The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has announced a formal venture with Alternative Medicine, Inc. (AMI) to promote the company's patient-oriented health care model to insurers, self-funded employers, other organizations and individuals via joint presentation; seminars; news releases; videos; and other educational avenues.
AMI,* based in Highland Park, Illinois, provides traditional and alternative health care through a network of credentialed physicians to large self-funded employer groups. AMI espouses a "wellness" approach, which focusing on curbing health care costs. Of particular interest to the chiropractic profession is that AMI credentials DCs as primary care physicians in managed care plans. The AMI model gives patients a choice of a fully covered chiropractic benefit with unlimited coverage and a full scope of chiropractic services, including supportive and maintenance care.
"We're very excited about ACA's formal support of our model," said James Zechman, the CEO and chairman of AMI. "We have successfully demonstrated that an integrated medical model featuring doctors of chiropractic as primary care physicians, working in conjunction with MDs, DOs, and RNs, can provide better quality care than any of the specialties working independently."
"ACA is proud to have established this new relationship," asserted ACA President James Mertz,DC. "We are happy to support and promote a lifestyle that millions of Americans have already chosen - wellness and prevention, rather than disease management."
*Editor's note: We have monitored the progress of AMI for several years. In our December 1, 1999 issue, we interviewed the CEO of AMI, James Zechman (see "DCs as Primary Care Providers," www.chiroweb.com/archives/17/25/15.html). We learned that AMI had contracted with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois, the state's largest managed care plan, to give its more than 700,000 enrolled members the option of having AMI's chiropractors as their primary care physicians. We esteemed this a coup for chiropractic, and awarded Mr. Zechman our "1999 Person of the Year."
When AMI was selected by the American Academy of Chiropractic Physicians to become its exclusive national credentialing authority, we interviewed Mr. Zechman for an update. Part I of that interview was in the Feb. 12, 2001 issue ([url=http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/04/20.html]http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/04/20.html[/url]); Part II was in the Feb. 26 issue ([url=http://www.chiro]http://www.chiro[/url] web.com/archives/19/05/14.html).
AMI is located at 473 Central Ave., Suite 2, Highland Park, IL 60035; tel: 847-433-9946; fax: 847-433-9947; www. alternativemedicineinc.com.
