May/June 2001

Joint Venture To Search For Solutions
To Complaints About Managed Care

ARLINGTON, VA. - The American Chiropractic Association and Alternative Medicine,. Inc., have teamed up to find a solution to complaints accusing the managed-care industry of putting profits ahead of patients.

The announcement of the joint venture comes on the heels of a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine that points to the importance of patient choice and preventive health-care measures as integral components of managed care. plans of the future.

AMI's model, which features highly credentialed doctors of chiropractic as primary-care physicians in managed-care plans, has proven effective at dramatically reducing the rate of hospitalizations, surgeries, outpatient procedures and prescription drug use among health plan beneficiaries.

Many insurers have reacted to charges of putting revenue before patients by "eliminating administrative practices that restrict patients' choices" and by focusing on preventive treatment and "other measures that increase the coordination of care," according to the NEJM report.

AMI says its wellness model allows patient choice and focuses on preventive treatment, while at the same time bringing down health-care costs. Chicago-based AMI provides managed-care companies and large, self-funded employer groups with fully integrated traditional and alternative healthcare. Its managed-care model integrates alternative and complementary care with traditional medicine to deliver services that focus on a person's total health, while including any treatments required by patients who are in need of emergency or critical care.

AMI's model features open access patient choice, chiropractic care as a fully covered benefit and unlimited coverage for full scope chiropractic services, including supportive/maintenance care. The ACA has fought to have each of these components implemented in health plans throughout the country.

Since launching its wellness-based model in 1997 with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois, AMI's integration of alternative and complementary care and traditional medicine has resulted in a 66% decrease in total medical service expenses when compared to independent provider associations with MDs as primary-care providers.

"For the first time, the quality of care patients receive is not compromised by a lack of access to chiropractic care," ACA chairman of the board Dr. J. Michael Flynn said. "Our formal recognition of AMI's model is our way of stating that we firmly stand behind AMI's efforts to improve the way patients in this country are cared for."

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