The National by FCA: A Wrap Up
Get a glimpse of The National by FCA wrap up on YouTube.
By Scott Gojkovich
The National by FCA took place Aug. 25-28, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. Billed as “the world’s largest event for the chiropractic profession,” this year’s event welcomed more than 300 exhibitors and 2,000 attendees from 45 states over the course of three days. DCs from across the country came to Orlando to connect with friends, meet new ones, purchase supplies/equipment to keep their offices running and to get up to date on the profession.
The first time I attended FCA was when I joined NCMIC in 2019. Within 10 minutes of working the booth, a longtime policy holder came up and hugged me saying, “I’m a chiropractor and I’ve been with NCMIC for more than 20 years! My dad was a chiropractor and he only used NCMIC. What you guys do is amazing!” If it wasn’t clear to me before that moment (it was!), it was a great reminder about how much NCMIC means to the profession. We take care of our own, and there it was, plain as day, but we also support the entire profession, so whether they’re a policyholder or not, we’re there for them, too.
For NCMIC, planning to attend FCA takes a village and our folks worked tirelessly for months to come up with new and innovative ways to help us better connect with chiropractors. But don’t take my word for it—read what some of our other FCA attendees had to say about the experience:
“Great experience as always. It’s impressive to see the predominant forces of the DC profession congregate in one venue. For me, one of the huge advantages is the exposure to the other vendors from the industry and being able to prospect them for partnerships that can help the merchant department generate leads.” — Ahmed Ibrahim
“It was a phenomenal thing to experience and watch the trusted NCMIC brand in action for the first time. We are loved and supported by our policyholders, many, if not all, let us know they have been with us for many years and feel valued. I will always remember watching the attendees interact with our team, listening to how inspirational our plenary session was and just how important we are to the business.” — Polly Loneman
“FCA is the kick off to our fall convention travel season. This year was another vibrant gathering. Leadership from all parts of the profession were present to convene and discuss the future of chiropractic from every angle. That makes for a lot of scheduled and impromptu meetings. It is always very fast-paced so I try to remember that every interaction is an individual opportunity. Stay positive, look out for your teammates, remember it is fun and drink a ton of coffee!” — Emily Wood
“This was my first time attending FCA. It was a great experience, from booth set up to booth tear down. I enjoyed interacting with co-workers from different teams, as well as meeting many of our insureds and DC students. We hosted NCMIC’s first Beers and Bingo event for students, featuring Babs, our very own bingo babe. Students had a fantastic time at the event and were able to network with students from other schools. I’m looking forward to making this an annual event.” — Mandi Swanson
“The National seemed like it was back this year. I attended in 2020—rescheduled to November—again in August 2021, and both were not as well attended as we are accustomed to. This year the event seemed to be firing on all cylinders. I usually coordinate and execute meetings with leaders from the profession, help with the content for the Saturday morning plenary session and pull off a dinner for 120 of our friends attending the event. This year several members of the NCMIC Board attended and we were able to have private meetings with leaders from the ACA, ICA and ACC. We had other meetings with folks from ABCA, ChiroCongress and several of the colleges.
The NCMIC dinner on Friday evening at Maggiano’s Little Italy has become a perennial favorite among leaders from the profession and this year’s plenary session was very special, as well. The topic was the watershed Wilk v. AMA litigation from the 1980’s, which spanned more than a decade and cleared the way for DCs to have more integration and interaction with other health care providers. Dr. Lou Sportelli and Howard Wolinsky, author of “Contain and Eliminate: The American Medical Association’s Conspiracy to Destroy Chiropractic,” presented via video as both were unable to travel to Orlando, and Dr. Carl Cleveland, president of Cleveland University, expertly wove the entire story together. It was tremendous!” — Mike Whitmer