President's Article

The season is changing, schools have opened again for the most part and we all have been running our practices in “Covid-19” mode for over 6 months now which continues to provide challenges in daily practice and home life.

The MCA Board of Directors continues to work diligently at improving the state of chiropractic in Minnesota and providing value in membership. The MCA along with Ewald Consulting have been working hard developing and initiating the MCAs strategic initiatives for the coming year. Here is a list of what we have been working on recently.

Website:

The MCA website will become the focal place for communication, continued education, discussion (replacement of the list serve) and camaraderie through Communities of Practice (discussion forums on specific topics including animal chiropractic, neurology, nutrition, and Next Gen). You will be receiving communications regarding Communities of Practice very soon. Also, on the website, you can pay your dues and put your credit card information in so that it will be auto renewed each year without having to send you renewal messages. There is a new feature regarding MCPAC (MCAs political action committee). A MCPAC donation page has been created to make donating to your political action committee very easy.

Membership:

Membership services/benefits are always being reviewed to provide value for your MCA membership. Ewald Consulting is working with the MCA to develop a Membership Benefit communication that will demonstrate the benefits of being a member in your state association and why it is a “no brainer” to keep your membership and encourage your non-member peers to join. We also lowered the membership cost to make it easier for everyone to be a member. Saving money is an important reason for membership but in today’s society we have lost our sense of “community”. We hope to bring that back.

Collaboration:

Our partnership with Secure Care has resulted in some positive changes coming in 2021 for BCBS providers. The Network will be reduced to 3 Tiers with 90% of all providers in Tier 1 and 2. 50% of all BCBS providers (712) will receive approximately a 14% increase in reimbursement by moving up a tier!

Legislative Advocacy:

With all members of the state legislature up for election this year, our legislative agenda will be very important as their will likely be many new faces and we may lose some long-time supporters of the chiropractic profession. MCA’s legislative professional officer, Dr. Chuck Sawyer, will be contacting you with updates and action items once the election is complete. Meeting with new or old legislators in your districts will be very important this year to protect what we currently have and to make any progress on our initiatives. These initiatives will be sent out soon after the Board of Directors approves the Legislative Agenda for 2021 later this month.

Professional development:

A professional development needs assessment survey was recently sent out. We had a great response to our survey (thank you to all who responded) which will help shape our professional development/education offerings for the coming year.

There is much more to do as we enter the autumn season. Thank you all for your membership in the MCA and please consider talking with your non-member peers to join the Association.

Yours in health,

Vincent Pankonin DC
President-Minnesota Chiropractic Association

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MCPAC Urgently Needs Your Help
Supporting our Friends in the Legislature is Critical

Dr. Chuck Sawyer
MCA Professional Officer for Legislative Affairs

I’ll keep this short and right to the point: The Minnesota Chiropractic Association's Political Action Committee (MCPAC) needs your help!

With all 201 seats in the Minnesota Legislature on the ballot in November, it’s critical that we show our support for incumbents who are friends of the chiropractic profession and challengers in other districts who have reached out to us for help with their political campaigns.

In the world of politics, relationships matter and the financial support MCPAC provides to candidates is an important element in the MCA’s legislative advocacy efforts.

It’s for that reason that this request is urgent – but we also know that the COVID-19 pandemic has likely taken a toll on your practice and that this ‘ask’ might be coming at a bad time. So with that in mind, please take a minute to make either a one-time or recurring donation – in whatever amount you can afford – by going to: https://mca.ce21.com/donations/detail/mcpac-donation-12

Thanks for pitching in with your donation and please contact me if you have any questions about the MCA’s advocacy efforts.

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Upcoming Webinar: Biomechanical Changes of the Spine and Pelvis related to Pregnancy

This webinar will discuss the ever-changing arthrokinematics of a pregnant patient. It will explore the challenges Doctor of Chiropractic encounter when treating back pain associated with pregnancy.

Register Now

Upon completion of this course the attendees will be able to:

• Identity patterns of pain in pregnancy and how to treat them.
• Understand the how and why pregnant women experience spinal and sacral pain.
• Better communicate to pregnant women the reasons chiropractic care should be part of their health care team.

Speaker: Dr. Mary Beth Minser

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Join us Saturday, October 10th for MCA National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Corrective Exercise Hands on Workshop

During this course will discuss how to identify movement impairments in the musculoskeletal system. Once we know what the altered impairments are, we can therefore develop corrective rehabilitative exercises and manual therapy strategies for our patients. These strategies will develop a different way of treating those stubborn cases that are not responding.

This is an 8-hour course. Hours 1-4, are lecture, learning key concepts and the background of functional anatomy. Hours 4-8 are hands on.

Register Now

Learning Objectives:

• Learn how to take functional anatomy and apply it to your treatment plan.
• Learn the NASM Corrective Exercise Model and how to apply it.
• Learn to develop better treatment plans based on assessing the true cause of the movement impairment.

Speaker: Dr. Craig Couillard

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Interested in Neuro-Rehab as it relates to Concussion? You won’t want to miss this event!

<img src="https://mnchiro.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2020/09/MCA-Concussion-rehab-email-banner-2020-10-17.jpg" alt="2020 MCA Concussion Neuro-Rehab Course for Chiropractors " width="100%">

Doctors Jeremy Schmoe and Brian Sass of the Function Neurology Center will be discussing functional neurology and how it relates to concussion rehabilitation. Want to understand ANS basics, the connections between neck and vestibular system, and the relationship between the cerebellum and balance better? Join us on Saturday, October 17!

Register Now

Upon completion of this course attendees will understand:

• ANS basics
• Clinical exam strategies
• Rehab strategies
• How to assess the neck in TBI patients
• The connection between the neck and eyes
• The connections between the neck and vestibular system
• Peripheral and central sensitization

Speakers: Dr. Jeremy Schmore and Dr. Brian Sass