News for chiropractors about the chiropractic profession straight from the International Chiropractic Association http://www.chiropractic.org http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:05:53 -0400 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:05:53 -0400 FeedForAll v2.0 (2.0.2.9) http://www.feedforall.com For the sixteenth consecutive year, global superstar and now California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was the highlight of the Symposium on Natural Fitness organized by the International Chiropractors Association (ICA), held February 29-March 1, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio. Each year, the chiropractic event is held in conjunction with the Arnold Schwarzenegger Fitness Weekend and Sports Festival, the biggest fitness festival in the world with over 15,000 athletes competing in over 30 different sports competitions, many of which are conducted at the Olympic level. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/annual_arnold BA53287A-78A6-4D41-BABA-DEF1309FE6D3 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:05:15 -0400 A national conference focusing on the future of chiropractic in the federal Medicare program will be hosted by the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) in Washington, DC on Thursday, April 24, 2008, with all organizations within the chiropractic profession invited to participate. The objectives of this day-long, Medicare forum will be to focus the attention of the chiropractic profession on this struggling but vital program, and foster a positive dialogue on how chiropractic’s vital role in Medicare can be strengthened. Taking the place of the traditional ICA Legislative Work Day, this conference will seek to incorporate the broadest possible representation from within the profession, in a spirit of collective problem solving equal to the challenges and demands of the complex Medicare issue. "ICA is seeking to use its pre-planned dates and program to support a greater outreach on the Medicare issue, and to incorporate those other organizations that have recently started to organize to build a common effort on the key issues facing the profession," said ICA President Dr. John K. Maltby. "We believe that this is vital to our future and the right thing to do." http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/2008_national_conference FBED8251-267E-4F14-BF68-43CB1304A9F0 Tue, 4 Mar 2008 09:03:51 -0500 “Sense of Congress” legislation calling on the US Secretary of Defense to immediately take steps to commission doctors of chiropractic as health care officers in the US Armed Forces has been introduced in the US House of Representatives at the request of the ICA. On February 13, 2008, Representative Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), joined by The Hon. Thelma Drake (R-VA) and two other members, The Hon. Ron Paul (R-TX) and The Hon. Robert Brady (D-PA), introduced Congressional Joint Resolution 294 which states: http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/mil_resolution A9B735D9-BA41-49A6-AB13-8F2E2B3CAA40 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:46:06 -0500 The Associazione Italiana Chiropratici (AIC) has announced that 17 years after the presentation of the first law proposal for professional recognition, on December 21, 2007, chiropractic was recognized by the Italian Parliament as a primary health care profession! For more than three decades, the AIC has led a determined struggle to secure this vitally important legal recognition for chiropractic, in the face of equally determine medical opposition. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/italy_law FBB57838-66E8-49E0-915D-86C02E853A78 Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:56:35 -0500 He’ll be back! ICA’s Symposium on Natural Fitness for 2008 will once again include a personal presentation by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger! This is more than a seminar: featuring an array of exceptional educational sessions, the Symposium on Natural Fitness also offers exciting celebrity athlete appearances and a world-class sports festival! Don’t miss this special opportunity to gain practical, clinically relevant updates on case management for conditioning, injury prevention, and performance enhancement in sports and exercise with patients at all levels of athletic interest. Join us in Columbus, Ohio on February 29-March 2, 2008 for a fun, exciting and educational weekend. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/arnold_2008 0412E60A-E908-4EA7-9E86-1CF401FFDF87 Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:09:16 -0500 In the closing hours of the 2007 Congressional session, the US House of Representatives and the US Senate acted on the same day to suspend for six months the pending 10 percent Medicare physician fee cuts scheduled to go into effect on January 1st. On December 19th, both Houses of Congress voted to adopt S.2499, legislation that included the six-month suspension. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/2008_medicare 97BEA54C-71F2-42DA-B14A-9E1AD3D54820 Tue, 8 Jan 2008 12:46:45 -0500 ICA has launched its dynamic new online resource for chiropractic employment connections, providing specific, affordable access to professional resources for the entire profession. Both ICA members and non-members* can use ChiroJobs to post positions and locate qualified candidates. Focused exclusively on the chiropractic profession, ChiroJobs provides an easy-to-use and highly targeted resource for online employment connections in chiropractic. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/chirojobs 437534A4-11C1-436D-81F5-B83F6113DF67 Thu, 6 Dec 2007 13:12:16 -0500 On October 16th, Doctors of Chiropractic around the globe will again observe World Spine Day as a special opportunity to advance awareness about spinal health and wellness to their patients and the public in their communities and nations. In support of The World Health Organization’s Bone and Joint Decade’s efforts, and in collaboration with organizations including the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations and Life University, ICA encourages doctors of chiropractic everywhere to promote and present the readily available and excellent Straighten Up educational and exercise materials to the individuals, businesses and health policymakers in their community. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/spineday 80F62337-2A8B-4BF7-A662-528556A63D1D Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:47:19 -0400 The heavily funded and fear-based campaign underway in Connecticut since the fall of 2003, projecting a grossly exaggerated and sometimes completely false message about the risk of stroke from the common chiropractic adjustment, has reached a new and alarming stage, and ICA has asked federal authorities to examine this program to determine if federal laws are being violated. The organization calling itself the The Chiropractic Stroke Awareness Group (CSAG) is now airing a television ad comparable to their billboard and other print advertisements asking consumers to call them if they have suffered a stroke after a chiropractic manipulation and offering help. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/anti-chiropractic AF5B6296-B0A9-4063-B046-29AFE0C967CC Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:42:50 -0400 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has stepped forward on behalf of sound public policy and acted in the best interests of the chiropractic profession and the public by vetoing the dangerous and disruptive Senate Bill 801. This legislation would have dramatically revised the way in which the chiropractic profession is regulated in the nation's largest state, and would have placed a measure on the June 2008 election ballot for consideration by statewide voters, with election costs funded by the state's chiropractic licensing fees. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/veto_sb801 34011874-A42A-42F8-A1D6-45F8E423D6B0 Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:44:36 -0400 The ICA Council on Chiropractic Philosophy is presenting a unique Chiropractic Summit, December 7-8 at the Bally’s Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Titled Innate Intelligence in the Modern World, this Summit is designed for doctors of chiropractic and students who have an interest in understanding the depth and breadth of chiropractic and what chiropractic philosophy actually encompasses, from the scientific to the clinical. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/vegas2007 63D6B7CC-E52A-46A7-945D-E13A2FC77A24 Mon, 1 Oct 2007 13:26:59 -0400 For the past several years, the chiropractic profession has witnessed a growing trend on the part of some state chiropractic boards in which actions against practitioners are being taken on the basis of questions of utilization and procedure that have never been a part of board scrutiny. Today, apparently in response to pressure from third-party payment agencies, or some misplaced desire to re-define the norms of chiropractic practice, some boards have acted against practitioners for “over utilization,” x-ray policies and very general communications with the public. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/state_boards 9CBA2739-B975-4ED9-B0B0-4333F136DB13 Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:52:59 -0400 Former Member of Congress Barbara B. Kennelly, President & CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), presented the keynote address to the April 26 th Medicare Roundtable held in conjunction with the 2007 Chiropractic Coalition Legislative Day in Washington, DC. Mrs. Kennelly offered a unique overview of the status of Medicare and the prospects for the future, with a strong emphasis on the needs of the Medicare beneficiary http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/kenelly 90822ADD-797A-4F40-9B94-232352390078 Fri, 6 Jul 2007 11:59:24 -0400 In the face of what can rightfully be characterized as an emerging Medicare scandal, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a widely reported hearing on May 15th on the cost, cost-effectiveness and questionable marketing activities related to Medicares managed care alternative plans called Medicare Advantage. On May 16th, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging held another hearing focusing specifically on the sales and marketing practices employed by insurance agents selling Medicare Advantage plans http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/advantage_plans_scrutiny A08ED3B1-6AA0-4292-8D25-D993945DD68E Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:58:21 -0400 On August 1, 2007, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be making available the complete data base of health care providers who have applied for and obtained a unique national provider identifier number (NPI). That data base will include all submissions and amendments as of July 16, 2007. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/cms_database 0C72F7B0-07D4-403B-A6AD-E4A555C4EAAF Fri, 3 Aug 2007 11:35:18 -0400 After four years, HIPAA remains a quiet reality, with health care providers obligated by this federal law to act to safeguard patient information, and with the potential for stringent penalties for failing to do so. In spite of the seeming stringency of the federal privacy rules, there have been few enforcement actions and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seems committed to a continuing effort to educate and assist providers in becoming and staying compliant, rather than focusing on hard-line, uncompromising enforcement. This does not mean, however, that doctors of chiropractic, along with other health care providers, should let down their guard or fail to take the potential consequences seriously. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/insurance_marketplace A1621620-7542-429C-BA38-85859C103E5F Fri, 3 Aug 2007 11:33:17 -0400 Unless Congress acts, physician fee cuts of 10 percent in 2008 and 5 percent in 2009 are scheduled for the Medicare program. With election year 2008 looming, and not wanting to have to deal at the last minute with the inevitable uproar the 10 percent Medicare fee cuts scheduled for January 1, 2008 will bring about, the US House of Representatives has responded with the Children’s Health and Medicare Preservation (CHAMP) Act. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/MedicareFeeCuts B0548A23-E815-439A-840F-DA37C117966C Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:39:33 -0400 The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continue to rigidly enforce the federal rules that strictly prohibit Medicare and Medicaid providers from giving beneficiaries any sort of goods or services that might be interpreted as “prohibited inducements” to select one provider over another for covered health care services. According to the “Special Advisory Bulletin” issued by the HHS Office of Inspector General, “…a person who offers or transfers to a Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary any remuneration that the person knows or should know is likely to influence the beneficiary’s selection of a particular provider, practitioner or supplier of Medicare or Medicaid payable items or services may be liable for civil monetary penalties (CMPs) of up to $10,000 for each wrongful act. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/medicare_update0807 8818DD93-E227-400E-B38A-5379EDB6E347 Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:51:23 -0400 ICA's Legislative Team has been closely monitoring the activities on the Floor of the US House of Representatives and we are pleased to report that HR 1470, Rep. Bob Filner's legislative initiative to provide program-wide chiropractic staffing at all US Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, passed the full US House of Representatives on May 23, 2007 http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/hr1470 D10BAD08-49F3-4EC0-8F15-2FACCC581524 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:52:09 -0400 Because of a profound awareness of the need for the chiropractic profession to come together to coordinate a sound political action plan in support of unified goals for Medicare reform, ICA’s Board of Directors has unanimously embraced an initiative put forward by the Iowa Chiropractic Society (ICS) to convene a profession-wide consortium of national and state member organizations, educational institutions and other appropriate professional representatives. The purpose of this consortium would be to develop and implement a profession-wide plan of action that will result in the best possible legislative, public awareness and economic benefit for our profession. http://www.chiropractic.org/index.php?p=news/IowaChiropracticSociety 7BDA5491-3780-46A1-8136-4D74AB61E92D Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:32:58 -0400