinical Sciences offered the faculty greeting and John DeCicco, DC, (NYCC 1982) associate professor in the Chiropractic Clinical Sciences acted as Grand Marshall.  Rick McMichael, DC, F.A.C.C., F.I.C.C.delivered a commencement address that urged service. “I pray that you will find great success in loving service to your families, patients, communities, and our profession,” he said.  McMichael went on to explain that real happiness in life comes from serving others and making their lives more happy, more hopeful, more healthy and more productive.

Dr. McMichael is the current President of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and member of its Executive Committee.  He was appointed to a Department of Defense Oversight Advisory Committee to oversee implementation of chiropractic care within the Department of Defense.  He served on a similar Chiropractic Advisory Committee for the Department of Veterans Affairs at the request of the Secretary Anthony Principi to help ensure access by the nation’s active duty troops and veterans to the very best healthcare available.  Appointed by Governor Voinovich to serve on the Ohio Board of Chiropractic Examiners (now the Ohio State Chiropractic Board), Dr. McMichael has served the board eight years, two as its president.  Dr. McMichael also served as president and chairman of the Board of the Ohio State Chiropractic Association.

American College of Chiropractors Inductees
The commencement exercises also hosted formal induction of new fellows into the American College of Chiropractors. Inductees included Patrick M Casey, DC, staff doctor at Fort Carson’s Evans Army Community Hospital; Louis P. DiLorenzo, Esq., NYCC General Counsel and partner at Bond, Shoeneck and King;  Stephen Eble, DC (NYCC 1981), Chair of New York State Board for Chiropractic; and Karen Erickson, DC (NYCC 1988), member of NYCC Board of Trustees.

Regardless of what you think politically about health care reform, you have to be impressed with the inclusion of non-discrimination language in the bill that recently passed. 

On Tuesday, March 23, 2010, President Obama made history when he signed national healthcare reform legislation into law. Over the past year, Palmer College of Chiropractic has closely watched the healthcare reform debate and subsequent actions taken by Congress. Palmer administrators, faculty, staff, students and alumni have been working behind the scenes with government officials, other chiropractic organizations and at the grass-roots level for more than a year to facilitate chiropractic’s inclusion in healthcare reform legislation, and with the signing of this new law, these joint efforts have resulted in several provisions that are positive for chiropractic.

Historic Pro-Chiropractic Provisions Will Become Law

(Arlington, Va.) -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 3590, the Senate-passed version of national health care reform legislation, tonight. The final vote took place after a nearly 13 month battle, culminating in a contentious struggle to garner votes from undecided members of the Democratic majority in Congress.

This means that the provisions contained in HR 3590 now only await President Obama’s signature to be enacted into law. These provisions include an important provider non-discrimination provision long championed by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA). Incorporation of this provider non-discrimination provision, also known as the “Harkin Amendment,” was achieved primarily due to the efforts of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), with help from other key players such as Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut). Although he did not support the final bill overall, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) also lent his support for the advancement of the non-discrimination provision.

“Regardless of how you feel about this legislation and its overall impact on the nation, it has to be recognized as an historic first for the chiropractic profession. We now have a federal law applicable to ERISA plans that makes it against the law for insurance companies to discriminate against Doctors of Chiropractic and other providers relative to their participation and coverage in health plans. Such discrimination based on a provider's license is inappropriate and now must stop,” said ACA president, Dr. Rick McMichael. “While this does not fully level the playing field for doctors of chiropractic in our health care system, this is a highly significant step that has the potential for positive, long-range impact on the profession and the patients we serve. Congress has finally addressed the issue of provider discrimination based on one's license, and they have said that such discrimination must stop.”

The provider non-discrimination provision (Section 2706) to be enacted into law reads in part: “A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall not discriminate with respect to participation under the plan or coverage against any health care provider who is acting within the scope of that provider’s license or certification under applicable State law.”

Regarding this provision, John Falardeau, ACA’s Vice President of Government Relations said, “The Harkin non-discrimination language will be applicable to all health benefit plans both insured and self-insured. National health care reform is designed to eventually cover 30 million currently uninsured Americans. The non-discrimination language will, over time, apply to those individuals as well. However, that number of covered individuals pales in comparison to the 55 percent of workers who are currently covered by self-insured plans that will be affected by the Harkin non-discrimination language. The potential impact in this regard cannot be overstated.”

Additionally, the legislation passed by the House includes two other provisions that impact the chiropractic profession. Doctors of chiropractic are specifically included as potential members of interdisciplinary community health teams. These teams support the development of medical homes by increasing access to comprehensive, community based, coordinated care. Community health teams are integrated teams of providers that include primary care providers, specialists, other clinicians, licensed integrative health professionals and community resources to enhance patient care, wellness and lifestyle improvements. The language in the bill ensures that doctors of chiropractic can be included in these patient-centered, holistic teams. Dr. McMichael noted, “This language was a critical inclusion to give doctors of chiropractic increased opportunities to be fully engaged as part of the health care team.”

Furthermore, the legislation establishes a National Health Care Workforce Commission to examine current and projected needs in the health care workforce. The commission specifically includes doctors of chiropractic by defining them as part of the health care workforce, and includes them in the definition of health professionals. In addition, chiropractic colleges are included among the health professional training schools to be studied. The National Health Care Workforce Commission is tasked with providing comprehensive, unbiased information to Congress and the Obama Administration about how to align federal health care workforce resources with national needs. Congress will use this information when providing appropriations to discretionary programs or in restructuring other federal funding. The language in the bill guarantees that the need for doctors of chiropractic will be addressed when considering federal health care workforce programs, another very important inclusion.

Assuming final modifications to the bill are ultimately agreed to by the Senate; ACA will then publish a detailed analysis of the entire legislation, including a timeline for when certain provisions become effective. Additionally, ACA will maintain an active watch over the implementation of the legislation over the next several years and will offer its views regarding proposed regulations that will likely be developed in order to fully implement the new law. ACA will also respond to any future legislation such as “technical corrections” and other modifications that might be considered. Dr. McMichael noted, “Our partners on the Chiropractic Summit were important team members in securing these critical inclusions for the benefit of our profession and our doctors. We thank all team members for their good collaborative work on this major effort and future efforts to come.”

March 16, 2010 — The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) Board of Governors today announced the hiring of William K. O’Connell as its new executive vice president. Connell succeeds Kevin Corcoran, who left the association in May 2009.

"After an exhaustive search, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Bill O’Connell as the association's next EVP. His extensive background in association leadership makes him a natural fit at the helm of ACA,” said Dr. Mario Spoto, chairman of ACA’s Board of Governors.

Most recently, O’Connell served as executive director of government affairs at the National Safety Council. His achievements there include gaining the support of congressional staff for authorization bills and appropriation initiatives, managing issues and key relationships with executive branch staff and appointees, and forging partnerships in coalitions of like-minded organizations to advance shared legislative interests.

Additionally, O’Connell has served as a senior executive with the American Board of Anesthesiology, the American Osteopathic Association and the American Dietetic Association, which has prepared him to face the challenges and opportunities that the chiropractic profession must address in the changing health care environment.

"I am very excited to welcome Mr. O’Connell to ACA and the chiropractic community,” said ACA President Dr. Rick McMichael. “His successful track record of creating partnerships and coalitions and working with legislators on the Hill will be a real asset to the ACA.”

Late Tuesday night, the President signed into law a bill that delays until March 31, 2010 the 21% Medicare fee cuts that were scheduled to take effect in 2010.  Further Congressional action will be necessary to stop the implemenation of these cuts for the remainder of the year.  Please contact your federal legislators in Washington today to urge them to take permanent action on this issue.