Your Best Referral Source (It's Not Who You Think)
Editorial Staff
| DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
An exciting study just published (online first) in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine reveals the probability that U.S. medical physicians "recommend complementary health approaches (CHAs) to their patients." The authors used "physician-level data" from the "2012 Physician Induction Interview of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS PII), a nationally representative survey of office-based physicians."
While the most commonly recommended complementary health approach is massage therapy, the second most commonly recommended approach is "chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation." According to the study, 27.1 percent of MDs recommend manipulation to their patients.*
If you're tempted to discount these study findings because they include osteopathic manipulation, consider the following:
Chiropractic is named first in the survey choice: "chiropractic / osteo-pathic manipulation."
All chiropractors adjust / manipulate, but previous research (Acad Med, 2001) suggests that osteopathic physicians use manipulative therapy on less than 5 percent of their patients.
Research also has already established that chiropractors account for approximately 90 percent of the manipulation performed in the U.S. (Integrative Med, 1998).
But wait... there's more: The authors further examined their findings by medical specialty. They found that "chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation" is the most commonly recommended approach by general/family practice physicians at 54.0 percent. Imagine that: More than half of all GP/FPs recommend manipulation to their patients!
*The results of this study also tell us which medical specialties are less likely to recommend "chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation." It seems that psychiatrists, OB/GYNs and pediatricians may take more work on your part to generate a referral relationship.
In a landmark development, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) has reached a $2.8 billion settlement to resolve antitrust claims brought by health care providers, including chiropractors. The lawsuit accused BCBS of dividing the nation into exclusive regions and limiting competition, which resulted in lower reimbursements for providers. Although BCBS denies any wrongdoing, the company agreed to the settlement to avoid lengthy litigation – and you can get a piece of the pie.
The World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) Board of Directors passed a “Policy on Non-Interference and Respect for National Authority” at its Q3 2024 meeting. Upon reading this, some might ask if the WFC policy is targeting the activities of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) in providing international membership to Japanese individuals who do not hold a chiropractic degree from an accredited institution.
Part 3 of this three-part article on recogizing and diagnosing delayed-onset motor-vehicle acident (MVA) injuries in clinical practice coversspinal cord injury linked to cervical stenosis and spondylosis; alar sprain; and delayed instability. Part 1 discussed traumatic subdural hematoma, stroke due to MVA and traumatic central disc herniation; part 2 discussed traumatic Schmorl's nodes, post-concussion syndrome and posttraummatic syrinx.
