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Q. Why was the National Business Association for Chiropractors’ (NBAC) established?
A. Over the past several years, NCMIC has
been approached by their policyholders requesting
access to resources, information and products
regarding the business and personal planning
aspects of a D.C.'s practice. As an
insurance and financial services company
with more than 37,000 malpractice policyholders,
NCMIC was limited in the amount of information that it could legally provide
as a licensed insurance company. However, as NCMIC is always focused
on taking care of its D.C.s, it felt compelled to help find a way to provide
this type of information and resources. As a result, NCMIC contracted
with NBAC, and was responsible for providing the initial funding and resources
to get it started.
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Q. What is the primary benefit that NBAC brings to its members?
A. NBAC focuses on two distinct areas.
First, NBAC provides information and
resources that relate to the business needs
a practitioner faces with running their practice.
This includes, but is not limited to
such topics as incorporation considerations,
cash flow and its impact, the importance
of business plans, sources of practice funding,
staffing considerations, office space utilization,
as well as many more. Second, NBAC also
focuses on the personal planning needs that
a chiropractor faces. This includes,
but is not limited to such topics as managing
debt, the importance of credit scores and
retirement planning.
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Q. What are the requirements for membership in NBAC?
A. To qualify for membership in NBAC, an
individual must be a licensed chiropractor
and have active malpractice insurance in place. NCMIC will assist NBAC by
reviewing the membership enrollment form to confirm the existence of malpractice insurance.
However, an individual need not have malpractice insurance with NCMIC in
order to be a member of NBAC. As long as the licensed D.C. has a malpractice
insurance policy in force, he or
she will qualify for membership.
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Q. What happens to my NBAC membership if my malpractice insurance policy with NCMIC lapses?
A. The two core requirements for membership in NBAC is the Doctor of Chiropractic
must hold a license and they must have malpractice insurance in force. If a D.C.
has coverage with NCMIC that lapses, the individual D.C. would
be required to obtain malpractice insurance from another carrier to remain
a member of NBAC.
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Q. How are NBAC and NCMIC connected?
A. The NBAC program provided an excellent
means for NCMIC to be able to respond to
the increasing needs of their policyholders
regarding the lack of business information
and personal planning resources available to chiropractors. NCMIC felt compelled to
assist its malpractice insurance policyholders
by helping to establish and initially fund
the new NBAC program. However, NBAC is a
stand-alone organization with no reporting
or organizational ties to NCMIC.
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Q. How does NBAC compare to the other national and state chiropractic associations? Will NBAC have a negative effect on national or state associations?
A. The chiropractic profession already has
several national and state chiropractic associations
and organizations that support the profession
with practice focus, regulatory tracking,
lobbying, education, coding, Medicare, legislation,
research and insurance reimbursement issues. NBAC is intended to be
a complement to these associations and organizations by providing the resources,
information and products that relate solely to the business and personal
planning needs that a practicing Doctor of Chiropractic faces with running his or her practice. NBAC’s focus will be to implement information, resources
and programs that meet the current needs of D.C.s, as well as those that
will impact their future financial development. Since it is truly designed
to complement the national and state associations, NBAC will more than likely
have a positive effect since it will not compete with these groups but rather
will augment with services and products they may not be able to provide.
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Q. Is NBAC involved in any lobbying activities?
A. As NBAC was formed for the purpose of
providing chiropractors with access to business
information and personal planning resources,
NBAC has no plans to be involved in lobbying
activities. Moreover, NBAC was created for
a different purpose and thus will not involve
itself in any lobbying efforts focused on
the practice of chiropractic, its regulatory
environment, nor insurance or insurance reimbursement
related to chiropractic.
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Q. How does NBAC provide its members with information and access to resources?
A. There are two primary ways NBAC supports its members with business related information and access to personal and financial
resource information. The first is through the website, www.nbac.com. It is the goal of NBAC to make the
website an interactive source for a wide variety of business information and planning resource needs. In addition to
the website, NBAC also publishes a newsletter, the NBAC Messenger,
that focuses on select business topics. Many of the topics for the future
will be selected as a result of membership feedback and interest.
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Q. In addition to the business and personal planning resources and information, why did NBAC choose
to offer additional benefits? Will any discounts be available for these benefits?
A. NBAC's goal is to keep the cost of membership
nominal, while also providing members with
benefits and discounts that are convenient
and cost effective. NBAC
decided to offer a few benefits including discounted web services, auto rental
discounts, magazine discounts and floral discounts as well as the availability
of long term disability and business overhead insurance as a convenience for
members. Discounts vary by offering and can range from 20% to 85%. The
insurance plans offered are group insurance plans with attractive
rates and benefits compared to an individual policy.
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Q. Where are the administrative offices of NBAC located?
Does NBAC have any staff?
A. NBAC has contracted with the National
Administration Company to handle the day-to-day
administration of the association and its
offerings. National Administration Company
is an organization that specializes in providing
administrative support capabilities to professional
and trade associations. The administration
of NBAC is conducted out of National Administration Company’s
headquarters located at:
National Business Association for Chiropractors
16476 Wild Horse Creek Road
Chesterfield, MO 63017
Phone: 800-992-8044
By contracting with National Administration
Company, NBAC hopes to keep administrative
costs and staff to a minimum. At present,
National Administration Company performs
all of the administrative functions for
NBAC. The Board of Directors performs
the remaining functions, with special emphasis
placed on business information and resource
planning, program benefits and membership
program utilization review. |
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What happens to any product or insurance that I purchase through NBAC if I cancel my membership?
A. One of the advantages of membership is
the ability to gain discounts and access
to certain products and insurance. As long
as membership in NBAC is retained, there
is no impact on either discounts or access
to those products and insurance. If membership
in NBAC ceases, these discounts will no longer
be available. For those individuals who purchased
an insurance product offered through NBAC; however,
they may continue their insurance.
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Q. Are NBAC membership dues tax deductible as a personal or business expense?
A. At this point, membership dues for NBAC
are not tax deductible as either a personal
or business expense. Given that dues are only $15,
NBAC does not anticipate pursuing filing with the
IRS to obtain tax deduction status.
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