Dear Doctors and Staff of Alaska,

Warm wishes for the coming holiday season! A HUGE THANK YOU to all our doctors, staff, presenters, vendors, sponsors, and volunteer staff that participated in the Golden 50^th Anniversary Celebration of the Alaska Chiropractic Society. It was a stellar event that exceeded past conventions, and everyone had a great time both educationally and socially. After the past four years it was wonderful to be together and build each other up. A special THANK YOU to former COO Sheri Ryan for all her efforts to pull off another great event as well as our new staff, Ms. Alison Libby, and Ms. Lacey Ryan for their support. Looking forward to 2024, we would love to have your input into what you would like to learn and experience at the next convention, so get those recommendations in to either Alison at alibby@akchiro.org or Debbie at dryan@akchiro.org as soon as possible.

Transitions:  It is with great sadness that ACS accepted the resignation of Sheri Ryan as our Chief Operational Officer. She has done an excellent job organizing and executing these past 13 years and will be greatly missed. She has agreed to assist in the transition to new staffing and we certainly appreciate the help. We would also like to welcome Dr. David Martin as our new Treasurer as well as sending our sincere thanks to Dr. John Pairmore for his many years of service to ACS.

We welcome Ms. Alison Libby to the ACS team. Alison holds a Master’s in Business Administration and has hit the ground running with convention and the transition happening simultaneously. She is married and with a young son and is firmly grounded in Alaska. We are truly grateful to have found such a wonderful person to continue the tradition of caring for our members and our partners. We also welcome Lacey Ryan who holds a Certified Clinical Chiropractic Assistant certificate and has also been a volunteer face with ACS for many years. She will be assisting both Alison and me, as we transition the ACS into the future. Lacey was born into a chiropractic family and continues to work in a chiropractic practice and assist ACS on a part-time level. She is a mother to two young girls.

Insurance Issues:  Our combined efforts of members and ACS staff caught a Cotiviti edit that occurred with Aetna at the beginning of June 2022. The State of Alaska Benefits and Aetna worked with us to identify these incorrect denials and to reprocess those claims. Premera is upgrading old contracts for offices and is asking for a new W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification. Be sure to review any contract changes and if you have questions, seek legal advice from a contract attorney before you complete the new contracts.

ACS has identified software partners to help us identify in real-time, with instant notification, when a change has occurred with a payor in our state, and what exactly is happening. Brad Cost with Infinedi (a clearinghouse partner) is developing this program. If you do not use Infinedi as a clearinghouse, I urge you to consider using them. The data they collect will be owned by chiropractic and not insurance companies. This allows us to prove that we are the most cost-effective healthcare AND allow us to instantly identify when an insurance company has implemented an edit that has not been communicated (i.e., Premera’s PT coding changes this year)  This teaches us that united, we stand a better chance of not only identifying issues quickly but also correcting them before it becomes a huge issue for our offices.  ACS has also set up a new email address for sending information regarding new claim denials that seem out of the ordinary. Please go to our toolkit to locate the form you would fill out to submit those specific claim denials. We do not need redacted copies of claims, just the information on the form.

On the bright side, for those of you who are Aetna’s preferred providers, our communication with their leadership is that our doctors in the SecureCare Network are overwhelmingly performing well. We are actively working on a fee schedule increase and changes to Aetna payment policies. This is due to the nurtured relationships between the Alaska Chiropractic Society and SecureCare and in turn Aetna.

Your ACS Board and staff remain vigilant in addressing the day-to-day issues. We continue to work with our ACS legislative committee on new legislation to benefit your profession and deal with insurance issues through the Insurance Task Force.

Nationally:  On a national level we continue to communicate with Senators Sullivan and Murkowski on Veteran issues and care and to move a new Tri-Care bill forward to cover dependent benefits which currently do not exist.

The sad passing of Congressman Don Young means we must ramp up our efforts to educate our new Congresswoman Mary Peltola about the benefits of chiropractic. Dr. Jim Martin, our Alaska ACA delegate, collaborates tirelessly with ACS to push these and other initiatives, both in-state and nationally, to help everyone benefit from chiropractic care.

If you are currently a member, we thank you for helping us to maintain vigilance in uncertain times. We hope that you have found value in your membership and that you feel we are responsive to your concerns.

If you are not a member, we encourage you to join today. Beyond the ability to access us easily for the information you might need, your membership continues to bring you valuable benefits:

• Legislative Support
• Instant Access to ACS Staff for Information
• Discounts for Convention
• Outstanding education for your practice
• Complimentary Credits
• Website Member Only Resources
• FREE Online Classified Advertising
• Affinity Programs

   

  In addition, if you become an Enhanced Member, you receive:

• Complimentary ChiroCode DeskBook each year
• Complimentary Basic Convention for you AND one staff
• Membership recognition gift
• Additional discounts on Special Events for you and your staff
• And more!

Your membership is more than being a part of a group. Membership not only funds the staff to keep our profession current in the state, but it brings you peace of mind that someone is constantly watching out for your profession in the areas of legislation, changes to regulations, insurance issues in all areas, business changes, HIPAA requirements, and more. Every year we face new challenges, but we cannot do it without your help as a provider and a member. Thank you for all you do for our communities to make them healthier.

Look for regular updates to the exciting changes to our state and here is to a successful, healthy, and happy 2023!

Best regards,                          

Debbie Ryan | Chief Executive Officer

dryan@akchiro.org