Join the Tribal Health Interest Group, Make History by Making a Difference for Underserved Tribal Populations
I am excited to introduce the new Tribal Health Interest Group, which was recently approved by the ACA Board of Governors.
There are 574 federally recognized Tribes in the United States, with approximately 2.1 million Tribal members. This population is the most underserved and often isolated group of people in the country, experiencing poverty, poor health outcomes and the highest mortality from opioid overdoses.
Tribes are guaranteed health care by treaty with the federal government; however, the Indian Health Service (IHS) is consistently under-funded and under-staffed medically —and is not staffed with chiropractic physicians at all.
IHS is the last remaining healthcare agency not to utilize chiropractic care per current guidelines, leading to substandard neuromusculoskeletal care and a higher distribution of opioid and other pain medication prescriptions compared with other populations. Our goal is to change this by working with the Tribes directly and with IHS.
Group Aims to Improve Lives Through Better Health Care
The Tribal Health Interest Group’s mission is to improve Tribal lives with integrated, evidence-based, value-driven, culturally informed chiropractic care to better treat pain while reducing opioid and other pain medication prescriptions to Tribal patients.
To do this, we will:
- Promote more Tribal members to become chiropractic physicians serving their Tribes. In support of this goal, several chiropractic colleges have offered to provide scholarships.
- Assist Tribes in adding chiropractic services for their members.
- Work to change IHS policy to be more guideline-adherent by paying for chiropractic services to Tribal patients at all Tribal IHS and “638” clinics (the latter refers to Tribal-owned clinics funded through the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act).
- Connect and serve chiropractic physicians working in Tribal clinics.
We will partner with Tribal leadership, state and national organizations, federal agencies, Congress, Native health consultants, chiropractic health experts and advocates and anyone aligned with our mission and vision to help the Tribes to achieve better health care.
We envision all Tribal patients receiving covered, appropriate spine care by chiropractic physicians. We see more Tribal chiropractic physicians treating Tribal patients. There are approximately 50 chiropractors working in this environment currently, with less than one percent of all DCs of Native heritage.
Help This Very Deserving Community: Join the Tribal Interest Group
Membership in the Tribal Interest Group is open to all DCs who currently work for Tribes, who are of Native heritage or ACA members who have an interest in helping this project. We especially encourage students to join. We will develop resources to assist those already working in Tribal clinics, who serve Native patients in their private practice or who have an interest in serving the Tribes.
We are actively looking for Native students to join our pilot cultural program to attend chiropractic school and return to work with their Tribe. Please refer interested students you may know to us!
Many believe the integrative clinical setting is the future of chiropractic and health care in general. There are now more than 350 DCs working in the VA system, and numerous hospital systems and stand-alone health clinics have integrated chiropractic into their clinical teams. The IHS is the last significant deliverer of health care to do so.
The Tribal communities are in a healthcare crisis that chiropractic is uniquely qualified to help with by reducing the burden of pain and addiction. If you are interested in being a part of history and spreading the reach of chiropractic as well as helping a very deserving community, join ACA’s Tribal Health Interest Group today!
Click Here to Join
Dr. Kain is chair of the Tribal Health Interest Group. He is part of the provider team at a federally qualified community health center in Plummer, Idaho. Founded in 1990 by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, the clinic is committed to providing services to everyone who needs it, Native and non-Native alike.
