The Minnesota Chiropractic Association (MCA) has helped to pave the way for a major legislative success in the state by establishing and leading the Minnesota Independent Health Care Providers Coalition (MIHCPC), which has a membership of 16 health care professional associations. With the passage of the 1994 health reform legislation known as "MinnesotaCare," Minnesota managed care organizations with more than 50,000 enrollees will be required, beginning January 1, 1995, to offer an expanded provider network of "allied independent" health care providers: chiropractors; optometrists; psychologists; pharmacists; podiatrists; dieticians; home health care agencies; outpatient chemical dependency counselors; physical, occupational, and speech therapists; audiologists, and social workers. According to Katie Nemmers, MCA director of governmental relations, only MIHCPC providers are specifically included in the legislation.
"Despite strong opposition from the managed care and insurance companies, medical and hospital associations, business groups and labor unions, the legislature heard the cry of the consumer for better access and the plea of all the independent providers for fair competition," said Ms. Nemmers.
New Company Says it Will Acquire Chiropractic Clinics Nationwide Health Care Centers of America (HCCA), Inc., a company based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, says that it plans to become the largest operator of chiropractic clinics, and has already acquired its first nine facilities located in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Georgia. The company says that its objective is the acquisition of 200 profitable chiropractic practices within the next 12 months.
Within five years, HCCA says it plans to acquire 1500 chiropractic clinics and practices, representing 2-3 percent of the U.S. total, with aggregate revenues of more than $500,000,000. Maurice Furlong, HCCA president, says his company will "follow the pathway to other corporate giants who have grown by acquiring existing health care facilities and services."
Palmer Students Report on Romanian Preceptorship Palmer students Johanna Carlo, Sonia Morin, and Patrick Stieger recently returned from their preceptorship caring for children in the state-run orphanage in Negru Voda, Romania. The program was an ICA pilot clinicship supported by donations (see "Student Clinical Program Goes to Romania," Jan. 28, 1994, "DC").
The students reported the conditions in the Romanian orphanage were shocking: children three and four to a bed, with conditions such as hepatitis, tuberculosis, rare skin diseases, and severely frail nervous systems. The students performed complete physicals on all the children, and began compiling data for research and studies. The students also gave a presentation on chiropractic to MDs at a hospital in Bucharest. Johanna Carlo described the Romanian preceptorship as "the most amazing thing I've done in my life."
Dr. S.A. Laudenback
DC Campaigns to Create Spinal Health Week in Tulsa, Oklahoma S.A. Laudenback, DC, a practitioner from Tulsa, Oklahoma, was instrumental in the declaration of Spinal Health Week, July 11-17, in that city. Dr. Laudenback wrote a letter to Tulsa Mayor Susan Savage, providing facts and statistics on the effectiveness of chiropractic care, and imploring her to institute Spinal Health Week. In response, Mayor Savage officially created it, citing in the proclamation the numerous statistics regarding back pain that Dr. Laudenback had provided in his letter.
