The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has announced that ACA member Christine Goertz, DC, PhD, has been appointed to the Board of Governors of the newly created Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
In its continuing efforts to ensure that doctors of chiropractic are well positioned in the reformed health care landscape, ACA strongly supported Dr. Goertz's nomination to the Board.
PCORI was created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to examine the "relative health outcomes, clinical effectiveness, and appropriateness" of different medical treatments by evaluating existing studies and conducting its own. The institute will be governed by the 21-member Board of Governors, which includes patients, doctors, hospitals, drug makers, device manufacturers, insurers, payers, government officials, health experts and the directors of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr. Goertz has vast experience and expertise in the area of integrative health care research. She currently serves as vice chancellor for research and health policy at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Previously, she served as deputy director of the Samueli Institute and a program officer for NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
In addition, Dr. Goertz is an active ACA member. She serves as chair of the association's Performance Measures Work Group, is a member of its Health Promotion and Wellness Committee and consults on research issues.
"Dr. Goertz's appointment will ensure that doctors of chiropractic are well represented on this important decision-making Board," said ACA President Rick McMichael, DC. "This is a critical development in our fight to level the health care playing field for patients and providers alike. Having a doctor of chiropractic on the PCORI board will ensure that the chiropractic profession's perspective on health and wellness is an integral part of the discussion and that we will have meaningful opportunities to demonstrate that chiropractic care is essential - a safe, effective, patient-centered treatment option."
Source: American Chiropractic Association
When I graduated from chiropractic college in 1981 and started practice, I heard it all, and very little was positive. “You are a quack; you do not know what a subluxation is; you couldn’t get into a real health care program, so you chose the one that is slightly above a mail-order degree; you have no proof that chiropractic works; Are you really licensed?”, and so much more.
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