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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is considering
whether to broaden the group of women it recommends to get routine
screening for osteoporosis, and it wants physician input. Physicians and others can comment on the draft recommendations through 5 p.m. EST Aug. 3 online
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ChiroVoice is growing ever larger now up to over 51,000 users. Texas still ranks seventh in the nation in ChiroVoice Registrations, but our chiropractic colleges rank 12 and 13.
It’s more important than ever that you ask your patients and
colleagues to sign-up on ChiroVoice. Check it out HERE
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This article, written by Susan McClelland and distributed by COCSA, reports that it's ok to waive the extra portion of the Medicare co-pay that the 2.2% Medicare pay increase has caused. Read more of the details in this article.
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Each quarter the TCA meets with the Texas Department of Insurance to
review with each other what is occurring within the respective
professions. On June 3, 2010, representatives from the TDI met with the
leadership of the TCA. Read more about the results of this meeting in this article.
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The Annual Convention of the Texas Chiropractic Association got underway
on Thursday, June 10, 2010 and kicked off the events of the weekend
with a board of directors meeting.
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The Texas Chiropractic Association's Annual Convention begins today.
The meeting held at...
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A Government task force now
says all younger postmenopausal women should get checked if their risk
of a broken bone is the same or greater than the average 65-year-old
woman. Factors that can increase risk include low weight, certain drugs,
smoking, heavy alcohol use and a parent who broke a hip.
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Poor health literacy -- an individual's ability to seek,
understand, and utilize health information -- has been linked with
limited self-management skills, but the influence of health literacy
has not previously been investigated in low back pain.
An Australian study investigating this found that among patients with low back pain, negative beliefs and behaviors --
such as believing their problem will not get better -- are important
correlates of increased disability.
They also found that patients named health professionals as their primary
source for information about low back pain and favored physiotherapists
and chiropractors over [medical] care physicians for specialized
information.
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A watchdog group is urging a
federal investigation of vaccine pricing polices of two large
drugmakers. The two companies, according to Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington, give discounts on some vaccines to physician
healthcare groups -- as long as they buy all their vaccines from the
same company.
[So...does the same logic apply to insurance companies who "give discounts" to those who contract with one type of provider over another? --Ed]
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Faced with a ballooning deficit in Germany's health
care system, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided...to
raise premiums and cut into the profits of doctors, dentists, hospitals
and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Germany's once highly regarded
mandatory health insurance covers about 72 million people, or 90 percent
of the population. It has already gone through a series of reforms to
stabilize its financial base. Costs are rising swiftly because of ever
more sophisticated treatments and an aging population.
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New types of currency are popping up in the form of precious metal coins from private mints.
The U.S. Treasury Department says the Coinage Act
of 1965 says 'private businesses are free to develop their own policies
on whether
or not to accept cash. The
metal, because it's a precious metal retains its value relative to today's dollar, which has deflated."
Accepting the private mint silver or precious metal currency then
"...protects you from inflation that paper money gives you." |
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The health care overhaul passed earlier this year
will help many uninsured get coverage starting in 2014. But until then,
Americans who lose employer coverage may find buying insurance on their
own unaffordable. That means many of the 46 million Americans
uninsured have to foot the bill for medical care.
The AP offers suggestions on how people might cope with a lack of health insurance...
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Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who
can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait
times under the nation's new health law. That might come as a
surprise to those who thought getting 32 million more people covered by
health insurance would ease ER crowding.
One of the reasons cited includes: "...ER patients ready to be
admitted...must compete for
beds with patients scheduled for elective surgeries, which bring in more
money. "If you've got 10 ER patients and 10 elective surgeries...which are you going to give the beds
to?"
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The health reform law effectively will ban new physician-owned
hospitals from starting up and existing ones from expanding. The hospitals already are fighting back announcing that they had filed suit jointly in U.S. Federal Court
for the Eastern District of Texas, challenging the constitutionality of
the reform law's physician-owned hospital section.
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Starting June 15, CMS will begin
processing physician Medicare claims for services provided on June 1 and later at the new,
much lower rate, unless the Senate passes a bill before then. The Senate is out
until the middle of Monday afternoon, it now looks as if the vote won't
come until next Tuesday, the 15th, at the earliest.
As for whether CMS will extend the amount of time that claims are
being held, an agency spokeswoman said she had no updated information on
the subject.
Read more in this article.
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Medicare cuts of some 32% will soon affect the suppliers of Durable Medical Equipment in nine major cities.
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A new set of national dietary guidelines acknowledges that many
Americans are unhealthy and emphasizes efforts to battle the obesity
epidemic. In addition to lower sodium and saturated and trans fat goals,
the
recommendations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also call for policymakers
and the food industry to become engaged in the fight. The obesity
epidemic is priority
number one.
The new set
of guidelines is open for public
comment until July 15.
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The National Institutes of Health have adopted a much stricter policy on reporting financial conflicts of interest. This article reports on the proposed new rules which should become final before the end of the year.
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The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) is accepting public comment, and has scheduled public hearings, on several rules proposals. Comment deadline is Monday August 16, 2010.
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Dr. Donald Patrick will join the Texas Department of Insurance, Division
of Workers’ Compensation as the Medical Advisor effective July 12,
2010.
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The Texas Workers’ Compensation Rulebook Supplement 2010-01 containing
rules adopted by the Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation is available
online from the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’
Compensation (TDI-DWC). The supplement can be printed from the TDI
website at http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/wc/rules/supplements.html
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A new
transfer program between Spartanburg Community College and Sherman
College of Chiropractic has been made official. SCC students can now combine an
associate of science degree with a 26-credit pre-chiropractic
certificate that will fulfill Sherman's undergraduate requirements.
Completion of the program will give the SCC students guaranteed
admission to Sherman and facilitate a seamless transition. "It's great for Spartanburg to have prospective
students from around the world be able to come right into our community
and take care of their undergraduate courses here," the presidents of the colleges said.
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New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) has received approval from the New
York State Education Department to begin offering its new Master of
Science in Human Anatomy and Physiology Instruction (MSHAPI) beginning
January, 2011. Delivered
primarily online, the Masters Degree is for Doctors of Chiropractic intended to help them become university instructors in anatomy and physiology instruction.
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Texas Chiropractic College announced its new Pathway To Excellence Scholarship Program, which will
begin with the Fall 2010 entering class. The program can lead to
students receiving up to $20,000 in scholarship moneys over their 10
trimesters at TCC.
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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?
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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.
- "Seniors 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.
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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.
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