What Have We Done For You Lately?

Sep

Being a NYSCA member has many tangible benefits. In addition to these, being a member also supports your profession by funding the operation of various committees, headed by volunteers who work to advocate for your interests.

The NYSCA has 8 permanent committees, along with various subcommittees, that are tasked with specific projects as needs arise. These committees submit regular reports on their activities to the Board of Directors and House of Delegates, who are then tasked with communicating the reports to their district members at regular local meetings.

As a supplement to this system, please see below for some recent reports from several of the NYSCA's Committees:

Legislation Committee
Public Information/Health Fairs Committee
Insurance Committee
Workers' Compensation Committee (Insurance Subcommittee)
Medicare Committee (Insurance Subcommittee)
Clinical Practice Committee
Electrodiagnostic Commitee (Clinical Practice Subcommittee)
Convention Committee
Membership Committee

Legislation Committee

The legislation committee works with our Albany lobbying firm, Harter, Secrest & Emery, to ensure that the voice of chiropractic is heard in Albany. The Association also works closely with the New York Chiropractic Council on legislative efforts so that the profession has a united voice in Albany. We are currently working on legislation that would allow DC’s to form partnership with MD’s. While this bill may not impact you directly, it is a bill that will further help to put the profession on equal footing with the medical profession. This bill also reflects the changing face of healthcare and will help the profession be proactive as opposed to being reactive to something that has already happened. The legislative committee has also helped to facilitate ongoing conversations with the Workers’ Compensation Board and the State Education Department. The legislative committee will be looking at other potential legislative changes to support in the upcoming year and will continue to work to ensure that the voice of chiropractic is heard in Albany. For more information, visit the NYSCA Lobbying Center.

Public Information/Health Fairs Committee

The NYSCA oversees an interactive Chiropractic exhibit each year at the New York State Fair. As a result of the efforts of our Health Fair Committee, NYSCA and our Chiropractic profession continue to be a strong presence in the NYS Hall of Health Building as one of the most popular interactive exhibits and health information booths at the annual NYS Fair.

The spinal screenings historically attract large crowds of fair goers. Our mission is to educate the public of the superior benefits of Chiropractic care and bring more people into chiropractic offices state wide.

Insurance Committee

The Insurance Committee continues to advocate for parity and appropriate handling of chiropractic claims for all services rendered by doctors of chiropractic. Recent accomplishments include the placement of NYSCA members on Regional Advisory Committees for the NYS Essential Health Benefit Exchange to ensure that chiropractic is appropriately included as the landscape of healthcare changes. For more information on how the Affordable Care Act and NYS Health Benefit Exchange will affect your practice, please be sure to attend the NYSCA 2013 Fall Convention on Long Island.

Workers’ Compensation Committee:

The NYSCA Workers’ Compensation Committee has been instrumental in securing continued access for injured workers under the NYS workers’ compensation system when chiropractic was under threat of near elimination. We continue to advocate for secured the continuation of benefits for workers classified as having permanent disability. Other accomplishments include:

Presentation to the Workers' Compensation Medical Advisory Committee outlining appropriate treatment for those with chronic pain which resulted in addition of maintenance care guidelines.
Securing the addition of the 97140 CPT code to the Workers’ Compensation fee schedule and broadening of the guidelines for electrical stimulation.
With help from the electrodiagnostic committee, ensuring that DCs trained in electrodiagnosis are able to provide these services according to the MTGs.
Advocacy for fair and impartial review of variance requests and denied bills.
Ongoing discussion of fee schedule parity with the WCB.
Continued discussion with the NYS WCB regarding in appropriate denials for medically necessary care.
Continued outreach to the profession in the form of education seminars to bring the latest regulations and interpretation to the NYSCA membership in a timely manner.

Medicare Committee:

This committee continues to work with Medicare to modify their procedures regarding audits, an ongoing process. Medicare has discussed adding a Chiropractor to the review panel. The Medicare Committee has also provided ongoing continuing education at state and district levels regarding documentation, audits, appeals and PQRS, as well as ongoing member communication on updates from CMS, NGS and the ACA

Clinical Practice Committee

This committee has obtained permissions on a new benefit for NYSCA Members: Free download of Chiropractic Scientific Review, a compendium of abstracts acquired from the present day scientific literature depicting selected peer-reviewed research pertinent to the safety, efficacy, validity and cost-effectiveness of chiropractic treatment. They have also assisted in the development of an evidence-based pamphlet in support of the Chiropractic profession.

Electrodiagnostic Committee

The Electrodiagnostic Committee (under clinical practice committee) met with the NYS Workers Comp Board and voiced its concerns over recognition of trained Chiropractors performing EMGs within the WC System. Concerns over billing issues pertaining to third party vendor exclusion of Chiropractors were heavily debated. The committee followed up by rallying the support of several NYS Legislators, who wrote letters of strong support over these issues. Although these issues were not resolved 100% in favor of the Chiropractic profession, it seems the Committee was effective in halting any further exclusion of Chiropractors and made it clear that further use of language which favors other distinct providers will not be tolerated.

The Electrodiagnostic Committee through several lengthy telephone and email conversations was effective in getting Chiropractors included into the fee schedule for EDX testing in the Blue Shield network in Upstate NY.

The Electrodiagnostic Committee continues to actively work in correcting improper denials and non-recognition of Chiropractic performed EDX services by several large major medical insurance carriers.

Convention Committee

The Convention Committee works diligently to organize two major statewide conferences each year. These events host some of the nation’s most notable speakers, who present on the latest topics in Chiropractic. Many of these lectures are offered for Continuing Education credit. Additionally, NYSCA presents ongoing Continuing Education seminars throughout the state enabling members to easily and economically fulfill their licensing requirements. Seminars cover such topics as: • Proper practice procedures • Technique and diagnosis • Evidence Based Best-practices and Integration • Insurance Coding • Patient Law and HIPAA compliance.

Membership Committee

The Membership Committee is charged with the recruiting and maintenance of NYSCA membership. It also secures contracts with a variety of companies to provide NYSCA members with special rates on services and supplies. Recent additions to the membership privileges program include reduced rates on credit card processing through NCMIC, as well as discounts on Yankees tickets! The Membership Committee has also spearheaded a membership drive for the month of October 2013 in honor of National Chiropractic Health Month.