LAS VEGAS, Nevada - The ICA Board of Directors gathered in the "adult Disneyland of the desert" June 6-8 to celebrate the association's 74th year of service to the chiropractic profession and to map out an aggressive set of goals for the coming year. Reporting to the annual meeting, Dr. Robert Hoffman, ICA president, asserted to the gathering:
"Thanks to the determined and highly disciplined efforts of the ICA, there indeed has never been a better time to be a chiropractor."
He presented a detailed annual report that outlined the growth and aggressive new initiatives and programs undertaken in the past year on behalf of chiropractic worldwide. (Dr. Hoffman's report is available on the ICA website (http://www.chiropractic.org)
New Practice Guidelines
At the top of ICA's Board-adopted agenda was the approval and immediate release of their new Recommended Clinical Protocols and Guidelines for the Practice of Chiropractic (RCPGPC). This document was nearly three years in the making and involved input from hundreds of practicing DCs, educators, attorneys and members of the public. This publication presents a detailed set of clinical protocols for the practice of chiropractic, based on more than a century of clinical experience, the laws establishing chiropractic, chiropractic education, and ICA's Code of Ethics and policy positions.
The new practice protocols offer a detailed and comprehensive narrative that seeks to explain and validate chiropractic procedures, with a focus on the subluxation and its neurological implications. The unique aspects of the specific chiropractic adjustment are dealt with in great detail in an effort to define, clarify and validate what is uniquely chiropractic.
"This historic undertaking has produced a strong, defensible, practical advocacy document that marshals and arrays a well-researched, accurately referenced and substantive explanation for chiropractic procedures from the worldwide perspective," explained ICA President Dr. Robert Hoffman. "I do not believe that a more complete, accurate and well-defined practice protocols document has ever been produced for the chiropractic profession," he averred.
Developing the ICA guidelines has been an open and wide-ranging endeavor, with the draft document available on line for over a year. ICA received massive input from the field: hundreds of comments from DCs, educators, students, consumers and those in other professions. ICA's Recommended Clinical Protocols and Guidelines is now available on the association's website at http://www.chiropractic.org. A copy will soon be provided to every ICA member and be made available to the profession in a printed edition and on CD-ROM. ICA also plans a distribution campaign to provide the guidelines and protocols to the insurance industry, health care policymakers and other professions in an effort to build a greater understanding of the unique and powerful nature of chiropractic science.
"If they (NBCE) will not reform, ICA will join with other chiropractic organizations to look at alternative testing bodies and mechanisms." - ICA President Robert Hoffman,DC
New Focus on Membership Services
The ICA Board enthusiastically endorsed a major enhancement of membership services, ranging from new insurance and financial planning services (in partnership with John Hancock) to important new product discounts and public education efforts. New programs were approved to enhance the group's patient referral efforts and, as part of ICA's strategic planning effort, a goal of 10,000 patient referrals to its members was set for the coming year. The board also voted unanimously to increase the funding of membership services and staff fourfold, marking the largest single spending increase in the association's history.
"ICA belongs to its members and is obligated to serve and support those who comprise our dynamic world wide community," noted Dr. Hoffman. "We are proud that ICA chiropractors are the most successful chiropractors on Earth, and ICA's leadership will continue to invest heavily in enhancing and expanding this reality for more and more DCs around the globe."
ICA Retains WFC Membership and Expands International Activities
The worldwide growth of the International Chiropractic Association was the focus of serious planning and developmental discussion, since global membership was expected to triple within the next calendar year. ICA now has members in 43 nations, and in all 50 of the United States and every province in Canada. In recent weeks, ICA expanded its official international representation with the addition of nearly a dozen national assembly representatives and the applications of two European chiropractic national associations to be formal affiliates of the ICA. The organization's Board discussed at great length the appropriate ways and means to promote the growth and development of chiropractic expansion, and to support the profession's pioneers as they work to establish chiropractic around the globe.
The nature of world chiropractic development has been the subject of grave concern, in part because of the way chiropractic has been represented in recent years by some in the WFC. Of particular concern was the apparent neglect of the traditional principles of chiropractic in presentations made about the profession to international bodies and governments. An aggressive campaign to persuade ICA to withdraw from the WFC was mounted by a few DCs (some ICA members) who disagreed with the direction the WFC was steering chiropractic. This campaign found little support among ICA's leadership and produced a massive counter-campaign led by its international membership and elected assembly representatives. They unanimously recommended that the group stay in the WFC and fight for major reforms and personnel changes.
Important leaders from throughout the profession "weighed-in" on this debate, urging ICA to stand its ground and become a more outspoken and dominant force in the world arena. Dr. Carl S. Cleveland, III, president of the Cleveland Chiropractic Colleges, made a special presentation to the ICA Board on behalf of staying in the WFC, a position that was actively supported by all other college presidents involved with the association, including Dr. Sid Williams from Life University, Dr. Guy Riekeman from Palmer College and Dr. Gerard Clum, president of Life Chiropractic College-West, ICA's representative to the WFC and the new secretary of that group.
"ICA has a responsibility to be an active participant in the WFC to make sure that ICA's values and vision are represented." said Dr. Carl Cleveland, III. "It would be a shame to withdraw just when the world is beginning to embrace the ideas that ICA has promoted about chiropractic for all these years, leaving the field uncontested to those who have another, less clear, less durable and medically oriented view of what chiropractic is all about."
The ICA Board carefully examined every aspect of the WFC issue, listening to every voice. Dr. Clum summed up the consensus position of the group's leadership: "If the ICA were not to be involved in the WFC, we would be the only national association of consequence in the world that would not have a seat, a voice and a vote in the WFC. We would be cut off from a world-view of chiropractic that is essential to our mission, and we would be abandoning a critical opportunity to influence and support the development of chiropractic, a process that is gaining speed and impetus as never before. We must be at the table, speaking with a clear, strong voice in defense of our principles!"
Upon the conclusion of its debate, the ICA Board of Directors voted overwhelmingly to remain a member organization of the World Federation of Chiropractic, noting major changes in the leadership and direction of that international body. Most notably, the recent election of Dr. Bruce Vaughn from Hong Kong as the WFC president, and the election of Dr. Clum as secretary, as well as other significant policy changes, were cited as evidence of the real progress at the WFC in recent months.
ICA's Board also unanimously agreed to expand and enhance its own international activities, including giving approval for ICA's own application for formal recognition as a NGO (non-governmental organization) by the World Health Organization, more international member services, and a renewed effort to make the ICA and the Foundation for the Advancement of Chiropractic Tenets' (FACT's) Lisbon 2000 Symposium the most significant international chiropractic event in history.
ICA Holds Firm on NBCE Reform Demands
Among the important topics addressed at the annual board of directors meeting was the continuing concern over the policies and finances of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE). The board renewed its earlier call for immediate and profound reforms in the organization and the operations of the NBCE, and agreed to seek a face-to-face meeting between the NBCE Board and the ICA Executive Committee to press the case for major change.
The profession-wide clamor for reform has not died down, despite some efforts to appear responsive to demands for reduced costs, quick turnaround in examination results and other important issues. ICA is determined to correct the abuses that have united the chiropractic profession in demands for reform at the NBCE. "If they will not reform, ICA will join with other chiropractic organizations to look at alternative testing bodies and mechanisms," said ICA President Dr. Robert Hoffman. "ICA is determined to see that the abuses at the NBCE are corrected, one way or another. ICA will not retreat from the legitimate demands we have made on behalf of the profession for reform at the NBCE, or its replacement."
ICA Elects New Board Members
Reflecting the democratic procedures that have long characterized the ICA, five board seats were filled in an election that returned three veterans to the board and recognized the talents and abilities of two newcomers: Dr. Gary Walsemann of New Hampshire, chairperson of ICA legal affairs committee and chair of the ICA committee on chiropractic guidelines, was re-elected to a two-year term. Dr. Michael McLean of Virginia, operational chairperson of the legislative committee, and Dr. Thomas Klapp of Michigan, chair of membership development committee and co-chair of the strategic planning working group, were also re-elected to two-year terms.
New to the board are Dr. Christopher Quigley of Massachusetts, and Dr. William Remling of Kentucky. Dr. Quigley has served for many years as an ICA assembly representative from Massachusetts and has been active on the legislative committee. Dr. Remling has been active in ICA for nearly three decades and returns to the board after an absence of some years. Dr. Remling is well known throughout the profession for his service on the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE), his leading role in the founding and development of the New York Chiropractic Council and his previous service as a member of the ICA Board of Directors.
When sports chiropractors first appeared at the Olympic Games in the 1980s, it was alongside individual athletes who had experienced the benefits of chiropractic care in their training and recovery processes at home. Fast forward to Paris 2024, where chiropractic care was available in the polyclinic for all athletes, and the attitude has now evolved to recognize that “every athlete deserves access to sports chiropractic."
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Some doctors thrive in a personality-based clinic and have a loyal following no matter what services or equipment they offer, but for most chiropractic offices who are trying to grow and expand, new equipment purchases help us stay relevant and continue to service our client base in the best, most up-to-date manner possible. So, regarding equipment purchasing: should you lease, get a bank loan, or pay cash?
