Letter to the Editor

“What Have You Done For Me Lately?”

Dear Editor:

Associations are “trade organizations” created to protect our right to practice. They earn money by creating seminars for us to get our CE hours. They then spend that money to keep laws from being enacted that infringe on our ability to work, and occasionally spend money on getting new laws passed to expand what we do. However, the latter is hard to do because it is opposed by medical associations in the state. Most state associations do not have 50% membership of the chiropractors in the state. Why?

I have been a member of state organizations for over 30 years out of duty to the profession. The organizers ask, “Why can’t we get more members to join?” Well, let me answer that question.

• DCs are the lowest paid providers on U.S. soil. There is no respect from the carriers, the government or the public.
• We get paid the least and have the most restrictions on us.
• We are educated as PCPs, yet everyone treats us as massage therapists.
• Carriers pay us $50 per day cap. Bet that doesn’t happen to MDs or even NPs.
• Carriers pay us out of the same 30-visit pool as PT/OT/speech therapy so if someone goes 30 times to speech therapy and then develops low back pain, they can’t come to a DC at all, but can go to a MD or NP and get every single office visit, X-ray, MRI, drug and surgery paid for by their insurance.

If state associations want membership, what have you done for me lately? And by that I really mean, what have you done to put money in my pocket to feed my children, pay my bills and make me financially secure like a good trade organization should do?

If you can’t figure out how to put money in the pockets of DCs, then you are irrelevant. After 32 years of paying dues to my association, I quit.

That is why many will not join in the first place. They can’t afford to pay $300 or more a year to associations that do not ensure money comes back to the individual doctor. Just keeping the wolf out of the house is not enough anymore. Either figure out a way to kill the wolf, or figure out ways to bring so much work to DCs that the wolf is no longer relevant.

Develop programs to get new DCs hired on to medical clinics or hospitals. Most rural hospitals are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and many will close soon. I have written a white paper that any association could use to start a conversation with rural hospitals on how to hire a DC to create $1 million of income, which could save hospitals and create thousands of jobs for DCs across the nation.

Tap into the occupational market, which is worth $33 billion a year and growing. Associations can get county, state and federal contracts to give to state members that can’t get them on their own. Texas issued a $20 million contract for drug testing state employees, yet no state association is on top of this.

The opportunities abound to get income to members of state associations, but associations have to come up with new ideas. What have you done for me lately?

James Raker, DC
Texarkana, Ark.

Editor’s Note: Comment on an article, address a trending topic, or share your thoughts on any issue relevant to the art, science or philosophy of chiropractic by submitting a short letter to the editor to editorial@mpamedia.com. Include your full name, degree(s), and the city and state in which you practice.