The Sunset Commission voted to continue the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners (TBCE) as a standalone agency and the proposal to eliminate chiropractic acupuncture was withdrawn due to a lack of support. TCA anticipates separate legislation will be filed that could diminish chiropractic practice scope.

The Super Bowl is almost here and the offseason and preseason work of each team is now paying off. In TCA's preseason, we are 3 and 0, but we are now heading into our regular season where the work really counts. Let’s pull together and win big.

The TCA has joined the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP) as a group member. TCA members will have access to marketing materials that help to educate patients and local residents.

In response to the national opioid epidemic, the AMA and other "organized medicine" groups have stated "public and private payer policies must be fundamentally altered and aligned to support payment for non-pharmacologic treatments and multimodal care.  It’s the right and necessary thing to do.  Just do it!" The American Academy of Pain Management stated payers should at least "provide universal coverage for the five types of nonpharmacologic care mentioned in the [Department of Defense/Veteran’s Administration] pain guideline (physical manipulation, massage, acupuncture, biofeedback, and yoga)."

In a recent survey, nearly one-quarter of physicians deemed it acceptable to hide clinical mistakes from patients. Also, one-quarter of physicians said that they should not be required to get flu shots, and were nearly evenly split on whether they should be required to undergo random testing for drug abuse.

According to modern culture, there is truth and post-truth. Learn more about post-truth and propaganda. Why? Our antagonists have been using post-truth propaganda against our profession for generations.

The TCA and chiropractic have made headway during the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission’s review of the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners (TBCE), but there is still so much to do. Let’s continue the momentum at the 2017 Texas Chiropractic Legislative Conference (TCLC) on Feb. 9-11 in Austin. TCLC is the most important event of the year for chiropractic in Texas. Let’s Take the Capitol by Storm for Chiropractic! Register online today!

There’s something for everyone at TCA’s 2017 Mid-Winter Conference – A Panhandle Tradition – on Feb. 24-26 at the Overton Hotel & Conference Center. If earning CE hours is your goal, you can complete the 16 you need to maintain your Texas license. Learn from nationally recognized experts such as Drs. Steve Yeomans and Amy Wood, in addition to an all-star panel on the "Integrative Stroke Symposium." Interested in developing your team? Send your staff to Advanced Training for Office Managers and Experienced CAs with The Collection Coach’s Kelli Moore. Hoping to grow your practice? Network with vendors at Mid-Winter.

There is now a greater risk of financial loss due to improper discounting and faulty financial and collection policies than ever before. It is widely known that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and Medicare are cracking down on healthcare fraud and abuse, but what most chiropractors are unaware of is how widely successful these efforts have been. Get all the details in Risky Business: Texas, a FREE webinar for Texas DCs and staff brought to you by TCA Friend of Chiropractic Sponsor ChiroHealthUSA, at 1:15 p.m. CST Wednesday, March 8.

JANUARY CALENDAR

Some in organized medicine are not pleased with the choice of Tom Price, MD to lead the Dept. of HHS. 6,000 have signed an online petition protesting his recommendation.

The Defense Department’s health benefits program will include a pilot program to test value based insurance coverage in Tricare. The program is to reduce or eliminate co-pays and other cost sharing for certain drugs and services considered "high quality."

In 2017 some 171,000 physicians will be penalized by the CMS.

Two former pharmaceutical executives have been charged by federal prosecutors for price-fixing. They are accused of looting tens of millions of dollars from the drug company, embezzling its intellectual property and fraudulently obtaining compensation for themselves.

The UK has taken measures to ban unhealthy food advertisements targeted at children. They are also implementing a "sugar tax" to help childhood obesity. The new ban begins July 2017.

In 2007 chiropractic was legally made one of the five recognized medical professions (human medicine, chiropractic medicine, veterinary medicine, dental medicine, pharmacology). In 2008, the first chiropractic medicine chair was appointed at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Zurich. Learn more of how chiropractic has been incorporated into mainstream healthcare in Europe.

In a small randomized trial, pregnant women given fish oil supplements bore offspring with a reduced risk of developing persistent wheeze or asthma.

The benefits of improved posture are well known. Here are three simple tips to help your patients improve their overall posture, and as demonstrated in research, improve their quality of life and health.

The long held practice of complete rest for a youth concussion for weeks or months until fully asymptomatic has been overturned by a newly released study. Earlier physical activity and more exercise are associated with a lower risk of persistent post concussive symptoms (PPCS). More exercise, however, is not necessarily a return to full play.

The only therapeutic strategy shown to prevent development or curtail progression of diabetic neuropathy is tight glucose control. There are numerous therapeutics for the pain associated with such neuropathy. Nearly 25 percent of all diabetic patients are affected by neuropathy. There is growing interest in nonpharmaceutical approaches to the treatment of both diabetic neuropathy itself and the associated pain. This article looks at some.

Football linemen are more prone to hypertension, thickened hearts and a substantial risk for hypertension. Carefully monitor the blood pressure of linemen and other athletes, at all levels of play in all sports.

Emotional abuse during childhood precedes onset of migraine in 83% of cases. Migraineurs also reported significantly higher rates of childhood abuse overall than respondents who reported no migraine. Data continue to amass demonstrating the heartbreaking, wide-ranging negative physical, psychological, and social consequences of childhood abuse and maltreatment. Clinicians treating adults with migraine and other forms of severe headache must recognize that a history of childhood abuse can interfere with treatment.

Here is yet another study that demonstrates that spinal manipulative therapy and home exercise provides superior results than home exercise alone, or supervised exercise and home exercise alone.

In the field of pain therapy the role of nutrition is growing in focus. This report notes that patients with chronic pain should undergo nutritional assessment and counseling initiated at the onset of treatment.

Millennials, the 75.4 million adults aged 18 to 34, are the largest living generation. Learn what Millennials want.

Successful people have a sense of direction and purpose; they know where they are going. They set goals, accomplish them and then set new goals. Choose Success this year.

Is your practice a business? Is it just a profession? What is the key foundational element of an art and science? Information and data. If we don’t recognize the need for improved information processes and start treating our practices as businesses the healthcare professions will be in jeopardy of becoming obsolete and changed to fit the changing times.