How many DCs have treated patients with love, compassion, and great results and expected to be reasonably compensated, yet were very disappointed when the payments finally arrived. How many DCs have been told by insurance companies that there was an 80/20 coverage only to find that after the insurance company reviewed the file, the patient's treatment was not medically necessary, or the diagnosis was not appropriate for the treatment plan, or better yet, the patient had exhausted their chiropractic coverage.
There is a growing group of chiropractors that have combined their practices with medical doctors and have found that most of their insurance problems have been greatly resolved. Indeed, a multidisciplinary approach to the chiropractic profession is a very popular way to practice. The basic concept is that a chiropractor and a medical doctor join forces and are able to render treatment under one roof with the greatest benefits to the chiropractor. Although there are very specific legal ramifications that need to be addressed, the concept follows a model and practical medical protocol which the insurance companies are determined to follow.
There are many advantages to creating a MD/DC/PP rehab center: the patient, the most important asset of your practice, and your future, as well as the future of chiropractic.
Benefits
I have been practicing this way for over six years, and have taught this concept to doctors around the country. As a practicing chiropractic physician, I encounter the limits of chiropractic coverage, and the limits insurance companies are putting on health care on a daily basis. The multidisciplinary approach has enabled me to practice with a much greater profit with less restrictions; my patients, my most important asset, have benefited immensely.
Because I practice full-time and have since I graduated, I'm well aware of the everyday changes the insurance companies are bringing. I am convinced that the only way to practice today is to join forces with the MDs, PTs, and the rest of the medical community to treat as many patients as possible the chiropractic way, without discrimination. I want to get paid for my services, a very reasonable request and a definite possibility. Hundreds of patients, respect, results, getting paid for all my work, and all under my control -- can you think of a better way to practice?
Daniel Dahan, DC
Long Beach, California
When I graduated from chiropractic college in 1981 and started practice, I heard it all, and very little was positive. “You are a quack; you do not know what a subluxation is; you couldn’t get into a real health care program, so you chose the one that is slightly above a mail-order degree; you have no proof that chiropractic works; Are you really licensed?”, and so much more.
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A central challenge in creating our identity is that chiropractic is a method of care, not a technique or procedure. This is an important concept for us to promote. Our patients are treated with lifestyle modification, exercise, nutritional supplements, diet and a whole-body approach to accelerate the natural healing process. We are not simply CMT providers.
The results of a global survey released late last year (2023) unveiled some startling findings among medical and nursing students. The “Clinician of the Future: 2023 Education Edition” surveyed 2,212 students, of which 446 were in the United States, from 91 countries.
