Mar 02 2009
News Releases
The Utah Chiropractic Physicians Association would like to announce publicly:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Tim Apgood (UCPA Executive Director)
Chris Duncan LMT, DC (Public Relations Chair)
Utah Chiropractic Physicians Association
Phone: 801-281-4100
www.utahchiro.org
UCPA Prompts Chiropractic at Hill AFB
Salt Lake City, Utah (Feb. 17, 2009) –Last year Congress required the Department of Defense to begin providing chiropractic services at 11 new military treatment facilities by September of 2009. The 75th Medical Group at Hill Air Force Base provides health care for more than 5000 active duty military and medical services for over 50,000 TRICARE beneficiaries, according to their website. There is no chiropractic treatment for the troops here in Utah, despite having a complete hospital facility at Hill AFB. The UCPA is encouraging the designation of Hill AFB as one of those 11 new facilities to offer chiropractic care.
The history of chiropractic support of our military personnel is long. In 1944 the first bill to commission chiropractors was introduced in the United States Congress. In 1985 the DoD was directed to determine cost effectiveness of chiropractic. President George H.W. Bush authorized the DoD to commission chiropractors in 1992. The Chiropractic Health Care Demonstration Program (CHCDP) that ended in September 1999 showed overwhelmingly that chiropractic would be beneficial to our troops and to the military. It was replaced by the Chiropractic Care Program in 2001, which was to extend chiropractic care to all active duty military personnel by 2003. In 2004 the Secretary of Defense was required to speed up the implementation of this program so that all service men and women would be able to access chiropractic care by October of 2005. Currently in 2008 according to Tricare’s website, barely a fifth, 49 of 238, Military Treatment Facilities (MTF) offer chiropractic services.
The UCPA believes that all US Military Personnel deserve access to the chiropractic treatment that has been promised to them by law as a benefit, and would like to start with Utah personnel.
Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) are well-trained, highly-educated health care professionals that specialize in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. Congress began to integrate chiropractic care into the military because of the high physical stress of the environments of military operation. In these environments, injuries to the musculoskeletal system are frequent, commonplace, and oftentimes serious. Injuries of this nature harm our service men and women individually, as well as the units they serve in, decreasing moral and combat readiness.
With actions in Iraq apparently winding down Utah has been and will continue to see a return of its dedicated troops. Recently the VA cited “diseases of Musculoskeletal System/Connective System,” back pain, as the number one diagnosis of Iraq/Afghanistan veterans accessing VA treatment (Analysis of VA Health Care Utilization Among U.S. Global War on Terrorism Veterans, October Jan. 2009). Some chiropractic benefits are offered in the VA system in Utah, and active duty troops are not authorized to utilize these facilities. Rather than catching these issues early or preventing the problems, personnel in Utah have to wait until retiring from the service to get chiropractic care.
The UCPA would like to pledge its support to Utah’s Service Members by requesting that the DoD implement chiropractic services at Hill AFB.
For more information on chiropractic in the military or Utah chiropractors contact Tim Apgood at (801) 281-4100 or visit the UCPA Web site: www.utahchiro.org.
# # #
