MEMBER BENEFITS

Download a membership application to join here.

NEW! Why is Dr. Clint Bennion of Mesa an ACS regular member and a Board member? Read his own words as of April 12, 2008:

I’m positive many of us, if not all, are exploited by insurance companies on a regular basis. Sadly, I’m sure many of us eventually give up, fighting thinking we can’t possibly win. Last year I treated a patient for roughly eight weeks and, as many of us commonly encounter, the insurance company decided they weren’t going to pay for any of the patient’s visits. After unsuccessfully going through the normal appeals process which included two separate peer-reviews (we all know how those go), the insurance company informed me they were upholding their decision not to pay. They also informed me I had “exhausted my appeals limit” and “there was nothing else we could do”.  Fortunately, I am a member of the Arizona Chiropractic Society. With the assistance of ACS, namely Drs. Immerman and Glassman, I successfully sued the insurance company in civil court. The insurance company knew, as I did, that if my case went before a non-partial judge, they wouldn’t stand a chance. We agreed to settle out-of-court and I recovered 70% of the patient’s $6,000 bill including my court costs. 

I never would have thought I could take on an insurance company by myself, let alone win. ACS gave me the confidence, the support, and the resources I needed to level the playing field with the insurance company and finally get paid for the work I had done. This alone has made my ACS membership worth every penny.

Clinton Bennion, DC, ACS Board of Directors, Fiesta Chiropractic Center  

NEW! In these toughest of economic times, ACS has come to the rescue with a new service for members. ACS tells its members to do everything they can to get paid from insurance companies and attorneys. Then, if they fail, ACS members are invited to turn to ACS President Alan M. Immerman, D.C. for personalized advice. Dr. Immerman will show the member how to use a variety of powerful and effective Arizona laws to get the Arizona Department of Insurance to force the insurance companies to pay. If that approach fails, ACS has complete instructions for how to file Small Claims and Justice Court lawsuits against insurance companies. ACS also has full directions for filing ERISA claims. ACS also helps DCs solve problems that sometimes arise when handling PI cases with attorneys. ACS members routinely collect more every year than they pay in dues as a result of ACS advice and counseling. Ask any of the 200+ ACS members and they will quickly confirm this fact. There IS a reason we have grown 50% in the last year! Join today and find out for yourself. Dr. Immerman has been licensed in Arizona since 1980 and either knows how to solve every Arizona chiropractic problem, or knows just where to go to get the answer. He works full-time for ACS and the Arizona chiropractic profession.

LIST OF SPECIAL TREASURE DOCUMENTS

ACS' Special Treasures are publications that are available only to ACS Members. This list is constantly being updated so check back regularly! The following is a complete current list:

1. Personalized advice on how to collect from insurance companies after all of your usual methods have been tried and failed.

2. Arizona Chiropractic Board of Examiners monthly minutes. Finally, you can know what the Board is doing on a regular basis so that you know what you should not be doing in your practice.

3. Dr. Preston Long rebuttal package: Dr. Long is one of the most active defense IME DCs in Arizona. The ACS rebuttal package contains scores of references to journal articles, guidelines from various nations in the world regarding chiropractic, an analysis of the safety of chiropractic, information from the Chiropractic Board regarding Dr. Long and excerpts from Dr. Long's past depositions. If you want to win a battle with Dr. Long, this is the package you need.

4. Timely Payment of Claims, Adjudication and Adjustments: Complete instructions for exactly what to do when insurers do not pay in a timely manner.

5. Record Keeping as Mandated by the Chiropractic Board: ACS has nailed down the most accurate information in Arizona regarding what is required by the Board in terms of record keeping. This includes a sample daily progress note that was approved by the Board's auditor after a chiropractor was disciplined, educated in the Board-approved record keeping class, and audited by the Board-approved auditor.

6. Medical Records Protocol: All chiropractors are required by law to have a proper Medical Records Protocol on file in their offices. ACS retained an expert health care law specialist in 2006 to draft its Protocol which is available to members.

7. Health Care Appeals Process: THE system to follow in Arizona to get medical necessity denials overturned. ACS explains the complicated steps in easy terms so that you can use the program today in your office to increase collections.

8. Grievance Letters: These formal and legal letters are simply the best way to get an insurers' focused attention and to get your bills paid. ACS explains the entire Grievance process and shows you how to incorporate it into your practice.

9. Complete instructions for what to do when an insurer states that your fees are above the usual and customary fee schedule for your area.

10. Complete instructions for how to file a wide variety of complaints against any type of insurance company.

11. Personalized advice regarding whether you should join managed care networks including BCBS PPO, ACN, ASHN and many others. Each practice has its own needs, and ACS can help you determine what will work best in your office.

12. Key ERISA self-funded plan tools. When your patient works for a company with more than 500 employees, the health plan is almost always self-insured and exempt from state regulation. Find out how to appeal claims denials from the Arizona Department of Insurance and the U.S. Department of Labor. Learn how you can force ERISA plans to tell you exactly what you need to tell them to get them to pay claims.

13. Small Claims and Justice Court Lawsuit Instructions: Some offices have found that filing lawsuits on behalf of patients is an inexpensive an easy way to get your case in front of an impartial judge who will usually rule against an insurance company. Knowing this, almost all insurers will settle when sued according to some doctors. ACS has complete instructions.

14. How to Search the National Library of Medicine: The Arizona Chiropractic Board requires that your practice methods be based on peer-reviewed and indexed scientific journal studies. ACS now provides complete instructions for how to access such studies on the Internet by searching the National Library of Medicine. Then, ACS provides a recommendation for a specific medical library to order studies from which is quick, reliable and inexpensive.

15. Referrals to ACS’ choice of an excellent attorney to represent Chiropractors before the Arizona Chiropractic Board.  ACS has referred dozens of doctors over a period of many years to this attorney, and has only received very positive feedback. This attorney does not advertise to the profession. He does not need to. ACS receives no remuneration or any type of gain for these referrals, other than the satisfaction of knowing that the doctors are receiving fine legal attention.

16. Much more to come! Membership is very valuable!

Download a membership application here.