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Chiropractic College President to Chair National Medicare Conference in Washington

Carl S. Cleveland, III, DC, FICA, nationally known chiropractic educator and President of the Cleveland Chiropractic Colleges, has agreed to serve as Chair of the chiropractic profession's first national conference focusing on the future of chiropractic in the federal Medicare program. This historic event will be hosted by the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) in Washington, DC on Thursday, April 24, 2008.

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Dr. Carl S. Cleveland, III to Chair April 24th National Medicare Conference in Washington, D.C.

Carl S. Cleveland, III, DC, FICA, nationally known chiropractic educator and President of the Cleveland Chiropractic Colleges, has agreed to serve as Chair of the chiropractic profession’s first national conference focusing on the future of chiropractic in the federal Medicare program. This historic event will be hosted by the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) in Washington, DC on Thursday, April 24, 2008. The objectives of this day-long, Medicare forum will be to focus the attention of the chiropractic profession on this struggling but vital program, and foster a positive dialogue on how chiropractic’s Medicare role can be strengthened. This intensive one-day event will involve representatives of numerous chiropractic organizations, senior members of the US House and Senate, spokespeople from national seniors’ organizations and representatives of allied health care professions facing similar challenges in the Medicare program.

Dr. Carl S. Cleveland, III“By April 2008, the Congressional legislative agenda will be all but complete and political attention will be heavily focused on the race for President in both parties and the November general elections,” said ICA Legislative Committee Co-Chair Dr. Michael S. McLean. “ICA believes that this is a most opportune time to hold a focused discussion on the host of issues critical to chiropractic and chiropractic patients in Medicare, and on the health of that massive program in general. ICA hopes that this historic session will help craft a profession-wide awareness of the urgent need for Medicare reform, and of chiropractic’s unique and positive role in helping the nation’s seniors.” Registration information is available online at www.chiropractic.org.

ICA has invited senior members of the Finance Committee of the US Senate and the US House Committee on Ways and Means, the congressional committees with jurisdiction over the Medicare program. In addition, representatives of the key Presidential candidates have been invited to offer their respective predictions and reform concepts for Medicare, as well as answer specific questions on chiropractic’s Medicare role. ICA has also invited representatives of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to present their insights on Medicare’s future, and how we can cooperate to strengthen patients’ rights and choices, as well as bolster the general viability of the program.

The program will include panels on “Chiropractic’s Practice Challenges in Medicare,” with a focus on documentation, clinical necessity and other critical compliance elements, “Chiropractic’s Political Challenges in Medicare,” and an all-important panel discussion on coordinating a collective chiropractic response on Medicare challenges and opportunities.

“ICA has also invited the legislative committees of every state and national chiropractic organization in the country to a special forum on the morning of April 24th at which the mechanics of political action and communications coordination will be discussed, along with other cooperative initiatives that are vital to success on the Medicare issue, as well as other national political and legislative issues,” said ICA Legislative Committee Co-Chair Dr. Michael S. McLean.

“We are deeply honored that Dr. Cleveland has agreed to serve as the Chair of this event,” said ICA President Dr. John K. Maltby. “Dr. Cleveland’s participation will assist in a powerful way in bringing the entire chiropractic profession together in a focused discussion that will result in consensus on what needs to be done and how the important work on Medicare is to be accomplished. Everyone in the profession is not only welcome at this conference, they are needed and wanted, because we understand that it will take all of us, working in an historic collective effort, to secure for chiropractic the role it deserves in caring for our senior citizens.”

ICA will also issue the final version of its historic White Paper on the Future of Chiropractic in Medicare at the April 24th conference. This wide-ranging 28-page study has been prepared by ICA’s Medicare Committee to directly address the challenges facing the chiropractic profession, and indeed the entire United States of America, given the current state and the alarming trends in the Medicare program which are assuming the proportions of a national crisis. A draft copy of this paper is available for review and comment at http://www.chiropractic.org/pdf/MedicareWhitePaperRevewDraft.pdf. “This crisis will demand the reconfiguring of all aspects of health care administration, delivery and funding in the United States, and will impact all aspects of public policy, from taxation to basic patient rights and access to Medicare benefits,” said ICA Medicare Committee Chairman Dr. Michael Hulsebus. “It will impact the chiropractic profession and individual doctors of chiropractic profoundly.”

In anticipation of the need for the chiropractic profession to unite and mobilize to defend both patients and practitioners alike in the national debate about the future of Medicare, ICA has prepared this comprehensive paper as a vehicle to stimulate profession-wide dialogue on the nature and timeline for the pending operational and financial impacts, and as a foundation for a collective response by the chiropractic profession to national policy makers. This unique document is the product of a year-long research effort that has involved dozens of contributors, and in which literally thousands of documents have been studied. It contains detailed discussions of such key topics as the actuarial and financial realities of Medicare, possible threats and challenges ahead, chiropractic?s goals and needed action steps. “Medicare, with all its flaws, is worth fighting to defend and enhance both because of the needs of millions of senior citizens who can benefit from chiropractic’s unique approach to health and healing, and because of the opportunity it offers to the chiropractic profession” Dr. Hulsebus added.

Additional details and registration information is available on ICA’s website at www.chiropractic.org. The one-day, April 24th event will be held at the Washington Court Hotel, conveniently located near Capitol Hill at 525 New Jersey Avenue, NW Washington, DC.

planetc1.com-news @ 10:08 am | Article ID: 1207145354

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