Foundation for Chiropractic Progress articulates value of chiropractic Accountable Care Organizations

June 26, 2013 — The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP) released “Accountable Care Organizations Optimize Outcomes, Cost Savings and Patient Satisfaction with Chiropractic Care,” highlighting the role of doctors of chiropractic to generate better patient outcomes, improve patient satisfaction, and lower costs for advanced models, such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMH).

“Chiropractic care represents a non-invasive, evidence-based, drug-free approach that should serve as a key deliverable in the ACO model,” states Gerard Clum, DC, spokesperson, F4CP and lead author. “With ongoing positive outcomes for successfully addressing low back and neck pain, DCs are well positioned to help ACOs contain costs. Avoidance of surgical procedures and associated hospitalizations will have a profound impact on ACO achievements.”

Key conclusions:

• Chiropractic care provides treatment for the leading causes of disability and burden of disease, low back, and neck pain, which rank respectively as the number-one and number-four cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
• Injured workers whose initial healthcare provider was a surgeon underwent surgery 42.7 percent of the time, versus 1.5 percent when the provider was a DC, reported an article in Spine.
• The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which explored the economics of spinal pain, reported the cost of spinal pain from 1997 to 2005 increased by 65 percent — in eight years, the costs increased by two-thirds. This problem is not shrinking — it is expanding year after year.
• In the spectrum of provider-assisted care for low back pain, chiropractic care is among the least invasive, least dangerous and least expensive approaches to be considered.
• In ACO and PCMH environments, DCs provide potential for greater clinical efficiency, patient satisfaction, and cost savings than is currently available.
• The inclusion of chiropractic services in advanced delivery models is being facilitated by credentialing processes in development by URAC and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

“New regulation will result in a transfer of more control and ‘accountability’ to the patients and providers, and access to chiropractic care will serve the interests of all ACO stakeholders,” says Clum.

Source: Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, f4cp.com