Oregon Medicaid Study Could Set National Precedent
Dynamic Chiropractic Staff
A three-year, $5.7 million study approved by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) will compare outcomes in low back patients with access to expanded nonconventional options (including chiropractic care) as provided in the Oregon Medicaid program, with outcomes in patients receiving conventional LBP treatments / services as provided in California's Medicaid program.
The study, "A Naturalistic Experiment Evaluating the Impact of Medicaid Treatment Reimbursement Changes on Opioid Prescribing and Outcomes Among Patients with Low Back Pain," will be based at the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute and is one of two recently approved and funded PCORI investigations aimed at reducing unsafe opioid prescribing and expanding the non-opioid options for managing pain.
According to Dr. Vern Saboe, "This research project will study the outcomes as per opioid first-start prescribing as well as chronic low back pain patients already receiving opioid treatment. If the outcomes of this study reveal the nonpharmacologic treatments of chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, etc., reduce opioid usage, it will very likely have a positive ripple effect across our nation. The hope is that this will facilitate other state Medicaid programs covering chiropractic management and with reimbursement parity."
In 2014, as a member of the Oregon Health Evidence Review Commission and the HERC's subcommittee on evidence-based guidelines development and coverage guidance, Dr. Saboe was asked to serve on the "Back and Spinal Pain Prioritized List Reorganization Task Force."
The task force created the new policy placing common back and spinal pain conditions above the prioritized list funding line so common back and spinal pain conditions chiropractors see every day were covered; and subsequently produced the treatment guidelines that spelled out what treatment interventions would be reimbursed.
To learn more about the study and why the Oregon Medicaid program was selected, click here. For an overview of Oregon's innovative health coverage guidelines, click here.
References
"PCORI Board Approves $10 Million for New Studies to Reduce Unsafe Opioid Prescribing." PCORI release, Aug. 17, 2017.
Email correspondence with Dr. Vern Saboe following the PCORI announcement.
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