Way down yonder in New Orleans

by Gary Horwin, President, Federation of Straight Chiropractors and Organizations

On Nov. 11‑14, 2004, the Congress Of Chiropractic State Associations held its annual business meeting in New Orleans. The mission of COCSA is to "provide an apolitical forum for the promotion and the advancement of the chiropractic profession through service to member state associations." There were representatives from almost every state association at the meeting.

The agenda included half‑hour time slots for representatives of national associations to update the states on national issues. At the COCSA meeting a few years ago, all four national associations were invited as representatives. This year only ACA and ICA leaders were invited to speak. The FSCO and WCA were not. The  "a" was removed from apolitical. I had been invited to attend not as a representative of the FSCO, but as a state representative for the Chiropractic Fellowship of Pennsylvania.

Attending the annual COCSA meetings over the past four years, I have watched the organization become increasingly controlled by the ACA, as it has become more prominent within the chiropractic profession.

This year, COCSA announced their Chiropractic Committee for Guidelines and Practice Parameter is in the final phase of producing a document containing Best Practices guidelines. This committee is the stepchild of the one that previously produced the Mercy guidelines. The first chapter was to be completed by the end of January 2005. The total document is supposed to be completed by June 2005. I was told that even though the CCPGG is a committee commissioned through COCSA the guidelines they produce will be distributed to the profession and all interested parties without review or approval of COCSA's state associations.

COCSA was given an opportunity to include a representative from the FSCO onto the CCPGG committee. The Congress is divided into five districts. Each district elects a representative to sit on the COCSA Board of Directors and another to sit on the CCPGG committee. Six months prior to the New Orleans meeting the representatives from the Northeast (district one) for both committees resigned.

The states representing district one were asked for nominees for the open seat on CCPGG. These are to be reviewed by the COCSA board of directors and one would be appointed to sit on the committee until elections at the next convention. The Fellowship selected from their membership Dave Smith (an FSCO board member representing the Fellowship) for nomination.

I spoke with members of the COCSA board about appointing someone on the CCPGG committee that is not an ACA member and could represent another point of view. They agreed that Dave was an excellent candidate and met all the criteria for being on the CCPGG committee. The only other candidate for the committee was Tom Augit who is the current president of the ACA dominated Northeast Chiropractic Council. Tom was of course selected and during the ensuing meeting elected.

COCSA turns into ACA forum

Over the past four years the COCSA annual convention has increasingly become a forum for the ACA agenda. This year it included support for the Trigon lawsuit, CCPGG, Amicus brief, the upcoming HHS lawsuit, and a pitch for unity. Each of these ACA issues was presented during the meeting. There was no mention of the Coalition (ICA FSCO and WCA) efforts or agenda on any of these national issues. We were told how even though the Trigon lawsuit was lost it was still a success for the chiropractic profession. The insurance industry now knows we mean business. They must be really afraid of us now that they know they can beat us.

The ACA went on to explain how even though they lost against all odds the Amicus brief they were now going to sue the HHS. After wasting millions on a lawsuit that had no chance of winning, they will continue on a new one that has even less of a chance. Then there is the absorption (what is disguised as unity) issue. States should each be represented by only one association for the good of our profession. Within each state association there can be representatives from all factions within chiropractic. However, with only one state association ultimately only one opinion or view can be portrayed.

During my time as FSCO president, I have noticed a change in the national chiropractic arena. At first, the four national associations (FSCO, ICA, ACA, and WCA) met and tried to work together for the good of the profession. We met numerous times through meetings set up by COCSA. We even named ourselves the National Chiropractic Leadership Forum. These initial meetings were successful and produced many agreements including the Saint Louis Principals. The ACA then withdrew from these discussions and decided to proceed with their own agenda. They have taken the stance that only the ACA represents the chiropractic profession and what's good for the ACA is good the entire profession. The other three national associations decided to continue working together and the Coalition was born.

The ACA's agenda is clear. Chiropractic is for treating low back pain and other symptoms. They continue to bring our profession closer to the medical model. The current push is for the use of Homeopathic and medical drugs. We must continue the fight to make sure there is a place within our profession for the Vertebral Subluxation practitioner.