SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Representatives from the 17 North American chiropractic colleges attended the 7th Annual Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) Educational Conference March 15-18. "Enrollment" was the theme of this year's programs, which is especially relevant in light of declining enrollments at most chiropractic colleges.
The annual event brings together chiropractic college administrators and directors to exchange ideas on various aspects of education. The panoply of college representatives and groups at the conference included:
- college presidents
- chief academic officers
- admissions
- alumni
- business officers
- clinic directors
- technique
- development
- financial aid
- institutional assessment
- librarians
- postgraduate
- public relations
- registrars
- research directors
- student services
Russell Coile,MBA, noted health care futurist, began the educational portion of the program. Mr. Coile specializes in health care information systems, strategic planning and provider practice management and has more than 1,500 clients across the U.S. In 1991, he wrote several articles looking at the future of chiropractic.
1-3 As the keynote speaker, he updated his prognostications of chiropractic via a delphi presentation just published in
Topics in Clinical Chiropractic. During the four- day meeting, Foot Levelers, Inc., presented each chiropractic college with their portion of the proceeds from the 1999 Foot Levelers seminar series. Each year, Foot Levelers offers seminars to doctors of chiropractic for license renewal and donates the proceeds. This year, the donated proceeds totaled $40,000; half of the amount went to the colleges, and half to support the ACA's lawsuit against the Health Care Finance Adminstration. Since 1992, Foot Levelers has donated over $5.5 million.
Another sponsor, the NCMIC Group, donated $10,000 to the ACC for the Chiropractic Health Care Demonstration Project (CHCDP). ACC had asked for financial help to retain a consultant to assist in producing an analysis of the report from the CHCDP contractor. (See the front-page story in this issue). NCMIC also provided student scholarships to every chiropractic college.
There were 31 poster presentations that featured original research and other scholarly work. The conference also showcased numerous panel discussions, including ones on clinical chiropractic; geriatrics and chiropractic curriculum development and clinical applications; health and wellness in clinical practice and education; and spinal anatomy - basic science and educational advances.
Discussions with the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners
During their session with representatives from the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE), the chiropractic college presidents discussed testing issues and drew up several specific recommendations to the NBCE:
- consolidation of NBCE Parts II and III;
- improved scheduling of examinations; and
- electronic testing.
"The ACC appreciated the opportunity to address these matters directly with the NBCE representatives and was heartened by the assurances that these issues would be addressed in the best interest of all chiropractic students," said ACC President Kenneth Padgett,DC.
Despite various groups meeting simultaneously in different venues throughout the conference, the event ran smoothly, thanks to the well organized efforts of Dr. Claire Johnson, Dr. Todd Andrew and their staff.
Next year's meeting is set for March 14-17, 2001 in San Diego, California. The theme will be "Technology - the Internet and Chiropractic Education."
References
- Coile R. The future of chiropractic: Lessons of "the new medicine" for chiropractic in the 1990s. - Part I. Dynamic Chiropractic, January 18, 1991. http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/09/02/23.html
- Coile R. The future of chiropractic - Part II. Dynamic Chiropractic, February 1, 1991. http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/09/03/27.html
- Coile R. The Future of chiropractic - Part III. Dynamic Chiropractic, March 15, 1991. http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/09/06/28.html
Lee-Homewood Award Goes to George McAndrews One high point of the Association of Chiropractic College (ACC) meeting was the presentation of the Lee-Homewood award to Mr. George McAndrews. Mr. McAndrews, the 19th recipient of the award, is best known as the lead counsel who led the chiropractic profession to victory in the anti-trust suit Wilk et al. vs AMA et al. Mr. McAndrews is now leading the charge in the ACA's lawsuit against the new Medicare managed care regulations promulgated by HCFA.
The Lee-Homewood award is given annually by the Association for the History of Chiropractic (AHC) to those who have helped shape the chiropractic profession. The tribute to Mr. McAndrews was delivered by Alana Callender, past-president of the AHC. The award was presented by Dr. Mildred Kimbrough, AHC president. The AHC was holding its annual meeting in conjunction with the ACC meeting.
