Chiropractic Managed Care -- Who Cares?

Novelist John Cheever describes a memorable scene in the Whopshot Scandal of a woman new to the neighborhood planning a big party, hiring a bartender and food servers, and inviting all the neighbors. To her mortification, nobody shows up. That's how 18 chiropractic organizations felt when they presented their perspectives at the Chiropractic Managed Care executive briefing in Coronado, California July 22-23, sponsored by the National Managed Health Care Congress (NMHCC).

The NMHCC, which holds an annual congress that attracts more than 7,000 delegates from the managed care industry, also presents several times each year executive briefings on a particular aspect of managed care. The announcement of an executive briefing on chiropractic managed care caused some anticipation, and was touted as the first national event of its kind (please see "Nat'l Managed Care Congress" in the May 20, 1996 issue). But when the program began, the speakers found themselves mostly talking to one another.

Instead of the usual attendance of 50-75 managed care officers, managers, medical directors, and sales/marketing directors from various managed care companies, less than 10 came to hear about chiropractic in managed care. The entire audience, including speakers, totaled only 39. Typically 85 percent of the audience is comprised of managed care decision-makers. For once, individual DCs outnumbered all other categories.

What does this say about the interest of the managed care community regarding inclusion of chiropractic care? The numbers seem to speak for themselves. Like giving a party where nobody comes, you end up asking yourself, "Is it us, or them?" In the case of the Whopshots, it was the neighbors. In chiropractic's case, it's managed care.