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Dr. Jaeger will talk about the NV Division of Insurance issues as well as chiropractic physicians' roles in health care in relation to the opioid crisis in Nevada and the nation.
The NCC meeting will be held February 21, 2017 at 6:30 PM sharp at Advanced Spine & Posture, located at 3061 Maryland Parkway South, Suite 201 Las Vegas, NV 89109. The Northern Nevada meeting will be held simultaneously at Advanced Chiropractic, 3232 Carmine Street, Carson City, NV 89706.
"Nevada's state laws already say that coverage for treatments by a chiropractic physician must not be limited relative to coverage by any other type of physician. The state and federal laws say that reimbursements for the number of visits that a chiropractor's patients may have per year should not be less than for any other type of physician. The DOI simply needs to enforce our state laws," said Jaeger.
Nevada has a shortage of chiropractic physicians. One of the primary reasons is that Nevada's Division of Insurance has not enforced a law on the books since 1981, which states that chiropractic physicians should be reimbursed by insurance companies at the same rate as other medical doctors and dentists. Nevada chiropractic physicians have been reimbursed at rates as low as 20% to 30% of their health care counterparts, while medical physicians get reimbursed at 100% of the allowed charge. Jaeger will explain in detail what the law says about reimbursement and what the NCC is fighting for.
All states have been slow to enforce the equal reimbursement laws, but recently other states have taken language from the Affordable Care Act to support their demand for insurance reimbursement parity. Other states, including Oregon, have taken the language from ACA 2706a. Oregon even strengthened the language before adding it to its state regulation (H2468).
The message Dr. Jaeger received from the DOI after his presentation on January 17th was encouraging. He will update attending NCC members on any new developments at the February meeting. There will be an open discussion taking questions from attending members.
February's meeting of the NCC will also focus on the election of new board members. Current NCC president, Dr. Robert Moore, will be stepping aside and, as detailed in the NCC Bylaws, will become the chairman of the board. In his new role, Dr. Moore will assist the new president and the board to continue moving forward with the NCC.
"In 2017 it is extremely important that the NCC continues to move forward with its agendas. The NCC board will work closely with the Nevada Division of Insurance to move toward equal reimbursement for chiropractic physicians. That's one reason why we need new members who want to get active," says Moore.
The NCC encourages its chiropractic physicians to use the most up-to-date and researched information about patient care, techniques, and laws while keeping chiropractic treatment drug and surgery free.
"The NCC will continue to give Nevada's chiropractic physicians access to high-quality education so they may give patients the best care available. That includes using chiropractic treatment to help alleviate the opioid addiction epidemic in Nevada. Our growing population wants other choices besides medications to treat pain. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval says that one Nevadan dies every day due to opioid addiction. That statistic is very frightening and must be dealt with. Chiropractic treatment is part of the solution," says Moore.
For more information, please contact the Nevada Chiropractic Council, www.nevadachiropractic.org, (702) 518-2188
