News in Brief

ACA Meeting 2011: New Policies, Leadership

Portland, Ore., hosted the American Chiropractic Association's 2011 House of Delegates meeting, with delegates focused on charting the best course to take advantage of opportunities health care reform will undoubtedly bring. To that end, the House of Delegates approved several resolutions designed to position doctors of chiropractic as, in the words of the ACA, "primary care doctors who can help fill the looming primary care workforce gap." Among the policies approved by the HOD at the 2011 meeting were the following:

• "Chiropractic Physicians Training as Primary Care Physicians. Informs the health-care-consuming public, policy-makers, and payers of the fact that chiropractic physicians are well-trained, portal-of-entry physicians currently providing primary care services."
  


• "Support for Antidiscrimination Language in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Expanding on the anti-discrimination provision (Section 2706) included in the health care reform law, the policy lists four specific examples of discriminatory practices that could be harmful to public health by restricting access to chiropractic care."
  


• "Position on AMA's Discriminatory Resolutions and Practices. Opposes attempts by the American Medical Association to limit the use of the titles Doctor, Resident and Residency to physicians licensed to practice medicine, podiatrists, and dentists."
  


• "ACA Support of the APHA Chiropractic Section 2010 Policy Statement on Musculoskeletal Disorders as a Public Health Concern. Supports the American Public Health Association's Chiropractic Section policy stating that musculoskeletal disorders are a public health concern."
  


• "Scope of Practice. The policy states, 'It is the ACA's position that the scope of practice of chiropractic physicians and post-doctoral chiropractic specialties should be determined by the education and training provided within CCE accredited institutions and/or the education and training provided through post-graduate / post-doctoral courses and specialties. The ACA encourages individual states and U.S. Territories to establish uniform scopes of practice commensurate with contemporary education and training.'"

In ACA elections, Dr. Keith Overland was elected president, joining Drs. Anthony Hamm (vice president) and Robert Mastronardi (chairman of the board) on the executive committee. Other newly elected board members include Drs. David Herd, Council of Delegates president; Cynthia Vaughn, council vice president; Robert Tennant, District 3 governor; and Kelli K. Pearson, District 1 governor. Rounding out the board of governors are continuing members Drs. Rick McMichael, immediate past president; F. Dow Bates, District 2 governor; Robert Mastronardi, District 4 gov.; John McGinnis, District 5 gov.; Michael Simone, District 6 gov.; and Joseph Morelli, District 7 gov..

Among other meeting highlights, Dr. McMichael received the Chiropractor of the Year award; Charles DuBois, president of Standard Process, received the Humanitarian of the Year honor; Dr. Roni Evans, Northwestern dean of research, was named Researcher of the Year; NYCC professor Dr. Paul Dougherty, Academic of the Year; and H. William Wolfson, Delegate of the Year