Health Care Update
McDonald’s
Cuts Use of Antibiotics
McDonald’s Corporation announced June 19 they would ask meat suppliers
around the world to reduce their dependence on antibiotics.
McDonald’s is responding to public health concerns about overuse of antibiotics
in farm animals. They said it expects its suppliers to phase out the use of
some antibiotics that promote growth in healthy animals and to reduce the use
of other antibiotics that typically protect the animal against disease.
Bob Langert, senior director of social responsibility at the Oak Brook, Ill.
McDonald’s told The New York Times, “It’s a public health
concern. So we’re putting the word out that we want to buy less antibiotics
in our meat.”
Industry officials told The New York Times that the decision McDonald’s
made would likely alter the way animals are raised around the world since McDonald’s
is the world’s biggest purchaser of meat. Last year, the company bought
2.5 million pounds of beef, poultry and pork.
Other major restaurants are expected to follow McDonald’s lead.
The McDonald’s decision will only affect the growth-promoting antibiotics.
Dr. Linda Tollefson, deputy director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine at
the F.D.A., told The New York Times, “McDonald’s ought to be commended.
The thinking is that less use of antibiotics is better in humans and animals.”
Tyson Foods and Cargill, some of the biggest suppliers for McDonald’s,
said they would comply with the new standards.
Palmer Lyceum Announced
Palmer College of Chiropractic has announced an Aug. 7-9 assembly for chiropractors
to be held at the school’s campus in Davenport, Iowa. Chiropractors will
have the opportunity to learn the latest in research, technique, philosophy and
practice management.
The Palmer Lyceum will include an expo with 80 vendors, plus more than 80 speakers
presenting in sessions where topics will include practical practice management,
HIPPA updates, referrals, malpractice, research, technique, radiology, philosophy
and motivation. Attending DCs can earn up to 26 hours of continuing education
credits.
The assembly is being promoted and participated in by such chiropractic leaders
such as Fabrizio Mancini, CJ Mertz, Darryl Wills and Terry Rondberg.
The cost to attend is $375 (before Aug. 1). CAs and staff may attend for $125,
along with non-D.C. guests. For more information, visit palmerlyceum.com or call
(866) 592-3861 to order tickets. The website includes a complete schedule of events.
House Passes Bill Accelerating Implementation Of Chiropractic In Military
Active-duty military personnel are one step closer to getting access to chiropractic
services after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on May 22
that includes a provision to accelerate implementation of the new chiropractic
benefit in the Department of Defense health care system. The bill was approved
361-68.
Chiropractic groups lobbied successfully for a specific legislative directive
to be included in the House version of the 2004 Department of Defense authorization
bill, H.R. 1588, requiring accelerated implementation of chiropractic health care
services for active-duty military personnel and setting a new target date of Oct.
1, 2005, for full implementation.
H.R. 1588 will be reconciled with the Senate-passed authorization bill in June.
The chiropractic lobbying teams will be working with allies to ensure that the
accelerated chiropractic care directive and full-funding level remain in the legislation
when it is considered for final passage.
ChiroCredit Offers Continuing Education by Conference Call
ChiroCredit, LLC is now offering TeleSeminars for chiropractic continuing education
credits with one-hour weekly seminars by way of live conference calls. Sponsored
by the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic, TeleSeminars are yet
another way in which chiropractic continuing education is catching up with other
professions in having a variety of ways to obtain continuing education other than
in the traditional classroom setting.
“Our TeleSeminars have been approved for continuing education credits in
many states,” said Paul Powers, D.C., CEO of ChiroCredit, LLC. “We
have already enjoyed a two year history of providing the highest quality online
continuing education courses available online at our ChiroCredit.com website. TeleSeminars
are going to allow doctors of chiropractic from all over North America to participate
in a live seminar, communicate with the instructor and share ideas, all while
avoiding travel costs and time away from their practices and family.”
TeleSeminars are being offered on a diverse amount of topics including, but not
limited to diagnostic imaging, occupational health, nutrition, physical diagnosis,
sports medicine, orthopedics and rehabilitation. Each TeleSeminar lasts for
one hour and are offered during midday and evening hours. For more information,
visit chirocredit.com.
Trigon Lawsuit Advances to Appeals Court; Process Closely Resembles that
of Landmark Wilk vs. AMA Case
Chiropractic plaintiffs in the federal antitrust lawsuit against insurance giant
Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield will “vigorously appeal” an April 25
decision by U.S. District Court Judge James P. Jones to dismiss the case. The
American Chiropractic Association (ACA), Virginia Chiropractic Association (VCA)
and several doctors of chiropractic and patients maintain that an appeal will
also allow them to challenge earlier decisions by the judge that limited evidence
and discovery procedures that would have exposed “discriminatory schemes”
that took place prior to 1996.
Calling Jones’ decision “logic-challenging,” ACA attorney George
McAndrews announced during a May 6 discussion with representatives from the National
Association of Chiropractic Attorneys (NACA) that the ACA and VCA would officially
file an appeal within 60 days.
McAndrews says he feels that Jones erred when he relied upon the outcome of a
1991 case, Oksanen v. Page Memorial Hospital, in making his decision. Additionally,
McAndrews feels that the judge overlooked the exception to the general rule that
a corporation cannot conspire with its employees or agents when these individuals
have “an independent personal stake in achieving the corporation’s
illegal objective.”
According to McAndrews, Jones “is acutely aware that he wasn’t at
the end of this case. When the Wilk case initially stumbled, I was distraught
for three months. With this Trigon ruling, I was disappointed for about 45
seconds.”
McAndrews added, “The court’s ruling, if it stands, will allow competitors
to set standards that undermine their competition—all with the logic that
grouping the competitors into one ‘committee’ gives them protection
from the ban on conspiracies, contracts or combinations that serve to restrain
competition. That is a very risky standard to set—particularly in the
health care world—which has never experienced the light of free and fair
competition.”
McAndrews maintains that the impetus behind the discriminatory actions of Trigon
and others like Trigon is the fact that chiropractic care is a competitive threat
that did not come about via the “medical model” of health care. “Chiropractic
exposes the competency gap in medical education,” said McAndrews.
At the center of Jones’ ruling was a legal finding that a Trigon advisory
panel, which was composed of representatives from various Virginia medical societies,
could not as a matter of law “conspire” with Trigon to limit coverage
of chiropractic services and payments to doctors of chiropractic. According
to the ruling, there was not sufficient evidence that the members of the advisory
panel personally benefited financially from Trigon’s discriminatory policies
taken toward doctors of chiropractic. The ACA said they believe that this
interpretation, however, turns existing antitrust laws on its head and cannot
be the law of the land.
Underscoring the important impact the outcome of the Trigon lawsuit could have
on the chiropractic profession, Trigon’s own attorney, Howard Feller, was
recently quoted as saying that the ruling “reaffirms that health care plans
have the legal right to place caps and limits on the payments made for services
performed by providers such as chiropractors.”
Chiropractic Success Story Featured In June Issue of Prevention
The June issue of Prevention magazine, the most widely read health/fitness magazine
in the country with a circulation of over three million people, ran an article
featuring the success story of a patient of Allen Unruh. The patient was relieved
of severe back pain and sleeplessness through chiropractic care.
Female Chiropractic Seminar Series Launches
Currently only 30 percent of practicing chiropractors are women, but trend data
has proven that by 2010 over 45 percent will be women. On May 9, The Masters Circle
launched its first in a series of female chiropractic seminars.
This one-of-a-kind program was custom designed to address the unique challenges
and opportunities for the female chiropractor. Elisa Zinberg and Janice Hughes,
both successful chiropractors and now consultants with The Masters Circle, empowered
and exhilarated their audience with discussions on “Balancing Practice and
Life” and “Seven Indisputable Qualities of Successful Women.”
Special guest Laura Silva, daughter of Jose Silva, founder of the original Silva
Mind Control Method, addressed the group with her “You Can Have it All”
session.
British Medical Journal Publishes Pro-Chiropractic Study
In the April 26 issue of the British Medical Journal, a study was published that
proved manual therapy is a cost-effective method for relieving neck pain.
The study found that: “Manual therapy is more effective and less costly
than physiotherapy or care by a general practitioner for treating neck pain. Korthals-de
Bos and colleagues conducted an economic evaluation comparing the cost effectiveness
of three different treatments for patients with neck pain. After 26 weeks,
patients having manual therapy had higher recovery rates than those having physiotherapy
or being cared for by a general practitioner, but these rates were similar after
52 weeks. Total costs in the manual therapy group were around a third of
the costs in the other two groups.”
ICA Members Elect New Leadership Team
The voting members of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) have chosen
C.J. Mertz as the association’s president for the next two years. From Dripping
Springs, Texas, Mertz becomes the 14th president of the ICA, an organization founded
in 1926 by B.J. Palmer.
Fred H. Barge, well-known author, lecturer and former ICA President in his own
right, has been elected Vice President and Christopher Quigley of Boston, Mass.,
has been elected Secretary Treasurer. The results of this democratic process were
announced at ICA’s 77th annual meeting in May, in Kansas City, Mo.
AHC Conference on Chiropractic History
The Association for the History of Chiropractic (AHC) held its 23rd annual Conference
on Chiropractic History in New Orleans in March in conjunction with the Research
Agenda Conference and the annual meeting of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges.
The AHC’s annual prize for the best paper was awarded to Steve Troyanovich
and Russell Gibbons for their probing investigation of the career of Solon M.
Langworthy, D.C., one of the most significant early builders of the profession.
Arthur G. Lensgraf, D.C., was elected president of the AHC with Jerry Ray Willis,
D.C., serving as first vice president; Bart N. Green, D.C., M.S.Ed., as second
vice president; and Kenneth J. Young, D.C., as secretary. Kenneth Padgett, D.C.,
was honored with the Lee-Homewood Chiropractic Heritage Award for his lifetime
contributions to the profession.
Researchers Discover Possible Link Between Crohn’s Disease and Spinal
Problems
According to a recent study, researchers in Japan say there is a possible link
between Crohn’s disease and interference to the nervous system from spinal
misalignments.
The research was published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research (jvsr.com)
and grew out of a previous study involving more than 3,000 patients with allergic
diseases and over 1,000 non-allergic patients. It focused on the relationship
between immune function, spinal displacements called vertebral subluxations, and
how reducing those displacements resulted in improvement, and in some cases complete
remission, of symptoms of Crohn’s disease.
There are many theories about what causes Crohn’s disease but none has been
proven. The most popular theory is that the body’s immune system reacts
to a virus or a bacterium by causing ongoing inflammation in the intestine.
According to Yasuhiko Takeda, a chiropractor and lead author of the study: “This
is why it is so important to develop other means of dealing with this terrible
disease. If we can find treatments that enhance the function of the immune and
nervous systems perhaps we can help millions of people with this disease without
the harmful side effects of drugs.”
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