Finally, late last year, Congress passed a law that prohibited nonprofit publications which carried advertising from using the nonprofit postage rates. So while the rest of the Motion Palpation Institute's mail qualifies for nonprofit rates, Dynamic Chiropractic does not (effective this issue).
Knowing that this was coming was a great advantage. We had almost three years to plan and prepare.
Chiropractic is also facing a change, one that the profession has seen coming these past few years: managed care, practice guidelines, and other other major changes in health care that have been foreshadowed in the health care reform currently before Congress. Whether you realize it or not, major health care reform is occurring. Congress is only debating its own involvement in the process.
According to many political analysts, we still have more than a year before any health care reform program can be passed by Congress, and probably another year after that before it takes effect. We have time to plan for our future.
While many chiropractors seem content to gripe and complain about the changes that are coming, prudent DCs will accept the new direction, change what they can, and plan for their future. Positive action is the difference between a person in control and a "victim" of circumstance.
This is not to say that every DC doesn't have a responsibility to this profession to support the effort of including chiropractic in national health care, as it rightly should be included. You do have a responsibility to write letters, donate money, get patients' support, etc., but you should still be planning for your own personal future.
Believe it or not, when the dust settles, the United States could be a very good place for a chiropractor to practice. National health care reform could help open the door to the other 90 percent of the population who currently do not seek chiropractic care. There are many possibilities hidden in change.
In many ways, the current thinking is away from drugs and surgery. The "playing field" is leveling as outcome measures become the basis for health care spending decisions. Several national governments (including the United States and Canada) are spending money in an effort to determine the value of chiropractic care.
Right now, all you see is uncertainty and what might be. It is time to look at the possibilities. It is time to get serious about the future.
Chiropractic has survived much worse than this. With a little planning, you will too.
DMP Jr., BS, HCD(hc)
Click here for more information about Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher.