ACA President Michele Maiers, DC, MPH, PhD, discusses how much she values the connections to her professional peers that ACA has provided, especially through the challenging times of the past year. Throughout the pandemic, ACA has worked hard to provide chiropractors with opportunities to engage and learn virtually with their colleagues across the country. Dr. Maiers encourages doctors to make plans to connect again during several events coming up in the fall and winter.  

In September of 2020, Forbes shared a statistic from the U.S. Department of Education that says 54 percent of adults ages 16-74 in the United States read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. Literacy level can also affect how patients access healthcare services and how they interact with health professionals. Dr. Valerie Ubbes, PhD, MCHES, explains the concept of health literacy, addresses some of the challenges that low literacy can pose in health care, and suggests how doctors of chiropractic can be more attuned to literacy in their own practices. 

By 2050, it is predicted that racial minorities will account for more than half of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, the chiropractic profession is not representative of the national population regarding sex and race. While still a student, Natacha Douglas, DHPE, MBA, vice president of admissions and financial aid at Logan University, conducted research to help increase retention of diverse chiropractic students. “It’s not just about graduating diverse students. It’s about everyone benefitting from seeing diverse classmates to prepare for populations in the real world,” she writes.

When HIPAA was initially enacted, the use of the internet was limited, and therefore best practices were largely unaccounted for. With the widespread adoption of mobile devices, social media, and software applications, it is important to consider the implications of using them in a healthcare setting. To provide guidance on how to comply with HIPAA while using modern technology, HIPAA in the electronic age is discussed in this blog post by The Compliancy Group, ACA's preferred HIPAA solution.

It is always with much anticipation that the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) posts the first piece of its National Chiropractic Health Month toolkit each summer. While the bulk of the toolkit is posted in September, the sample proclamation comes a month early to give members of the chiropractic profession enough time to reach out to their state and local government offices and begin the process of applying for a proclamation.

Healthcare professionals are used to treating patients with comorbidities—simultaneous health conditions that can make patients more susceptible to further health problems. But ACA member Michael Ingui, DC, MAS, FIANM (pictured), shares that those comorbidities can be more than what we typically think. “When we think about comorbidities, we often think about hypertension, diabetes, and certainly those conditions can affect someone’s pain, but it’s a lot more than that,” Dr. Ingui explains. 

Just over one year ago, a small group of chiropractors in Georgia set out to create a new organization of likeminded individuals committed to evidence-based practice and collaboration between DCs and the medical community. The group, which would come to be known as the Academy of Georgia Chiropractors (AGC or “The Academy”), has been successful in bringing together a broad spectrum of practitioners who seek to not only work together but also learn from one another. ACA Blogs caught up with one of AGC’s founding partners, Robert Hayden, DC, PhD, FICC, to learn more about what inspired the group to strike out on its own.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are slated to head home to their districts and states starting July 30, In August, members will hold town hall forums, listening sessions and other public events (some in a virtual setting, others live), geared toward gauging constituent views and interests. Doctors of chiropractic are encouraged to seek out their federal legislators at these events to begin establishing a relationship, or strengthening an existing one, with their lawmaker's office. 

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), consists of a complex set of regulations that were put in place to protect the privacy and security of patient information. It created standards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI). HIPAA dictates the proper uses and disclosures of PHI, how PHI should be protected, and what to do in the event of a PHI breach. This post, the first in a series by the Compliancy Group. ACA's preferred HIPAA solution, offers information on covered information, rules and self-audits. 

In this post, ACA President Michele Maiers, DC, MPH, PhD, shares recent progress made toward ACA’s strategic goals. She writes, “With the backdrop of a global pandemic, it is an understatement to say that the past year has presented a few challenges to the American Chiropractic Association and its members. But what could have been a year lost has turned out to be a year of gains. This is no coincidence: ACA’s leadership, members and staff pulled together, adapting in large ways and small, to ensure there would be progress toward the goals that support our Strategic Plan."