Spinal Chat with The PCA

PCA Member Intel: Why PCA Cannot Negotiate Chiropractic Reimbursement, and What We Can Do Reimbursement is one of the most serious challenges facing Pennsylvania chiropractors, and PCA has heard you loud and clear. Why can’t PCA simply negotiate higher reimbursement rates? Federal antitrust law restricts professional associations from negotiating individual provider fee schedules. That does not me...

August President’s Address: A PCA Town Hall with Dr. Kris Arnold and Mike Barba In this President’s Update from The Spinal Chat Podcast, PCA President Dr. Kris Arnold and Executive Director Mike Barba discuss the issues directly affecting your practice and the future of chiropractic in Pennsylvania. The urgent Senate push for HB 1106. Scope modernization through SB 1330. Declining insurance reimbu...

PCA Deep Dive: When the Evidence Changes, Rethinking Spine Injections for Chronic Pain The Spinal Chat Podcast: PCA Deep Dive Series examines 2025 BMJ evidence on routine interventional procedures for chronic non-cancer spine pain and asks: When the evidence changes, should the way we deliver and pay for care change with it? A major BMJ systematic review and network meta-analysis included 132 elig...

PCA Deep Dive: Medicare Stuck in 1972—The Updated Case for Chiropractic Modernization This episode examines H.R. 539 and S. 106, the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act, and the limitations of Medicare’s current chiropractic coverage policy. Medicare generally covers spinal manipulation but does not reimburse doctors of chiropractic for many evaluation, diagnostic, imaging, and therap...

When Innovation Meets Coverage Rules: P-Stim, TENS, and Coding Integrity Episode Summary In this Deep Dive, we examine the May 2026 P-Stim billing issue and what chiropractic practices should learn from it. This episode is not an indictment of electrical stimulation, TENS, ancillary services, cash-based care, vendors, or innovation. The issue is narrower: the billing code must match the service pe...

PCA June President’s Address: Insurance Updates, Sports Chiropractic Progress, and University Partnerships In this June President’s Address on Spinal Chat, Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association President Dr. Kris Arnold shares updates on insurance and advocacy efforts, sports chiropractic, and university relationships. He reports that Highmark’s newly rejected codes are not chiropractic-specific,...

PCA Cares: How Chiropractors Can Help Recognize Human Trafficking and Support Survivors In this PCA conversation, Mike Barba, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association, sits down with Dr. Eric Harrison and Joe Krysiak to discuss the mission of ChiroHeroes and the role chiropractors can play in helping recognize and respond to human trafficking. ChiroHeroes works to educate ch...

PCA Deep Dive: The Pill-First Problem; Ibuprofen, Joint Pain, and Conservative Care In this Spinal Chat Deep Dive, the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association explores why joint and musculoskeletal pain often pushes patients toward a medication-first pathway, and why modern care should include earlier access to conservative, non-drug musculoskeletal options. This episode uses recent public-facing ar...

PCA May President's Address with Dr. Kris Arnold PCA President Dr. Kris Arnold’s First Address: Unity, Communication, CE, and Advocacy In the first President’s Address on Spinal Chat, Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association President Dr. Kris Arnold outlines goals to strengthen chiropractic in Pennsylvania through greater unity, improved communication, member engagement, and a stronger shared voice....

PCA Strategic Business Member Spotlight: North Payment Processing with Ryan Moss In this PCA Strategic Business Member Spotlight, Mike Barba of the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association interviews Ryan Moss, Senior Director of Enterprise Sales at North, a payment processing company vetted by PCA to help chiropractors understand and reduce credit card processing costs. North, in payment processing...

PCA Study Review: Shoulder Pain, Rotator Cuff Tears, and the Problem with One Test Thinking In this episode of PCA Study Review, a service of the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association, we review research on shoulder exams, rotator cuff tears, and subacromial impingement. Shoulder exams can get crowded quickly: Neer, Hawkins, Jobe, Drop Arm, Lift Off, Painful Arc, and lag signs. Most doctors know t...

PCA Deep Dive: Pennsylvania’s Chiropractic Scope Fight; Modern Care vs. Outdated Laws In this episode of PCA Deep Dive , we examine one of the most important questions facing chiropractic in Pennsylvania: What happens when modern chiropractic education, modern patient needs, and conservative care collide with an outdated scope-of-practice law built for another era? Pennsylvania’s chiropractic scop...

PCA Study Spotlight: The Hidden Circuit of Chronic Pain Stanford’s Hidden Chronic Pain Circuit: A Better Framework for Explaining Persistent Mechanical Pain This episode of PCA Study Spotlight reviews a Stanford Nature study describing a “hidden” looping circuit between the spinal cord and brain that appears to selectively drive chronic mechanical pain in mice while remaining distinct from pathway...

PCA March President’s Address with Dr. Andrew Heck | Legislative Progress, Advocacy & Northeast Chiro Summit In this special Spinal Chat episode from the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association, PCA President Dr. Andrew Heck shares the March President’s Address with updates on spring momentum and ongoing legislative, regulatory, and reimbursement challenges. He reports progress on delegation res...

PCA Deep Dive: Covered but Not Accessible. The Chiropractic Copay Crisis in Pennsylvania This episode argues that rising deductibles, copays, visit caps, and administrative barriers are pricing patients out of conservative musculoskeletal care, reshaping treatment choices, and increasing downstream costs. Citing the RAND Health Insurance Experiment, it notes chiropractic use drops about 50% with 2...

PCA Deep Dive: Beyond the Adjustment, Why Functional Nutrition Matters in Modern Conservative Care This episode of PCA Deep Dive introduces the Functional Nutrition Working Group 100-Hour Certification in Functional Nutrition , developed by the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association in academic partnership with the University of Bridgeport . The conversation makes the case that today’s patients are...

PCA Deep Dive: Dentists of the Spine; Why Chiropractic Should Be the First Stop Why does modern healthcare still send so many patients with uncomplicated back and neck pain into the wrong doorway? In this episode, we examine what happens when patients enter the fragmented “spine supermarket” of urgent care, primary care, pain management, imaging, medication, and premature surgical referral, despit...

PCA Deep Dive: Cleared for the Pros, Benched for High School Regulatory Clarity in School Athletics: Return-to-Play, Sideline Care, and Statutory Authority in Pennsylvania In this episode of PCA Deep Dive, we examine a policy disconnect affecting student athletes across Pennsylvania. Doctors of chiropractic with advanced sports credentials serve on professional and Olympic medical staffs nationwid...

PCA Deep Dive: From Quackery to Copays; The Structural Battle Over Access Here’s a tight, high authority summary you can use: In 1963, the American Medical Association formed the Committee on Quackery with a documented mission to contain and eliminate the chiropractic profession. That campaign ultimately led to Wilk v. AMA, a landmark antitrust case that ended the formal boycott in 1987. But remov...

Transforming Chiropractic Care with Chiro Health USA: An Interview with Heather Join Mike Barb, Executive Director of PCA, as he interviews Heather from Chiro Health USA. Discover how CHUSA (Chiro Health USA) has been a critical partner for chiropractic practices, offering a legal structure to manage fees and improve revenue. Learn about the $49 annual membership that removes financial barriers fo...

Exploring Impact Health Sharing: A Game-Changer for Chiropractic Practices In this episode of the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association podcast, Executive Director Mike Barba hosts Richard and Trey from Impact Health Sharing. This strategic business partnership has been assisting PCA members in transitioning from traditional insurance models to more cost-effective healthcare sharing systems. The d...

PCA Deep Dive: Medicare Stuck in 1972; The Case for Chiropractic Modernization Episode Overview This episode examines the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act (H.R. 539 / S. 106) and the structural limitations within Medicare that restrict coverage of chiropractic services to spinal manipulation only, excluding evaluation, imaging, and related services routinely covered for other physi...

PCA Strategic Business Partner Highlight: Foot Levelers In this PCA Strategic Business Partner Highlight, we sit down with Jamie Greenawalt, President of Foot Levelers, a long-time sponsor and trusted partner of the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association. This conversation explores how continuity of care extends beyond the adjustment table and into everyday life, particularly through sleep posture...

PCA Deep Dive: Opioid Addiction Doesn’t Start With a Pill, It Starts With Pain In this episode of PCA Spinal Chat Deep Dive, the focus is on re-examining the opioid crisis from an upstream perspective. While most discussions center on the aftermath of addiction, this episode explores what happens before addiction begins, emphasizing the role of pain management in prevention. By comparing the lates...

January President’s Address Dr Andrew Heck: Momentum and Advocacy in PA Chiropractic January President’s Address: Momentum and Advocacy in PA Chiropractic In this episode of Spinal Chat by the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association (PCA), the January President’s Address is delivered by PCA President Dr. Andrew Heck. The address, initially shared in the PCA newsletter, provides an overview of the si...