From the Director

15 February 2012

Thought #1 of the moment: If you are not at the table, you may be on the menu!
Thought #2 of the moment: Get the facts before the facts get you!!
Thought #3 of the moment: Your rights at the adjusting table will only be guaranteed by your presence at the conference table!!!

The Octagon 2012 symposium will begin in a little over two months. During those two months we will see more clarity in terms of the Republican nominee for president of the United States, we will hear the details of the arguments related to the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 put before the Supreme Court of the United States, we will see more details emerge about the basic benefits package under the Affordable Care Act  and we will move closer to the end of the window for practitioners to access the funds allocated for implementation of EHRs at a level of “meaningful use”. Not like there is anything going on that would impact the world of health care!!

On April 12-14, 2012 Life University, under the banner of the Octagon, will be the locus for a broad based gathering of people who are concerned about the future of health care in America. That concern will be expressed from the perspectives legislators, regulators, providers and patients and oddly enough there might be a difference of opinion or two among the group!

Let me be very clear with you about the content of Octagon 2012. I will offer anyone who wants to take a bet that there will be precious little presented on April 12-14, 2012 that will change what happens in your office on April 16, 2012. I will also bet that what is presented on April 12-14, 2012 will have a massive impact on how health care is delivered in the United States by April 16, 2014.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Regardless of how you decide to respond to the shifting tides in health care in America you will have a far better opportunity to make that decision from an informed perspective rather than a default perspective if you attend the Octagon 2012.

Throughout my forty years in chiropractic we have always had the ability, some might even say luxury, of going our own way and doing things as we saw fit as an individual practitioner. In the last decade we have seen this circumstance begin to change. In the next decade the pace of the change will be mind-bending. The window of time for us to get “up to speed” with the changes in structure, concept and intention in the delivery of health care in America remains open but it is closing before our eyes. The time for you to learn about the alterations to the system underway and for you to make strategic choices about how you wish to interact as a chiropractor in the future is NOW.

On April 12-14, 2012 you will have the opportunity to hear from key political leaders about the shifting systems of health care and about the opportunities that may exist for the Doctor of Chiropractic or other non-MD providers in the near future. You will have the good fortune to hear the informed analysis of future-oriented researchers on the trends they see emerging in the next 15 years. You will be afforded the chance to complete a crash course entitled “Health Reform 101” to bring you up to date on the mechanisms and structures that will dominate health care delivery by 2016.

You need to be at Octagon 2012. Book yourself out of the office, make your reservation and plan to be wish us at Life University on April 12-14, 2012 for your introduction to the road less traveled…the one that has made all the difference!

 

 

December 7, 2011

As 2011 draws to a close a great many questions about health care in the United States are pending and remain unanswered. While Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010 and it was signed into law by President Obama political wrangling and court challenges at the highest level continue to dominate the landscape of implementation.

The 2012 elections also loom very large as another wild card in these discussions. If the balance of power in Congress shifts or if the White House goes Republican then another set of scenarios begins to unfold across health care in America.

With all of these variables it is no wonder that the citizenry of the country is confused and to a degree alarmed about the future of health care in America. When health care is your occupation the alarm bells go off a good bit louder.

There is one overarching reality that is driving every aspect of every plan related to health care, health care funding and health care reform. That reality is rather simple: If something isn’t done to control health related costs in the United States these costs have the potential to be far more dangerous to America than any weapon of mass destruction or any terrorist activity. I realize that sounds extreme but the situation IS extreme. It must be addressed.

As chiropractors we see the weaknesses of the system in the United States from an outsider-insider perspective. We have an “outsider” view in that we are not major players in the system and we are not driving activity in changing the system. We also have an “insider” perspective in that while we are not drivers we are contributors or effectors in the system. This unique vantage point gives us a window through which to view the system and to potentially impact its improvement.

There is a corollary to the economic reality discussion above, that is, that if government can’t or doesn’t respond to these pressures the free-market will. This is critical to avoiding the paralysis that the politics, courts and matters seemingly far beyond our control can impose on us as consumers and as providers.

Understanding that the market will react and change the environment of health care, with or without government assistance allows us to continue to be proactive and to argue for the betterment that we can bring to the population and the system.

PPACA may not survive the decade but the ideas it helped to introduce will. Accountable Care Organizations (ACO’s) may not survive the coming challenges but the concepts of shared risk and shared profit will. Similarly structures such as the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) may formally fall by the wayside but the ideas they embody will live on.

As a result it is important for the individual chiropractor and the profession at large to understand and to the extent possible and desirable engage these structures. This is what the Octagon 2012 will be about, helping the chiropractor and the operational units of the profession from educational institutions to state associations to national associations better understand the lay of the land at the moment and terrain ahead of us.

I hope you will plan to be a part of The Octagon 2012 conference April 12-14, 2012 on the campus of Life University in Marietta, Georgia. If you have any questions or ideas for the conference please feel free to contact me at gerard.clum@life.edu

 

October 15, 2011

Colleagues,

Throughout the history of the chiropractic profession, in fact throughout the history of all non-medical, non-mainstream health care, we have always had to argue for our place in an after-the-fact manner. Policy was set by the powers that be and we were left to adapt to it or to exist outside of it.

Health care in America is in a sad state. On a per capita basis we invest more than any nation in the world. Our provider to population ratio is one of the highest in the world, our infrastructure in support of research and clinical care is among the best in the world. But, our outcomes are well below the level expected based on the investment in dollars, people and time. The return on investment (ROI) is so bad that a window for change has been opened as never before.

Everyone involved in health care is disenchanted—the patients, the providers and the payers. It is this perfect storm of discontent that is bringing about the most massive change in health care delivery in the history of the planet, the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). This perfect storm has also created a moment where, for the first time in our history, we can put forward a model, an argument, reflecting massive change in the health care delivery system and it could be considered.

We don’t want to be the dog that caught the car—now what do I do with it!

The Octagon has, since its inception, been about looking at the same facts everyone else looks at and seeing something different. It has been about reconnecting the dots in a different manner to yield a better, more promising outcome. In April 2012 the annual Octagon meeting will once again undertake such a task.

Imagine, after a century of angst about the prevailing system, we have a moment in time to propose a new system–the world of health care as we see it; a world of health care reflecting the views of clinical conservatism, of naturalism and of wholism. Imagine being told by the federal government “Okay, we hear you, we think you are right. The system needs a fundamental overhaul. Now tell us what to do!”

In the days, weeks and months leading up to April 2012 we invite your thoughts, your ideas, your plans, your vision for the health care system of our dreams. What would it look like conceptually and practically? How would resources be distributed, what are the incentives to engage the system from the view of each of the players—patients, providers and payers? While we are at it how should it be paid for—should government and employers be the key purchasers of health care services in the nation? Should it be exclusively government, should it be exclusively a personal responsibility?

The moment is so extreme, the needs are so great that there is a willingness to look at everything in a new light—the question is can we be one of the points of light in helping our nation, our people move into a better and more promising health care future?

Please let me know how you see the “ideal” health delivery system in America. Be as detailed as you can, be as explicit as you can. Assume you are writing the business and operational health plan for the nation. It is time to articulate how we see the future of health care—speak up, let me hear from you. Then mark your calendar for April 12-14, 2012 and plan to attend the Octagon 2012 to learn what everyone else is thinking and saying.

See you in the Spring- time in Georgia!

Gerard W. Clum, D.C.

Director

 

 

August 23, 2011

On behalf of President Riekeman and everyone associated with Life University and its ground-breaking project “The Octagon” I am pleased to welcome you to the new Octagon website and to the first “Message from the Director”.

The Octagon was envisioned by Guy F. Riekeman, D.C., president, Life University, to be focus of activity featuring discussions of critical importance to you and me individually, to us as citizens and concerned members of society and to the needs of people who have a worldview oriented toward a 21^st century view of vitalism.

The Octagon, now in its third year of activity, is intended to serve as a locus and focus for these important discussions. Life University began as Life Chiropractic College and evolved into Life College and then Life University. Consequently chiropractic care and health in general have always been at the heart of the institution. It is from these roots that the earliest efforts of The Octagon emerged as it convened the first multi-disciplined conference to explore Vitalism in the 21^st Century. Appreciating the impact of the health needs of the baby-boomer generation and the inability of the current system to address their needs and the burdens of an acute care system in a chronic care environment President Riekeman directed The Octagon to begin to explore the health perspectives of today’s young adult population and to seek strategies to keep them from repeating their parent’s destructive health behaviors. Out of this discussion emerged an important survey of the health attitudes and perspectives of the Millennial generation. From these initial explorations The Octagon shifted into a new direction and took on the daunting task of developing models of vertebral subluxation consistent with the science and thinking of the 21^st century. The Octagon continues the exploration of each of these content areas as it seeks to respond to the ever changing landscape of health, health care and personal behavior and responsibility in our times.

In 2012 The Octagon is poised to explore the potential for a true and meaningful implementation of vitalistic thought and practices in health care as the nation seeks to create the single largest health delivery transformation in the history of humankind. New thinking, out-of-the-box thinking and thinking that scraps the preconceptions of the past and begins anew the process of envisioning health and health care are called for. Disruptive innovation of highest order is needed for our people to be better served by their health care providers, for our nation to be able to afford the dream of health care as an unalienable right of humankind and for the continued progression and unfolding of the species.

President Riekeman envisions The Octagon, in the fullness of time, to perhaps be the most significant contribution of the institution to the well-being of society. I share this perspective with him and I am honored to work with him to see the realization of this vision.

It was my good fortune to have been one of the founding faculty members of Life Chiropractic College. At that time few grasped the vision of our founder, Dr. Sid E. Williams, when he spoke of impacting the planet. Now with graduates serving the health needs of millions of people around the globe and Life University contributing to the expansion of the chiropractic profession globally and the emergence of a contemporary perspective on vitalism, the stage is set for the realization of the next dream—change humankind, change the systems of healthcare and its delivery and return responsibility for health and well-being to every man, woman and child on this planet.

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come! Stay with us for the ride!

Yours in Life,

Gerard W. Clum, D.C.
Director
The Octagon, Life University