CHIROPRACTIC AGAIN SHOWN TO BE MORE COST-EFFECTIVE

Chiropractic Again Shown to Be More Cost-Effective
New Study Compares Chiropractic to Medical Care in "Real-World" Setting
By Editorial StaffOne of the reasons many companies are hesitant to include coverage for services such as chiropractic is the claim that inadequate scientific data verify the effectiveness of these forms of care.
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A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine,1 combined with the results of a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation,2 may finally put an end to the question of how chiropractic affects the cost of health care, and whether it is more effective than traditional medical procedures for the treatment of back pain.
"Prior to this, no study had ever linked chiropractic benefits to lower utilization levels in a real-world employee setting," commented Douglas Metz, DC, a co-investigator on the Archives paper. "Our study shows that systematic access to managed chiropractic care may prove to be not only clinically beneficial, but can reduce key cost factors that drive up employer health costs in traditional care settings."3
The Archives study was sponsored by American Specialty Health Plans (ASHP) - an organization that offers coverage for alternative health care providers such as chiropractors, acupuncturists and massage therapists, which is added to traditional insurance policies - and was conducted by Health Benchmarks, an independent health services research organization. Health Benchmarks reviewed four years of claims data on back pain from two groups: one group of 700,000 health plan members with chiropractic care coverage, and a second group of 1 million members who were in the same health plan as the first group, but who had no chiropractic coverage. Aside from chiropractic care, patients in both groups had access to the same physician network; the same rules on referral to specialty care, diagnostic tests, and hospital and surgery approval; and the same exclusions and limitations.
The analysis found wide discrepancies in health care costs for patients with and without chiropractic coverage:
The overall per-member, per-year health care cost of members with chiropractic coverage was $1,463 - $208 less than the cost of members without chiropractic coverage. This amounted to a 12 percent reduction in annual costs incurred by the health plan for members with chiropractic coverage.
The per-member, per-year health care cost of chiropractic patients with neuromusculoskeletal conditions was 13 percent lower compared to the same group of patients without coverage of chiropractic care. Similar reductions were seen in annual per-capita hospital costs and ambulatory services.
The greatest differences were seen when the authors reviewed cases of treatment related specifically to back pain. The average cost per back pain episode for patients with chiropractic coverage was 28 percent lower than for back pain patients without chiropractic coverage.
Back pain patients with coverage of chiropractic had a 41 percent reduction in hospitalizations for back pain, a 37 percent reduction in MRI scans, a 23 percent reduction in the use of X-rays, and a 32 percent reduction in the incidence of back surgery, compared to back pain patients who did not have chiropractic insurance coverage.

Dr. Paul S. Tetro
Chiropractor
Takoma Park/Silver Spring, MD