December 17, 2024 • 9 mins
Questions for Dr. James email drquinnjames@att.net
Discover the driving force behind a transformative legislative effort as we welcome Dr. Quinn James, a politically active chiropractor from St. Louis, Missouri, who's championing the modernization of Medicare for chiropractic care. As the legislative chairman for the American Chiropractic Association, Dr. James provides an insider's perspective on the Medicare Chiropractic Modernization Act (HR 1610 and Senate Bill 799), which aims to break down outdated barriers from a 1972 statute. With bipartisan support, this initiative promises to expand patient access and streamline care by reducing redundant provider visits. Dr. James shares his journey and passion for reform, making this a must-listen for anyone invested in healthcare progress.
Our conversation doesn't stop at policy details. We explore the tactical steps necessary to garner Congressional support, spotlighting the pivotal role of Jason Smith, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. With 179 House co-sponsors and 14 Senate supporters, the momentum is undeniable. Hear Dr. James's appreciation for his colleagues' collaboration and commitment to this urgent cause, as well as a personal story that brings the legislation's importance into sharp relief. Tune in to understand how you can contribute to this crucial movement, ensuring enhanced chiropractic care under Medicare nationwide.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hello, I'm Dr Arlen Foer, the chairman and founder
of Activator MethodsInternational.
Welcome to our podcast calledActivate your Practice.
Today we've got a verydifferent person that we're
interviewing, dr Quinn James,and he's from St Louis, missouri
and very active in politics.
And he's from St Louis,missouri and very active in
(00:25):
politics and he's been workingon upgrading the Medicare bill
for chiropractic.
Dr James, welcome to theprogram.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thanks a lot.
I appreciate you inviting me tobe on the program today.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, I thought we could get the word out to
everybody and see how much theycould help you, because you've
been doing this by yourself andnot getting any recognition, and
so that was my goal today is toget you some help.
Can you tell me a little bitabout yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, I'm a practicing physician.
I have a solo practice and justoutside of St Louis, Missouri
and St Peter's.
I've been in business for about25 years and over those 25
years I've held differentpositions with the Missouri
Chiropractic PhysiciansAssociation, including the
legislative chairman, and then Imoved over to the American
Chiropractic Association where Ibecame a delegate for Missouri,
representing the 2,300chiropractors in Missouri, and
(01:14):
then eventually I was appointedas the legislative chairman for
the American ChiropracticAssociation.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So you've been around politics for a few years.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yes, I have, so we've made some real good strides in
Missouri and we want to see thathappen nationwide with our
federal plans.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Now this bill that you're working on it's updating
Medicare for chiropractic andI'm surprised.
When I talk to chiropractorsthey have no idea that this is
even happening.
And I know there's a billnumber.
Can you tell me what thatnumber is?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, so the name of the bill is the Medicare
Chiropractic Modernization Actand it's HR 1610 in the US House
of Representatives and it'sSenate Bill 799 in the US Senate
.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well, tell me a little bit about what, for
example, how many co-sponsors?
I know you were up at 170.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, so we've been able to pick up several
co-sponsors.
For our bill, we're up to 179co-sponsors and the great thing
about this bill is we have 93Republicans and we have 86
Democrats signed on on our Housebill and on the Senate bill, we
have 14 co-sponsors, includingsix Republicans and eight
Democrats.
Senate bill we have 14co-sponsors, including six
Republicans and eight Democrats.
(02:27):
So this piece of legislation isjust very bipartisan, supported
by many in Congress.
Up to about 42% of the membersof Congress have signed off.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
How did we get to the situation where we need
legislation?
Why can't CMS do this throughthe regulatory process?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Well, in 1972, we passed a law in Congress to
allow us to kind of get our footin the door and allowed us to
treat subluxations of the spine.
And because that was put intostatute, the only way to
overturn the statute that waspassed in 1972 is to pass a new
statute.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I know we're late in the congressional session, but
can doctors still contact theirrepresentatives and ask them to
support that legislation?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah.
So the best way to do it isjust to reach out to your local
congressional office or calltheir DC office and ask to set
up a meeting with yourrepresentative or one of their
representatives.
And this legislation isfar-reaching.
As we kind of mentioned before,when they passed this in 1972,
they kind of got their foot inthe door and it allowed
chiropractors to do manipulationto the spine only.
(03:26):
But what this bill would do isit would expand that out with
that modernization, so it wouldallow you to practice up to your
state scope, and any servicethat Medicare covers that you're
licensed to provide within yourstate you would be able to get
reimbursed for.
And we're not just talking abouta reimbursement issue, we're
actually talking about a patientaccess issue.
So patients don't get access toour services if the services
(03:46):
aren't paid for.
So if a Medicare patient wereto come in and want to get an
adjustment to their spine, undercurrent statute we have to
charge them for an exam, we haveto refer them out for x-rays,
refer them out for specializedtesting, refer them out for
physical therapy.
Well, those are all things thatare within our scope and
instead of making a Medicarepatient have to go to multiple
providers for the coveredservices that we're already
(04:08):
licensed to provide.
Why not just have Medicare?
Pay us for all those servicesand eliminate that roadblock.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well, you know, I'm a little bit familiar with
Medicare Number one.
I almost got arrested becausewe were using Activator and they
sent the government officialsto my office in Wilmer,
minnesota, and they said I don'tthink we've got enough to
arrest you, but we'll be back.
And of course I was a bit upset, to say the least.
(04:36):
So I called my Senator, rudyBoschowitz At the time I was
very close to him and he said Iwant you to fly to Washington
tomorrow.
He said we will get this thingsettled and I never will forget
walking in Rudy's office becauseyou know, usually it's staff,
people and things like that.
But he was there and the headof health and human services
(04:57):
Margaret Heckler was her nameand a bunch of law enforcement
people.
I thought, my gosh, I'llprobably get arrested here.
And he said what's the realissue here?
And one of his aides said well,you have to adjust by hand.
And he said you know, when youpaint a picture you use a brush,
but you're still doing it byhand.
And he held up an activator andhe said now I consider this the
(05:19):
brush.
And Margaret Heckerler lookedat Rudy Boschwitz and said
that's what we're here for.
Drop the case and I want aletter sent out and we have a
letter on our website, by theway everybody could look at.
In 1986, activator was approvedfor Medicare.
So that's my dealings withMedicare, so I understand a bit
(05:41):
about what you're going through.
To get everything in line, howwould a doctor go about
contacting their electedofficials?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So there's a couple of ways to go on about doing
that.
You can obviously go online andyou can look up who your
elected official is and find outwhere their local offices are.
So they typically have officesthat are within their district
and they also have a WashingtonDC office and then what you
would do is just reach out tothem through that method, just
give them a phone call and tryto get a meeting set up with
them and ask them either to meetin person in district or you
(06:10):
can also do a Zoom meeting withthem.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Would it be helpful for patients to call their
congressman?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, it's always helpful if you can make their
phones ring in Washington DC,and the American Chiropractic
Association actually has a callto action page where patients
can click on the links and putin their address and it'll
automatically generate emails tothe members of Congress in
their district.
So just go to the ACA website,yeah go to the ACA website under
(06:39):
the advocacy tab and you caneither click that you're a
patient or you're a provider and, based on if you're a patient
or provider, it'll generate adifferent style of letter that
you can send off to your memberof Congress letting them know
that you support thislegislation to increase access
for Medicare patients to theservices provided by
chiropractic physicians.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
When the legislation passes.
You see how positive I am.
When the legislative passes,you're.
What does the legislation thengo through the regulatory
process?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, so with any piece of legislation, once you
pass it and it gets signed bythe president or signed by the
governor of a state, it alwayshas to go through the regulatory
process.
Will it determine all theservices that will be reimbursed
under that?
So, like with different states,there's different regulations,
so our scope of practice inMissouri may be a little bit
different than the scope ofpractice in Arizona, so we'll
have to figure out what thosedifferences are.
(07:31):
And it's no different than anyother profession.
Nurse practitioners havedifferent rights in different
states, so they have to figureout which services are going to
be covered underneath Medicare,and they'll have to do the same
thing with chiropractic tofigure out which services
they're going to cover based onyour state scope of practice.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
How long do you think the process will take once it's
passed?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Well, I don't have any experience on the federal
level, but on the state level, acouple of years ago we passed a
Medicaid full inclusion billfor chiropractic physicians in
Missouri, where it covers examsand x-rays and allows us to be
able to order blood work andMRIs and be able to perform
therapies in our office, and Ican tell you that process took
us about a year and a half toget that in place through the
regulation.
(08:10):
So I would expect the samething on the federal level.
It's going to take a year ortwo to get those regulations
drawn up and it'll go intoeffect within a couple of years
of passing the legislation.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Well, I know you're busy and I just want to thank
you for taking time to get thisout to everybody, and I hope
this helps you because it's beena tough job and I want you to
be recognized for the work youdid, and the ACA, you know,
helped with all of this also.
So thank you, dr James, forcoming on.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, I appreciate that, and this is an extra piece
of information.
This bill has been assigned tothe Ways and Means Committee of
the US Congress and ChairmanSmith, jason Smith.
He is actually from thesoutheastern corner of Missouri
and is a great friend ofchiropractic and the chairman of
the committee where this hasbeen assigned.
We also have 30 of the 43members from his committee
(09:04):
signed on as co-sponsors forthis legislation.
So we're really building a lotof momentum with this bill and
we really want to get thisacross the finish line as soon
as possible.
Well, David, I appreciate youinviting me on today.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, you're welcome.
David Swikert is from Arizonaand he's a friend and he's been,
you know, a co-sponsor for sometime now and he just got
re-elected, so I think you'regoing to be in good shape to get
it handled.
That reelected, so I thinkyou're going to be in good shape
to get it handled.
That sounds great.
I appreciate you having me ontoday.
Thank you very much, dr James.
Hello, I'm Dr Arlen Foer, the chairman and founder
of Activator MethodsInternational.
Welcome to our podcast calledActivate your Practice.
Today we've got a verydifferent person that we're
interviewing, dr Quinn James,and he's from St Louis, missouri
and very active in politics.
And he's from St Louis,missouri and very active in
(00:25):
politics and he's been workingon upgrading the Medicare bill
for chiropractic.
Dr James, welcome to theprogram.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thanks a lot.
I appreciate you inviting me tobe on the program today.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, I thought we could get the word out to
everybody and see how much theycould help you, because you've
been doing this by yourself andnot getting any recognition, and
so that was my goal today is toget you some help.
Can you tell me a little bitabout yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, I'm a practicing physician.
I have a solo practice and justoutside of St Louis, Missouri
and St Peter's.
I've been in business for about25 years and over those 25
years I've held differentpositions with the Missouri
Chiropractic PhysiciansAssociation, including the
legislative chairman, and then Imoved over to the American
Chiropractic Association where Ibecame a delegate for Missouri,
representing the 2,300chiropractors in Missouri, and
(01:14):
then eventually I was appointedas the legislative chairman for
the American ChiropracticAssociation.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So you've been around politics for a few years.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yes, I have, so we've made some real good strides in
Missouri and we want to see thathappen nationwide with our
federal plans.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Now this bill that you're working on it's updating
Medicare for chiropractic andI'm surprised.
When I talk to chiropractorsthey have no idea that this is
even happening.
And I know there's a billnumber.
Can you tell me what thatnumber is?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, so the name of the bill is the Medicare
Chiropractic Modernization Actand it's HR 1610 in the US House
of Representatives and it'sSenate Bill 799 in the US Senate
.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well, tell me a little bit about what, for
example, how many co-sponsors?
I know you were up at 170.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, so we've been able to pick up several
co-sponsors.
For our bill, we're up to 179co-sponsors and the great thing
about this bill is we have 93Republicans and we have 86
Democrats signed on on our Housebill and on the Senate bill, we
have 14 co-sponsors, includingsix Republicans and eight
Democrats.
Senate bill we have 14co-sponsors, including six
Republicans and eight Democrats.
(02:27):
So this piece of legislation isjust very bipartisan, supported
by many in Congress.
Up to about 42% of the membersof Congress have signed off.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
How did we get to the situation where we need
legislation?
Why can't CMS do this throughthe regulatory process?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Well, in 1972, we passed a law in Congress to
allow us to kind of get our footin the door and allowed us to
treat subluxations of the spine.
And because that was put intostatute, the only way to
overturn the statute that waspassed in 1972 is to pass a new
statute.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I know we're late in the congressional session, but
can doctors still contact theirrepresentatives and ask them to
support that legislation?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah.
So the best way to do it isjust to reach out to your local
congressional office or calltheir DC office and ask to set
up a meeting with yourrepresentative or one of their
representatives.
And this legislation isfar-reaching.
As we kind of mentioned before,when they passed this in 1972,
they kind of got their foot inthe door and it allowed
chiropractors to do manipulationto the spine only.
(03:26):
But what this bill would do isit would expand that out with
that modernization, so it wouldallow you to practice up to your
state scope, and any servicethat Medicare covers that you're
licensed to provide within yourstate you would be able to get
reimbursed for.
And we're not just talking abouta reimbursement issue, we're
actually talking about a patientaccess issue.
So patients don't get access toour services if the services
(03:46):
aren't paid for.
So if a Medicare patient wereto come in and want to get an
adjustment to their spine, undercurrent statute we have to
charge them for an exam, we haveto refer them out for x-rays,
refer them out for specializedtesting, refer them out for
physical therapy.
Well, those are all things thatare within our scope and
instead of making a Medicarepatient have to go to multiple
providers for the coveredservices that we're already
(04:08):
licensed to provide.
Why not just have Medicare?
Pay us for all those servicesand eliminate that roadblock.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well, you know, I'm a little bit familiar with
Medicare Number one.
I almost got arrested becausewe were using Activator and they
sent the government officialsto my office in Wilmer,
minnesota, and they said I don'tthink we've got enough to
arrest you, but we'll be back.
And of course I was a bit upset, to say the least.
(04:36):
So I called my Senator, rudyBoschowitz At the time I was
very close to him and he said Iwant you to fly to Washington
tomorrow.
He said we will get this thingsettled and I never will forget
walking in Rudy's office becauseyou know, usually it's staff,
people and things like that.
But he was there and the headof health and human services
(04:57):
Margaret Heckler was her nameand a bunch of law enforcement
people.
I thought, my gosh, I'llprobably get arrested here.
And he said what's the realissue here?
And one of his aides said well,you have to adjust by hand.
And he said you know, when youpaint a picture you use a brush,
but you're still doing it byhand.
And he held up an activator andhe said now I consider this the
(05:19):
brush.
And Margaret Heckerler lookedat Rudy Boschwitz and said
that's what we're here for.
Drop the case and I want aletter sent out and we have a
letter on our website, by theway everybody could look at.
In 1986, activator was approvedfor Medicare.
So that's my dealings withMedicare, so I understand a bit
(05:41):
about what you're going through.
To get everything in line, howwould a doctor go about
contacting their electedofficials?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So there's a couple of ways to go on about doing
that.
You can obviously go online andyou can look up who your
elected official is and find outwhere their local offices are.
So they typically have officesthat are within their district
and they also have a WashingtonDC office and then what you
would do is just reach out tothem through that method, just
give them a phone call and tryto get a meeting set up with
them and ask them either to meetin person in district or you
(06:10):
can also do a Zoom meeting withthem.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Would it be helpful for patients to call their
congressman?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, it's always helpful if you can make their
phones ring in Washington DC,and the American Chiropractic
Association actually has a callto action page where patients
can click on the links and putin their address and it'll
automatically generate emails tothe members of Congress in
their district.
So just go to the ACA website,yeah go to the ACA website under
(06:39):
the advocacy tab and you caneither click that you're a
patient or you're a provider and, based on if you're a patient
or provider, it'll generate adifferent style of letter that
you can send off to your memberof Congress letting them know
that you support thislegislation to increase access
for Medicare patients to theservices provided by
chiropractic physicians.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
When the legislation passes.
You see how positive I am.
When the legislative passes,you're.
What does the legislation thengo through the regulatory
process?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, so with any piece of legislation, once you
pass it and it gets signed bythe president or signed by the
governor of a state, it alwayshas to go through the regulatory
process.
Will it determine all theservices that will be reimbursed
under that?
So, like with different states,there's different regulations,
so our scope of practice inMissouri may be a little bit
different than the scope ofpractice in Arizona, so we'll
have to figure out what thosedifferences are.
(07:31):
And it's no different than anyother profession.
Nurse practitioners havedifferent rights in different
states, so they have to figureout which services are going to
be covered underneath Medicare,and they'll have to do the same
thing with chiropractic tofigure out which services
they're going to cover based onyour state scope of practice.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
How long do you think the process will take once it's
passed?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Well, I don't have any experience on the federal
level, but on the state level, acouple of years ago we passed a
Medicaid full inclusion billfor chiropractic physicians in
Missouri, where it covers examsand x-rays and allows us to be
able to order blood work andMRIs and be able to perform
therapies in our office, and Ican tell you that process took
us about a year and a half toget that in place through the
regulation.
(08:10):
So I would expect the samething on the federal level.
It's going to take a year ortwo to get those regulations
drawn up and it'll go intoeffect within a couple of years
of passing the legislation.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Well, I know you're busy and I just want to thank
you for taking time to get thisout to everybody, and I hope
this helps you because it's beena tough job and I want you to
be recognized for the work youdid, and the ACA, you know,
helped with all of this also.
So thank you, dr James, forcoming on.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, I appreciate that, and this is an extra piece
of information.
This bill has been assigned tothe Ways and Means Committee of
the US Congress and ChairmanSmith, jason Smith.
He is actually from thesoutheastern corner of Missouri
and is a great friend ofchiropractic and the chairman of
the committee where this hasbeen assigned.
We also have 30 of the 43members from his committee
(09:04):
signed on as co-sponsors forthis legislation.
So we're really building a lotof momentum with this bill and
we really want to get thisacross the finish line as soon
as possible.
Well, David, I appreciate youinviting me on today.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, you're welcome.
David Swikert is from Arizonaand he's a friend and he's been,
you know, a co-sponsor for sometime now and he just got
re-elected, so I think you'regoing to be in good shape to get
it handled.
That reelected, so I thinkyou're going to be in good shape
to get it handled.
That sounds great.
I appreciate you having me ontoday.
Thank you very much, dr James.
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