A guest editorial by Dr. Clem Martin of Bonham, Texas asks a very good question:  Have we succumbed to addictive simplicity which reduces our "science and art" to merely a mindless technique?

Nearing completion of 50 years of clinical chiropractic practice and 73 years of personal reliance on chiropractic application for comprehensive healthcare, Dr. Martin wonders whether treatment is nothing more than a "technique repeated" as so many seem to think.  "If so," he wonders, "what is the science  and art to  something so  ridiculously simple?  Why the need for an academic degree, a graduate degree and continuing education."
 
"We must assert to the scientific community," says Dr. Martin, "that it is not merely subluxation reduction, but consequent modulation in Central Nervous System function at the core of chiropractic methodology."

The individual practitioner gets to decide at what level they will function--primary or secondary care.  Dr. Martin asks the tough question:  which will you choose?

The American Medical Association met in convention this past week and set about establishing their officers, policies, and objectives for the coming year.  We thought that we would share with you a very small amount of the wide ranging content that the AMA considered.  These include:
on a 21 person board nearly 20% are from the State of Texas.
AMA says "we have the opportunity to assure that our county’s health care system bears the imprint of physicians..." and that they..."focus on improving the health care system for patients and physicians"
AMA notes "four leading challenges to our health care system..." it is likely that medical physicians and their patients will seek to profit at the expense of other healing arts practitioners.The AMA will seek public funding for medical physicians and their patients to the exclusion of other healing arts practitioners.  "Sen iors deserve a Medicare benefit that allows them access to and choice of physicians."  But, as the AMA sees everyone who is not an MD/DO as a "non-physician" don't expect the AMA to be inclusive of other healing arts providers."The AMA encourages physicians to develop medical-legal partnerships, and we will help them do this by creating a model agreement and working with key stakeholders on education."  Watch for more litigation in the future.The AMA is calling for support for "personalized medicine", but it seems, that command and control of new technologies and a new source of revenue is the aim of the AMA:  "in order to maximize the benefit of PM...Adequate oversight and regulation must be implemented, and coverage of clinically useful PM should be considered by insurers."The AMA has taken a positive stand on antibiotics recognizing that "over time antibiotics lose the ability to treat diseases", but they call for 10 new, more powerful, antibiotics in the next 10 years.As the AMA states: "Since 1847 the American Medical Association (AMA) has had one mission: to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health. Today, the core strategy used to carry out this mission is our concerted effort to help [medical] doctors help [their] patients." 

The mission of the AMA, the self-proclaimed "organized medicine" is "medicine" and not "healing arts" promotion.  We can only hope that the leadership of our state and nation awaken to this fact as they develop public health policy.

Read more in this article.

It has been common of late for some healing arts practitioners to state "so what if the TMA succeeds in hijacking the word diagnosis?  It won't change how I practice--I just won't take insurances."  The question is then will an adverse outcome on the ability of healing arts practitioners other than MD/DOs to render a "diagnosis" have an adverse effect on a practitioner who does not deal with third-party payers?   The answer is yes it will.

Read more in this article.

This editorial, the last of a three part series, looks at chiropractic and organized medicine seeking to answer the question "why is self-proclaimed organized-medicine anti-chiropractic?"

This editorial, the second of a three part series, looks at chiropractic and organized medicine seeking to answer the question "why is self-proclaimed organized-medicine anti-chiropractic?"

This editorial, the first of a three part series, looks at chiropractic and organized medicine seeking to answer the question "why is self-proclaimed organized-medicine anti-chiropractic?"

If you don’t understand the magnitude of this case in regards to your practice or you think the lawsuit is about MUA’s and Needle EMG’s then you don’t understand this lawsuit. Your ability to make a diagnosis that gets you paid may no longer exist if the judge on this case rules against the T.B.C.E. Go to www.chirotexas.org to better understand what Texas chiropractors are up against.

Please pay attention to this situation and more importantly get involved so we don’t lose the ability to make a diagnosis and therefore lose the ability to treat a patient.

Dr. James Welch, D.C.,  shares an editorial on a perspective of the healing arts that seems to be widespread.

In observing the actions of the Enforcement Committee of the TBCE these past few months, this author has some more suggestions for chiropractic doctors to avoid the kinds of infractions of rules that could bring you before this TBCE Tribunal.