The News:
If not worn properly, backpacks can cause a lifetime of back and neck ailments in children, according to the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. While children’s bodies are resilient, even they can’t take the day-after-day stress caused by a backpack that is too heavy or worn improperly. If the weight is not distributed correctly, there can be the prospect of long-term problems.

The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) held a National School Backpack Awareness Day in September. The day educated children, parents, school administrators, and teachers about the serious health effects on children from backpacks.

Your Views:
Lars Eric Larson, DC, Burlington, Vt, said, “The number one problem stems from improper training of our children by adults regarding the proper use and weight limits that children can appropriately carry. Children cannot be asked to carry more than 10% of their body weight. Parents, schoolteachers, and administrators must become ‘super’ involved in the solution. Chiropractors, the experts in this area, are ready and waiting to take the lead in many communities with advice and treatment protocols. Health classes could contain a segment each year regarding this priority topic. To be fair, children need to be actively involved, and some may continue to make poor choices even when educated about proper posture and lifting techniques. Let’s first give them a chance!”

Matthew Roller, DC, Sandy, Utah, said, “You don’t need to be a doctor to see what backpacks are doing to our children. Watch the children coming out of school, and watch what some of them have to do just to lift the pack. Some of them are so heavy they have to swing them up on to their back and lean to carry them. Every parent needs to get their child to dump everything out of their pack every Sunday night and only put back into the pack what they need.”

The News:
Humana agreed to a class-action settlement resolving claims on behalf of DCs and other health care providers in Solomon v Anthem, which is pending before Judge Frederico Moreno of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. If approved by the court, Humana will pay $3.5 million to fund payments to class-member DCs and other health care providers, as well as fees and costs advanced by class counsel. As part of the settlement, DCs will be permitted to assign their portion of the recovery to the American Chiropractic Association if they wish to do so.

Your Views:
Dennis R. Buckley, DC, Pasadena, Calif, said, “Perhaps this might level the playing field a bit so that both sides are on equal footing. Too many times, the provider is held hostage and claims are denied or delayed without substantiation; clinical guidelines are misused, misquoted, or ignored altogether; and the practitioner bears the burden of proof that what they performed was necessary and relevant. Meanwhile, the payors, while withholding payment, ignore or delay the appeals until threats of small claims court, reporting to the insurance commissioner, or even taking a patient to court to move the process along. Meanwhile, the expenditure of time and effort makes the claim less valuable every day. In some ways, it seems to be a standard operating procedure to delay to see how many practitioners are ready to put up a fight. In California, many of the payors were given carte blanche by the governor to operate as they want without accountability as they screamed the providers were the culprits and the insurance companies recorded record profits. What is needed is some ground rules that are fair so that both sides can operate without one group having their hands tied. Only time will tell.”

Jeffrey Solomon, DC, Miami, said, “I am very pleased with the progress that has been made in trying to remedy the injustice the insurance industry has posed on health care providers, and, more importantly, their policyholders. While the cash penalty is truly peanuts compared to money realistically stolen, the changes being created in policy and practices employed by Humana and others is the real reward for the hard- fought effort to bring fairness and justice. Now we must watch them like hawks to be sure the changes are implemented completely and consistently.

Additionally, as the insurance industry has effectively reduced chiropractic utilization as a result of their conspiracy, I would personally like to see chiropractors who have returns from their claims contribute their funds to The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress. This would certainly be appropriate as the Foundation’s advertising campaign will increase the public's utilization of chiropractic services. An additional great reward for fighting this fight.”