Lewis Bazakos, DC, ACA's 2008 Chiropractor of the Year.

When Summit I convened in September 2007, there were 13 participating organizations, including the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), the International Chiropractors Association (ICA), the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations (COCSA) and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges. By the time Summit V met in Washington, in May 2009, 40 organizations had joined the effort.

The Summit is asking all chiropractors to urge their patients and all other friends of the profession to sign up at one of two sites: the ACA’s www.chirovoice.com or the ICA’s www.adjustthevote.com so that when the moment comes, millions of Americans across the nation can simultaneously contact their senators and members of Congress to urge full inclusion of essential chiropractic services in health reform.

Dr. Bazakos practices in Valley Stream, New York. Aside from his work as chairman of the Chiropractic Summit, he is a past president of the New York State Chiropractic Association, past chair of the New York Chiropractic College Board of Trustees, past chair of the ACA Board of Governors, and current chair of the ACA Legislative Commission.

Click here for the Chiropractic Summit’s complete health reform policy document.

The Chiropractic Summit is the coordinating body for the chiropractic profession’s efforts to positively influence the health reform process. What groups are part of the Summit and are they working well together?

The Summit is a historic meeting that was born out of the American Chiropractic Association, through a survey of the profession that was commissioned by ACA through the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research. The survey demonstrated that the profession, the rank-and-file docs, wanted to see the profession working together. From that, the ACA formulated Summit I, which took place in September 2007. There were 13 organizations – associations, colleges, vendors, and regulatory bodies – at the table. It was determined at that meeting that national health care reform and Medicare reform would be the critical issues facing the profession in the near future and that is what we should focus on.

By the second Summit meeting (Feb 2008), we had 23 organizations. At Summit III (August 2008), we had 32 organizations present. At Summit IV, in January 2009, we had grown to 39 organizations. As of the Summit V meeting in Washington, in May 2009, we now have 40 organizations.

The Summit represents the leadership in the profession. We have pretty much all of the colleges on board. The ACC [Association of Chiropractic Colleges] is part of the steering committee, as is the ICA, the ACA and COCSA, which is the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations. As far as working together well, I can tell you that every vote that has been taken has been unanimous. There have been no dissenting votes.

Why should chiropractors and chiropractic students pay attention to legislative issues?

They need to pay attention to it because it determines their future.

In what ways?

It can impact their practice rights. It can have an effect on them being able to expand their scope of practice in the eyes of the federal government, and things do flow from there. You also have to preserve what you already have because insurance carriers are always looking to further erode it. Not only them, but also competing professions such as physical therapists. People are vying for the same piece of the pie, to a large degree. So you want to protect what is yours and try to expand that if you can.