WCA to push for 'direct access' in VA through new bill
The World Chiropractic
Alliance (WCA) has thrown its full support behind a bill introduced by
California representative Bob Filner that may do what the Veterans Affairs
Chiropractic Advisory Committee (CAC) failed to do: provide veterans with
direct access to doctors of chiropractic.
The bill (HR 4051,
"Better Access to Chiropractors To Keep Our Veterans Healthy Act) directs
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to permit eligible veterans to receive
care "on a direct access basis at the election of the eligible veteran," and
specifies that "The Secretary shall not discriminate among licensed
health‑care providers in the determination of needed services." The bill
also includes preventative health services among the services to be provided
by chiropractors.
The CAC's final
recommendations included a provision that allowed veterans to see a
chiropractor only after a "consultation" with their primary medical
provider. Only two members of the CAC voted for direct access, arguing that
the long‑standing bias against chiropractors by medical doctors could make
it nearly impossible for the veterans to see a DC. Dr. Leona Fischer of the
WCA and Dr. Michael McLean of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA)
voted for direct access.
Voting against direct
access were the three doctors nominated by and/or aligned with the American
Chiropractic Association (ACA): Dr. Rick McMichael, D.C., the ACA's Ohio
Delegate; Cynthia Vaughn, D.C., president and executive director of the
Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners and partner in the Chiropractic &
Spine Center of Austin with James D. Edwards, D.C., former president of the
ACA; and Reed C. Phillips, president of Los Angeles College of Chiropractic
who served as a member of the Mercy Center Consensus.
Siding with the ACA‑supported
committee members was Charles Duvall, Jr., DC, president of the National
Association of Chiropractic Medicine. The ACA had originally opposed
Duvall's appointment, yet all chiropractors other than the WCA and ICA
members voted with him on this key issue.
"This has been the goal
of the WCA ever since we started working on the issue," stated WCA President
Terry A. Rondberg, DC. "We were proud of Dr. Fischer for holding strong to
her convictions during the Committee vote, and we were shocked and dismayed
by the actions of the majority of the Committee -- including DCs who were
supposed to act in the best interest of the veterans and the profession.
In a letter to Rep.
Filner, Dr. Rondberg stated, "This bill would provide an important benefit
to American veterans, who deserve the best possible care and the freedom to
choose which type of health care they receive." He pledged the support of
the WCA in finding co‑sponsors for the bill and helping to ensure its
passage through Congress.
The ICA also came out
in support of the bill.
"ICA enthusiastically
supports this initiative," said Dr. McLean. "There is no question that
veterans should have the minimum amount of bureaucracy standing between them
and the care they want, and that the current status of the chiropractic
program within the VA, requiring primary care referral is unacceptable to
the ICA, to the profession at large, and to the veteran beneficiary."
The Federation of
Straight Chiropractors and Organizations, a member of the Chiropractic
Coalition with the WCA and ICA, favored the bill as well. "HR4051 will go a
long way to right an injustice to our veterans. Our veterans (of which I am
one) should have the right and freedom to go to the healthcare provider they
choose and not have to go through a gatekeeper. The FSCO firmly supports
direct access for all American veterans to receive chiropractic care and
will work to support Rep. Filner's Bill," said Richard Plummer, D.C., FSCO
Chairman of the Board.
Ironically, the ACA
issued a statement in support of the bill as well, even though it had
scrambled to justify the Committee members' votes against direct access by
claiming that the gatekeeper provision was the only way to ensure
chiropractic inclusion in the VA system.
In a report posted on
the ACA website, Dr. McMichael explained that he and the other ACA‑aligned
Committee members were persuaded to vote for the gatekeeper system by
Michael O'Rourke, a physician's assistant who serves as the assistant
director of Veterans Health Policy with the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
"... Michael O'Rourke
strongly encouraged us to agree to work within the VA system in coordination
with VA primary care physicians," McMichael explained. "He assured us that
this was the best way to give this new service a real opportunity to work
effectively for the veterans we were avowed to serve. He asked us to
consider this a new day, leave the past behind and move toward the future.
This is what the majority of the CAC chose to do."
In a press release
distributed after it learned of Rep. Filner's bill, the ACA noted "This new
bill (HR 4051) seeks to send a message to opponents of chiropractic --
inside and outside of the government -- that America's veterans will not be
denied the chiropractic care they need and deserve."
Dr. Rondberg pointed
out the incongruity of the statement.
"It's extremely odd
that, when they had a chance to push for direct access within the Committee,
the ACA members sided with the medical contingent to deny veterans that
privilege," he stated. "Only after the profession reacted with fury at the
ACA's betrayal did they suddenly become supporters of direct access. It's
their way of trying to back pedal, but it's too little, too late."
The World Chiropractic
Alliance will work with Rep. Filner's office to coordinate a campaign to
show chiropractic support of the bill.
