The Mercy Center Guidelines Advisory Committee has chosen Aspen Publishers, Inc. to publish the Proceedings from the Conference for the Establishment of Guidelines for Chiropractic Quality Assurance and Practice Parameters (Mercy Center Guidelines). Aspen was chosen because of their strong commitment to the chiropractic profession and the quality of their existing publications.
Aspen will be publishing both a softcover and hardcover edition. The softcover edition will be mailed to every chiropractor in the United States. Both the hard and softcover editions will be available directly from Aspen.
The distribution of the guidelines to every chiropractor allows the entire profession the opportunity to examine the recommendations, consider their applications, and present written responses.
Aspen Publishers deserves special thanks along with the other organizations listed below that have made the "free" distribution of these guidelines a reality:
NCMIC
Foot Levelers, Inc.
OUM Group
Leander Health Technologies
Activator Methods
Chiropractic Health Care Systems
Motion Palpation Institute
Parker Chiropractic Resource Foundation
Synergy
Visual Odyssey
With the additional input to develop and refine the Mercy document's introduction and disclaimers by Mercy commission council David Chapman-Smith, Esq., and the National Association of Chiropractic Attorneys (NACA), the disbursement of the Mercy Center Guidelines has been delayed. Copies of the guidelines are expected to be mailed to the entire U.S. profession by late August.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
On Feb. 1, 2024, two more legislators – John R. Carter (R-Texas) and Robert “Bob” Good (R-Va.) – co-sponsored the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2023, bringing the co-sponsor total to 155, two more than the total achieved over the entire two-year congressional cycle in which identical legislation last appeared (2021-22).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
