Palmer well-represented at Silicon Valley workshop on integrating chiropractic services into worksite clinics

Alumni from the Palmer College of Chiropractic West campus in San Jose, California, who account for the majority of doctors providing care at the growing number of worksite health centers throughout the Silicon Valley, were well represented at the recent “Integrating Chiropractic Services Into Your Worksite Health Program and Clinic” workshop sponsored by the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP) and hosted by Cisco Systems, which has included chiropractic services at its LifeConnections Health Center since opening in 2008.

Presented in partnership with the National Association of Worksite Health Centers (NAWHC), the Jan. 22 event (attended by representatives from nearly two dozen Fortune 500 companies) marked the fourth workshop of its type sponsored by F4CP, and the second offered in the Silicon Valley. F4CP has sponsored two similar workshops in Chicago, and plans to host another this September in Florida.

Worksite clinics for companies with more than 5,000 employees increased from 24 to 33 percent in the past five years. The “Integrating Chiropractic Services” workshops are designed as interactive programs for companies that are considering or currently providing chiropractic care among the scope of multidisciplinary services provided at their worksite health and wellness centers.

Three of the five workshop presentations featured Palmer-affiliated speakers, including:

• Bill Meeker, D.C., M.P.H., FPAC (West ’82), West campus president: “Patients’ Experiences with Doctors of Chiropractic: Findings from the Gallup-Palmer College Surveys.”
• Sherry McAllister, D.C., M.Ed., CCSP®, Foundation for Chiropractic Progress executive vice president (West ’96): “Training of Today’s Chiropractors and Their Role in National Guidelines.”
• Daniel Lord, D.C., CCSP®, Crossover Health physical medicine senior program manager (West ’09): “Improve Pain Management by Integrating Physical Therapy with Chiropractic Care.”

Several Palmer West alumni currently providing care at Bay Area worksite health centers also attended the Integrating Chiropractic Services workshop, including: Tony Kearns, D.C. (West ’07); Matt McCormack, D.C. (West ’14); Rob Murray, D.C., CCSP® (West ’98); Ti Pence, D.C. (West ’06); Kale Ptacek, D.C. (West ’14); and Scott Swanson, D.C. (West ’02).

“This event was devoted to the integration of chiropractic services in worksite health centers and was hosted by one of the most influential tech companies in the world. It serves as another example of how far chiropractic has advanced,” said Dr. Meeker.

“I was honored to be among the featured presenters, and proud that many of the other speakers had a Palmer connection. The majority of D.C.’s in attendance were Palmer alumni who currently provide care at tech-based clinics, which speaks to the ability of our program to prepare graduates to work well with other health care providers, and to deliver quality patient care in multidisciplinary settings.”

“The workshop co-hosted with NAWHC at Cisco did a great job in educating representatives from corporate work centers that don’t currently offer chiropractic care with many reasons why they should consider adding this cost-effective service,” said Dr. McAllister, who has maintained a San Jose area practice for more than 20 years, and wrote the article “Making Adjustments for the Opioid Crisis” for the October 2018 issue of Boss Magazine.

“This was a landmark event for providing the opportunity to show how worksite clinics that include chiropractic care are seeing significant improvement in employee health outcomes, and a decrease in costs as well as a reduction in the amount of opioid prescriptions,” said Dr. Lord, a member of the Crossover Health physical medicine team since 2012, who was a featured speaker at the recent Integrative Pain Care Policy Congress at Harvard University.