THE NATIONAL MEDICARE EQUALITY PETITION
Last month, the American Chiropractic Association, ACA, officially launched a national grassroots campaign designed to achieve full physician status for doctors of chiropractic in Medicare -- an effort that seeks to correct the long-standing arbitrary and discriminatory limitation on the doctor's ability to be reimbursed for all necessary services that fall within individual state scopes of practice.
The launch of this campaign, the National Medicare Equality Petition, comes after many years of intensive behind-the-scenes efforts by the ACA and similar organizations that sought to convince the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to issue regulatory changes that would address many of its concerns and those of Medicare beneficiaries. While the ACA will continue to dialog with CMS and press the concerns regarding a number of issues of vital importance to the chiropractic profession, the ACA is now prepared to take its concerns directly to Congress. They are determined to do so in an ongoing and highly robust fashion that will ultimately replace an archaic law.
The success of the campaign will depend on the participation of patients, supporters, and colleagues to marshal the widespread support needed to sustain the intense grassroots lobbying that will pressure Congress into taking action.
The ACA is currently emphasizing the distribution, via all available means, of the National Medicare Equality Petition. The petition will allow the ACA to collect patient names and contact information that they can add to the national grassroots database. In the very near future, when legislation is introduced to correct this inequity in Medicare, the ACA will activate these supporters and ask them to contact Congress on behalf of Medicare patients and the profession.
If you have not done so already, we would like to you take a moment and add your name to the petition in support of this change. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the office.