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The American Chiropractic Association March 19, 2002 Dr. D.D. Humber Dear Drs. Rondberg and Humber: As you know, during negotiations that took place last year over the proposed content of legislative language to mandate the inclusion of chiropractic care within the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) health care system, the ACA, ACC, ICA and WCA jointly agreed to support the appointment of the chiropractic members of the DoD Chiropractic Oversight Advisory Committee, with the addition of Dr. Carl Cleveland III, to serve on a similar advisory committee regarding the DVA health care system. The above agreement, brokered with the assistance of the ACC, was reached in anticipation that Congress would, in response to our lobbying efforts, enact legislation mandating chiropractic benefits within the DVA and that such legislation would include the establishment of an official advisory committee to provide the secretary of the DVA with input regarding the implementation of the statute. These are acts about which you are both well aware, as your organizations were parties to the agreement and attested to it in writing on September 5, 2001 (WCA) and on September 7, 2001 (ICA). Regrettably, now that the enabling legislation has been signed into law and the DVA has initiated the process to establish the required advisory committee, your organizations have chosen to break the agreement and refuse to support the appointment of the chiropractic members of the DoD Oversight Advisory Committee, who have six years of valuable experience in a very similar situation, plus Dr. Cleveland, to the newly mandated DVA Advisory Committee. Your decision to break this important agreement constitutes a flagrant breach of faith and trust that in no way can be justified. It is an egregious and irresponsible action that is wholly unworthy of organizations that purport to represent the best interests of the chiropractic profession. Your decision in this matter is not only an insulting slap in the face to those doctors that have served with distinction on the successful DoD Oversight Advisory Committee, but it is an equal slap in the face to the organizations that those doctors officially represent, including the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations, Association of Chiropractic College, Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research, Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Board and the Council on Chiropractic Education. These organizations are, of course, noncompetitive and nonpolitical organizations that represent the entire chiropractic profession – and unlike some trade associations – they are not motivated to promote the partisan agenda of any single group. The value of having the above noncompeting, nonpolitical organizations represent the chiropractic profession was well recognized years ago, when they were named in the official report language that accompanied the enabling legislation that first began the successful DoD Chiropractic Demonstration Program. Your failure to support their representatives now sends a strong signal of disunity to the DVA and lessens the likelihood that these organizations and the chiropractic profession will be sufficiently represented on the DVA Advisory Committee, and you have "politicized" a process that should have remained above politics. Further, your lack of support at this critical juncture simply plays into the hands of those parties that wish to further exploit and contain the influence of the chiropractic profession. It is no great secret that for years the opponents of our profession have capitalized on the so-called lack of unity within the chiropractic profession as both an excuse and tactic to retard the profession's growth and opportunities. This was and remains a calculated strategy on their part. Unfortunately, your organizations are now serving those forces – including a hostile DVA bureaucracy – which would prefer, above all, to see the profession represented on the DVA Advisory Committee in a fractured and divided way. When faced with a congressional mandate to implement the chiropractic benefit two years ago, the obstructionist bureaucracy in the Veterans Administration allowed the National Association of Chiropractic Medicine (NACM) to participate. The VA knew full well that this fringe group and others would disrupt any constructive work in developing the chiropractic provision. This same bureaucracy is still at work in the VA and, if we are not united, the VA will be given another opportunity to harm proper implementation of the chiropractic benefit. For the benefit of the entire chiropractic profession, the ACA calls on your organizations to immediately withdraw the names of any individuals your organizations have submitted who are not listed in the agreement you signed last September. Sincerely,
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