The Information Age Newsletter
 

July 2006

 
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Dr. Gerard Clum Elected President of World Federation of Chiropractic

Gerard W. Clum, DC, FICA, President of Life Chiropractic College West and the ICA delegate to the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) has been elected WFC President at the international organization’s June, 2006 meeting in South Africa. Dr. Clum has represented the International Chiropractors Association at the WFC for more than a decade and has served in many capacities at the WFC prior to assuming their highest office. Dr. Clum is a 1973 graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa and has served as President of Life Chiropractic College West for 25 years, serving longer in this leadership capacity than any other sitting chiropractic college president in the world.

Dr. Clum has served on the Board of Directors of the ICA as the Association’s Western Regional Director and as a representative of the ICA’s affiliated chiropractic colleges, and served as the ICA’s Vice President from 1991 to 1995. “ICA is very proud of Dr. Clum and of this important recognition on the world chiropractic stage,” said ICA President Dr. John Maltby. ICA was a founding member of the WFC and we have fought throughout the entire existence of that organization for chiropractic’s basic principles and to promote chiropractic worldwide as a separate science, philosophy art and practice. We look forward to great things to come from Dr. Clum in his new leadership capacity,” Dr. Maltby added.

Commentary: Many, including myself were in favor of ICA withdrawing from participation in the WFC. However, the majority of the ICA Board felt that change was only possible when working from the inside.  Thanks to the persistence of Dr Clum, the WFC adopted the ACC paradigm, and has created a identity statement that actually sounds chiropractic. It describes subluxation well. However, it does not use the word itself. (A partial victory in my book)  In the face of these past successes, and now with Dr. Clum as the WFC president, I must admit that staying in the WFC seems to have been the right course for ICA.  I can only imagine how bad it would be if not for the principled voice of Dr. Clum speaking for chiropractic world wide. I now stand corrected. Congratulations Gerry!

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Referrals - The Real Value of the Internet

Ever since the Internet has become a major tool in commerce, chiropractors have been told by those outside our profession about the wonders of the Internet as a way to get new business.  We have literally seen a handful of technology and marketing companies start selling websites to chiropractors based on a false premise and promise. Many of these companies soon folded their tents and have disappeared.

The notion was that millions of people were floating around on the Internet searching for chiropractors.  These masses would then stumble upon your site, using a search engine, and decide to start chiropractic care based upon reading some watered down information on chiropractic, alone with some information about you online.  The reasoning behind this was that, "After all, isn't that how major companies now do Internet commerce?"  Yes they are correct. That is how major companies sell widgets to the general public.  That is NOT, however, how the general public selects a doctor.

As chiropractors we already know how most people come into our offices.  There is no great secret here. It is referrals. In fact, 95 percent of all new chiropractic patients come from referrals.  Why then are we constantly looking for a marketing gimmick created by people who are not chiropractors, and do not understand what we are?  If we claim to be a profession that helps people from the "inside-out" then why are we always searching for solutions to our practice from the "outside-in"?

The real value that the Internet gives us is in referral enhancement. Our patients want to tell others!  They want to let everyone they know about how chiropractic has helped them and can change other people's lives.  I'm sure that most days you have a patient enter your office who says something like, "Doc, I have this neighbor who has these problems and I'd really like to get them to come in to see you.  Do you have anything you can give me that I can show them?"  You then spend the next few minutes looking for a pamphlet on that neighbor's health issue, in the hopes that this one piece of paper will make it into the neighbor's hands and sway them enough to have them call your office for an appointment. Usually, a slim prospect.

Using the Internet in the above scenario, my answer in my office to that patient became, "Tell your neighbor I have five articles on my website about his problem."  Now, I know that neighbor was probably searching the Internet for information on their health issue.  He or she was probably looking at WebMD or a host of other national medical sites designed to give information.  Now your patient will give him or her the opportunity to look at your site for more information.  Out of curiosity alone, that neighbor will probably look.  But since looking on your website is a lot less confrontational than calling your office with questions, that neighbor will most likely visit you online.  Once they have looked over your site online, gotten a chance to learn about you and chiropractic, now the decision to call your office to make that first appointment is a lot less scary. 

Educated, well informed patients make the best referrers of new people to your office.  Why not cultivate that by giving them all the tools they need.  Websites, emails and online newsletters should be geared toward helping your current patient base become stronger in chiropractic, so that they can send you more people.  The Internet should be the perfect tool they were looking for to help them send in the masses of people that they wanted to sent into your office all along.  Your patients are your soldiers in the fight to educate your community and the world about chiropractic.  Using the Internet properly gives them the ammunition they need to fight for you.

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ICA Board Calls For Withdrawal OF CCGPP “LOW BACK” Document

PRESS RELEASE ICA:  The Board of Directors of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) has called for the withdrawal of the current “Best Practices” document of The Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters (CCGPP) “Draft Low Back Best Practices Document.” At their meeting of July 11, 2006, the ICA Board adopted an emphatic position of opposition to this divisive and highly charged issue out of a strong sense of responsibility to the doctor in the field, and out of deep sense of concern over the methodological and procedural flaws in the CCGPP process. “In order to fulfill our responsibilities to our membership and to the future of the chiropractic profession, ICA’s Board of Directors had no choice but to act to oppose this latest CCGPP initiative,” President Dr. John K. Maltby.

ICA’s Board acted on the basis of a massive, detailed and highly objective and sophisticated analysis of the “Low Back” document developed by a special committee commissioned at the ICA’s 2006 Annual Board of Directors Meeting in May, 2006. This unique 32-page, heavily referenced analysis document addressed the issue of the CCGPP’s current initiative from every possible view point, including the many issues of procedure and methodology that raised concern on the part of the ICA committee, to the all-important matters of conflict of interest. The full text of this ICA analysis is available in the ICA website at www.chiropractic.org.

“ICA’s greatest concerns with the CCGPP document is that it can only serve to restrict, hinder and complicate the provision of necessary patient care at a time when all of health care is under massive negative pressure,” said Dr. Maltby. “The overwhelming third-party payment orientation of this document is terribly misplaced, to the point that one may legitimately ask where the evidence that such a document is needed at all. ICA has no doubt that this latest document can and will do little to enhance the quality, timeliness or availability of patient care,” Dr. Maltby said.

ICA’s action to call for the withdrawal of the recent CCGPP document took place in the context of a nationwide groundswell of concern and similar actions on the part of many if not most state chiropractic associations. “ICA is encouraged by the active, courageous and insightful actions on the part of so many organizations and individual leaders to preserve the practice rights of the doctor of chiropractic, and defend the rights of patients against the kind of political opinion document the CGPP appears to have developed again this time.” Dr. Maltby added.

ICA withdrew from participation in the CCGPP out of a decided lack of confidence in the direction of the organization following the profession-wide rejection of the Mercy Report, a position reaffirmed by the ICA Board on more than a dozen occasions over many years.

 

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Chiropractic in the News

Want to know what is going on in the world of chiropractic?  Don't have time to review the world wide web for all the news on chiropractic?  To help keep you informed, Now You Know offers this "Chiropractic in the News" section in each edition of The Information Age email newsletter. This feature provides the title and links to the various news items of interest to chiropractors. To see the articles, please click on the headline link below.

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Health News

We at Now You Know continually review hundreds of articles on health and chiropractic in order to find the few that we write up for our patient email newsletter service. Each month there are always good health articles that do not make it into the NYK Patient newsletter that our subscriber's patients receive. Below is a list with links to these and other interesting health related articles. 

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NYK Upcoming Seminars and Shows

We would like to thank the many associations, organizations and groups that have us speaking on their programs. Dates permitting, we would love to participate at your Association or Society convention as well. If you are interested in having us at your program, please contact us at either nowyouknow@nowyouknow.net or call us at 1-800-695-8937. Below is a list of programs and speaking engagements we have scheduled in the near future.

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Now You Know Internet Educational Services

Now You Know Websites:  Now You Know is the largest provider of individual websites to the chiropractic profession. Our website service includes your choice of 33 templates, over 800 pages of content, "Ask the Experts" videos, and many other educational features that make an NYK website the best value in patient and community education. Check out the ever growing list of features on our website at: www.nowyouknow.net,  then click on "Website Service".

Now You Know Email Newsletter Service: The NYK email newsletter delivers current and hard-hitting articles on health and chiropractic issues emailed directly to your patient's inbox.  If you want to keep your patients informed, this email newsletter service is unsurpassed in chiropractic.  But there is more.  The NYK email newsletter service is really two services in one!  With the NYK email newsletter service, subscribers can also easily send bulk emails out to their entire patient list. So, with the NYK email newsletter service, not only do your patients get the great stories and articles from the NYK Newsletter, but they can also get updates created by you!

Echiropractic: We push the technology window to the limit with online chiropractic pamphlets, cards, and office letters for your unlimited use. This service allows you to send unlimited individual emails directly to patients. Each Echiropractic message can be customized with a message from the doctor. This service is similar to some other popular online greeting cards, with one big difference. These messages are for chiropractic offices with chiropractic messages.

Now You Know Premium Package:  NYK services complement each other and together make the perfect blend of educational services at an affordable price.  Subscribing to all three educational services is the best value and resource available for complete online educational tools in chiropractic. Save $50 on the initial start-up and $30 a month by subscribing to the NYK Premium Package.

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How to Contact NYK

General NYK Mailing Address:Marietta square
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Use our toll free number to reach any of our departments
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