As the end of the year approaches, and ACA takes stock of the progress we have made as an association in moving closer to goals and keeping vital initiatives moving forward, I’m reminded of how lucky we are to have a supportive membership as well as a community of vibrant and committed volunteers who energize our efforts in so many ways. We are incredibly grateful for member support, input and encouragement.
Of course, every year brings new opportunities and challenges that we must navigate. To keep on track, ACA uses its Strategic Plan as a guide to help plan and chart progress. The plan has four areas of focus: Impactful Advocacy, Sustainable Leadership, Professional Excellence and Operational Effectiveness.
Allow me to share a few highlights and achievements from the past year:
Impactful Advocacy
At the time this blog was posted, the cosponsor count for the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act (H.R. 1610/S. 799) stands at 180 in the U.S. House of Representatives and 14 in the U.S. Senate. This is the most cosponsors the bipartisan-supported bill has ever achieved in its history. ACA members have worked diligently to expand support in Congress, especially during more than 200 one-on-one meetings at ACA Engage 2024 earlier this year. I can’t say enough how grateful we are to everyone who has helped strengthen and expand support for this bill. Next year will bring a new Congress, and that means new opportunities. We are well positioned when the congressional session begins in January to continue this important campaign.
ACA also continues to strengthen ties with state chiropractic associations, which enables us to share information and better coordinate advocacy efforts when issues of mutual interest and concern arise. The ACA State Affiliate Program was developed for this purpose. In 2024, we welcomed the Maine Chiropractic Association and the Oregon Chiropractic Association to our list of affiliates, bringing total membership to 15.
Sustainable Leadership
Ensuring that chiropractic has a seat at the table in healthcare policy circles has been a longtime goal of ACA. In recent years, we stepped up efforts through our volunteer process to better understand the expertise, experiences and background of our members and to identify and nominate individuals with relevant knowledge and skills for advisory positions in various healthcare groups as they become available. As a result, over the past year:
- Three ACA members were appointed to serve on three separate advisory councils of the National Quality Forum (NQF), a non-profit, nonpartisan organization working to improve healthcare outcomes, safety, equity, and affordability. They are: Michael Braccio, DC, DACRB; Morgan Price, DC; and Zacharia Shannon, DC, MS, PhD.
- ACA member Zachary Cupler, DC, MS, was appointed to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Advisory Panel on Clinical Effectiveness and Decision Science (CEDS) for a three-year term. PCORI is the leading funder of patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research in the United States.
- I was honored as well to be appointed by the AMA Board of Trustees this year to serve on the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) Editorial Panel. The CPT Editorial Panel maintains the CPT code set, which is used across the healthcare industry to report procedures and services and to process claims.
- Relevant to coding, ACA also launched its Health Policy Fellowship Program this year to give select members in-depth training in health policy, documentation and coding issues. We need a new generation of members who are versed in this very specific and complicated area of health policy and this program will ensure that we do. Our first cohort includes members Cynthia Chapman, DC, MPH, Della M. Schmid, DC, MS, and Morgan Price, DC.
Professional Excellence
ACA is dedicated to promoting professional excellence on a number of fronts. In 2024, we expanded access for all members to more than 100 recorded education programs on Learn ACA. We also look for opportunities to develop or contribute to the creation of tools that doctors of chiropractic can use in practice to enhance their patient care. To this end:
- ACA submitted comments to the AMA Guides regarding Permanent Impairment Chapters on Musculoskeletal Impairment Ratings.
- ACA developed a white paper on evidence-based recommendations for coverage of E/M services on the same day as CMT.
- ACA provided comments and suggestions to the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine regarding its Guideline on Chronic Pain.
Operational Effectiveness and Sustainability
We take members’ support of ACA as a sign of trust, and one way that we honor that is by looking for ways to manage ACA operations efficiently and sustainably. In recent years, ACA has developed an innovative way to bolster its sustainability while also helping state associations do the same. We have contracted with three state chiropractic associations to manage their operations. In each case, the state association maintains its own governance while ACA’s experienced association staff takes care of daily operations. The Minnesota Chiropractic Association and the Alabama State Chiropractic Association have each seen gains in membership and programming since launching their relationship with ACA, and we look forward to similar success with the New Hampshire Chiropractic Association.
Looking Forward
Thank you for being an integral part of our achievements and progress. I hope to see many of you in Washington, D.C., in January during ACA’s annual conference, ACA Engage. Until then, let’s celebrate a great year, made possible by this great community of ACA members.
Dr. Leo Bronston is president of the American Chiropractic Association.
