This Webinar will provide an overview of the ACA’s Choosing Wisely program, including how the program was developed, the rationale for each of the items on the ACA’s list, an explanation of what Choosing Wisely is and is not, and the significance of this program for the chiropractic profession. 

Dr. Ronald Farabaugh

August 16, 2018

Are you familiar with the latest research on chiropractic safety? Ronald Farabaugh, DC, will offer a refresher on the topic: "Safety of Chiropractic: Research Awareness/Exam and Treatment Procedures." The webinar will review the latest literature on spinal manipulation safety as well as the mechanics of a proper examination and the informed consent process. Information on the association between manipulation and stroke will also be discussed.

Dr. Heidi Henson

Recorded July 19. 2018

Join Dr. Heidi Henson as she discusses how to market and promote your Chiropractic business in an ethical and professional way.  Dr. Henson will highlight the many dos and don'ts of practice promotion, while offering the advice on how to best fine tune your marketing towards your potential patients.  This presentation is part of ACA's "New Doctor Toolkit", designed to help give those doctors beginning their practices the best chance to succeed. 

Recorded July 2018

This course from Dr. Robert Leach provides a brief introduction to the science of chiropractic for the busy clinician or student, explaining how theory and evidence may inform and drive modern clinical practice. The course focuses on five promising theories for evidence-informed practice, including: inflammation, segmental dysfunction, neuroplasticity, immobilization degeneration, and wellness/psychosocial.  This course provides the knowledge and skills necessary to enable the  busy clinician to understand possible scientific explanations for chiropractic and how the research has informed practice guidelines, discuss ways to communicate these topics with patients and other healthcare partners, and incorporate them into the practice behaviors

Learning Objectives:

After completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Explain how science impacts guidelines, press and public attitudes, private and government payor reimbursement schedules, and clinical practice in a modern healthcare profession.
2. Describe the role of inflammation in disease and health, markers of inflammation associated with spine pain, changes in inflammation in experimental and clinical subjects after manipulation, and the role of inflammation within the larger context of whole-body or wholistic treatment.
3. Distinguish between “subluxation” as a theoretical construct as opposed to segmental dysfunction hypothesis associated with fixation and other clinical predictors such as pressure pain thresholds and measures of spinal pain provocation. 
4. Explain some of the research regarding “misalignment,” how it varies with radiation guidelines, and how it may vary with common clinical practice.
5. Discuss with patients’ modern research of neuroplasticity, and the role for chiropractic spinal manipulation to restore neural integrity to spine and brain centers like the prefrontal cortex, cingulate and amygdala. How exercise may be important to continuing progress after chiropractic.
6. Describe immobilization degeneration and the role of imaging in the larger context of ruling out disease to provide a safe platform for chiropractic, as opposed to determining where and when to adjust the spine. 
7. Explain why MRI is unable to predict which patients are in pain, let alone predict chiropractic outcomes, and understand growing science for the role of genetics and inflammation in degeneration and aging of the spine.
8. Recognize the role of lifestyle and discuss with patients how smoking cessation, increasing activity levels, seeking counseling or improved coping skills, or improved dietary habits are ultimately more important to their overall health and wellness than spinal adjustments. 

Number of CEU Credits Offered: 6

Presenter James Cox, DC, reviews the mechanism, diagnosis and treatment of back and radicular pain based on federally funded research. This non-CE program will show the biomechanical changes in the lumbar spine segmental levels when flexion distraction spinal manipulation is delivered. Real-time footage of the spine facet joint and intervertebral foraminal alteration as well as intradiscal pressure measurements, disc space increase and afferentation will also be discussed. 

It's Medicare for Chiropractors 101!  Join Dr. Angela Kennedy for this guide to the fundamentals of Medicare for Chiropractors.  The purpose of this course is to provide doctors of chiropractic and their office staff training on proper documentation for Medicare of chiropractic services. Specifically, attendees will receive guidance on: chiropractic billing and documentation concepts, requirements for demonstrating medical necessity, determining coverage based upon Medicare requirements and addressing various issues that will help decrease claim submission errors.

Number of CEU Credits Offered: 1

ACA has received numerous questions as to the applicability of Section 2706 in many different scenarios. While it has not yet been determined specifically how this provision will be enforced in regard to certain specific payer policies and practices, ACA is steadfastly working to ensure that all the strength originally intended to be held by this provision remains, and that it will remain a bulwark of protection  for doctors of chiropractic for years to come. The information below is intended to add as much clarity as possible and to help providers and their staff to become more familiar with Section 2706.

Session 1: 

Presenters: Hyla Schreurs and Rachel Lips

General Information

• OCR Overview
• Who is Covered by HIPAA (Covered Entities and Business Associates)
• • How the compliance process works

Privacy Rule

• What is and isn’t PHI 
• Permitted Uses and Disclosures
• Incidental Disclosures
• Minimum Necessary Standard
• Authorizations
• Marketing
• Administrative Requirements (Designate a Privacy Officer, Designate Person/Office to Receive Complaints, Provide Training, Develop and Implement Policies and Procedures)
• Covered entities’ duties

Session 2:

Presenters: Hyla Schreurs and Emily Prehm

• Individual Rights (NPP, Access, Amendment, Accounting, Alternative Communications, Request Restriction, Complaints to the CE and OCR)

Session 3:
Presenters: Meghana Shah and Karel Hadacek
Security Rule

• Definitions/General Rules
• What is Covered
• Standards and Implementation Specifications
• Administrative Safeguards
• Physical and Technical Safeguards
• Organization Requirements
• Security Rule Resources

Session 4: 
Presenters: Emily Prehm and Rachel Lips
Breach Notification Rule

• Definition of Breach
• Notification to the Individual, Media, and HHS
• Breach Highlights
• What Happens when HHS/OCR receives a Breach Report

Enforcement

• Compliance Trends/Challenges
• Complaint Process/Enforcement Process
• Recent Enforcement Actions and General Enforcement Highlights
• Compliance Challenges

Breach and Enforcement examples

The webinar by Dr. George Petruska will cover the basics of functional evaluation, beginning with how to establish a functional baseline. Topics include: interpreting functional analysis, the importance of identifying dysfunctional movement patterns, the adverse effect of pain provocation on motor control, and assessing function in loaded and unloaded positions. Participants will learn how to put it all together to design a functional intervention.

The purpose of this webinar is to discuss an evidence-based diagnostic system and exam for low back pain. Low back pain can represent many conditions requiring different management strategies. However, conflicting terminology and poor or unknown diagnostic test validity result in diagnoses based largely on opinion. This webinar series presents and looks at the evidence supporting office-based diagnostic criteria for common neuromusculoskeletal diagnoses.

Number of CEU Credits Offered: 1