CHIROPRACTORS
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Free News Updates From And About The International Chiropractors Association For You To Share With Your Colleagues And Your Patients
ICA BOARD MEMBER DR. HUGO GIBSON TO ADDRESS SOUTH AFRICAN CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND: Dr. Hugo V. Gibson, ICA Board Member and faculty member at Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City will be a featured speaker at the Annual General Meeting of the Chiropractic Association of South Africa September 21-24th in Johannesburg. Dr. Gibson will present a lecture on chiropractic geriatric care on Saturday, and speak again on extremity adjusting on Tuesday. Also on the four-day program will be Professor Pran Manga who will be speaking on "The urgent need to remove the monopoly power and privileges of the dominant health care professions"; Dr Paul Weston, BSc, DC, FCCS, CSP, FCC, Senior Lecturer, University of Surrey, speaking on "Integrated Chiropractic Technique - integrating major technique systems"; and Dr Derrick Gray (MTech Natal) who will speak on "The relative effectiveness of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation vs. U/S therapy in the Rx of TMJ dysfunction caused by masticatory myofascial TP's in terms of subjective and objective clinical findings". A record number of doctors from across the continent will be in attendance and ICA sends its very best wishes to our South African colleagues for a great event. For more information on this important gathering, contact Dr. Renate Schubert by e-mail at renates@mweb.co.za.
THE VETERANS CHIROPRACTIC ADVISORY MEETING WILL HOLD ITS FIRST MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 23rd, WITH A NEW APPOINTEE IN ITS RANKS: The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) has announced that Dr. Rick McMichael of Ohio will fill the 12th and final vacancy on the chiropractic advisory panel. Dr. McMichel is a well-known and highly respected chiropractic practitioner and activist from Ohio. ICA congratulates Dr. McMichael on this honor and ICA Board Member and fellow DVA Advisory Committee member Dr. Michael McLean is looking forward to cooperating closely with Dr. McMichael as the Committee works to develop and implement a meaningful chiropractic program for veterans. Many ICA members have inquired about the procedures for veterans to obtain chiropractic services. Protocols and procedures for accessing chiropractic care through the new program are likely to be several months in the making. ICA will keep the profession informed of developments and will circulate any and all finalized procedures once they have been established. More information on this developing program is available on ICA's website at www.chiropractic.org.
FEDERAL EMPLOYEES HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS TO GO UP BY MORE THAN 10 PERCENT NEXT YEAR: The federal Office of Personnel Management has announced that federal employee health insurance premiums will increase by 11.1% next year, marking the third straight year of double-digit increases. These large increases are consistent with private sector increases, as health care costs continue to spiral, driven largely by rapidly growing prescription drug costs. Drug prices went up over 17 percent in the past year, with no signs of slowing down. As pressure on the insurance sector grows, benefits will be cut and reimbursements will be increasingly difficult to secure. Growing costs and declining revenues from the stock and money markets have hit the health insurance industry doubly hard. This body of issues was the subject of a special feature article by former ICA President Dr. Bob Hoffman in the new edition of The Chiropractic Choice. Dr. Hoffman's article, entitled, "MARKET TRENDS SIGNAL MAJOR CHANGES IN DIRECTION OF CHIROPRACTIC REVENUE STREAM: Finding out now about your revenue sources can help you prepare for the future and prevent a practice crisis", is a must-read and offers important direction for the individual chiropractic practice. This article is the first part of a series prepared by Dr. Hoffman, who is well known for his analysis of health care and marketplace trends. This insightful article is also available online at www.thechiropracticchoice.com.
DRUG MAKERS FORCED TO CONFRONT SAFETY ISSUES WITH COMMON PAIN RELIEVERS NOW TARGETING EACH OTHER IN GROWING MARKETPLACE COMPETITION: The Wednesday, September 18th edition of The Wall Street Journal carried a lengthy feature article on the growing concerns on the part of regulators about safety issues with common pain relievers. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials are considering requiring stronger warnings on the labels of common products such as aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen. These drugs are widely consumed. According to the article, "nearly a quarter of American adults take acetaminophen each week and about a fifth take aspirin." A special FDA Advisory Committee began meeting on September 19th to determine if stronger warnings are needed on these widely used products. The article states, "...researchers have long known that acetaminophen can cause liver problems and that aspirin is implicated in some cases of gastrointestinal bleeding. But the agency is troubled by the persistence of problems, particularly when consumers take too much of the drugs." Even though the regulators and the research community are finding increasing danger signals, Bayer Corporation, the world's best-known aspirin manufacturer, is aggressively promoting research trying to show aspirin to be much less dangerous than competing products like acetaminophen. Johnson & Johnson, defending their acetaminophen product, argues that "more people would die" from aspirin-induced bleeding than would be spared liver damage if access to their product was restricted. The article also pointed out the grave consequences of administering the drugs in question to children. "More than a third of acetaminophen-related calls to poison control centers in 1999 involved children under six years old," according to the FDA. Confusion about dosage by poorly informed parents often has dangerous results. The message to the alert consumer should obviously be that natural and drugless alternatives are the only safe routes and doctors of chiropractic around the world should be proud and outspoken about the drugless nature of chiropractic. The full text of the article can be accessed by subscribers at http://online.wsj.com/public/health.
THE NEW YORK CHIROPRACTIC COUNCIL, ICA'S AFFILIATE ASSOCIATION IN THE EMPIRE STATE WILL HOLD ITS ANNUAL CONVENTION AT GROUND ZERO IN NEW YORK CITY NOVEMBER 15-17th, 2002: This great event will include a tribute to the chiropractors from around the nation who volunteered at Ground Zero and a reunion that will include recognition from local dignitaries, the American Red Cross and St. Paul's Chapel. Speakers will include Dr. C.J. Mertz, Dr. Bob Braile, Dr. Pat Gentempo, ICA President Dr. D.D. Humber, Dr. David Jackson, Dr. Jim Sigafoose and Dr. Tedd Koren. Sessions will be available for continuing education credits. The Council will also be offering a dinner cruise around Manhattan with music and dancing on Friday evening at no additional cost to the first 100 doctors registered for the convention. ICA encourages doctors from all parts of the nation to support the New York Chiropractic Council in this historic gathering, and, at the same time support the city that suffered the greatest and gave the most in the wake of the September 11th tragedies. ICA and chiropractic will be forever grateful to the New York Chiropractic Council, its President Dr. Ellen Coyne and the hundreds of chiropractic volunteers they so expertly and professionally coordinated in service to the rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER, CALL THE NEW YORK CHIROPRACTIC COUNCIL AT 718-386-3988 TODAY!
DATES TO REMEMBER: Chiropractic Without A Doubt with Dr. Steve Hoffman and Dr. Robert Braile, September 21-22nd, Cincinnati, Ohio and November 2-3rd, Richmond, Virginia; New Era in Whiplash & Spinal Trauma with Dr. Dan Murphy, September 28-29th, Phoenix, Arizona; Chiropractic Care for Kids with Dr. Peter Fysh, October 26-27th, Dallas Texas; Annual Conference on Chiropractic Pediatrics, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 22-24th, 2002; Certification in Chiropractic Spinal Trauma (CCST) program kickoff, January 18-19th, 2003, with Dr. Dan Murphy, Las Vegas, Nevada.