How often has this happened in your practice? You submit an insurance claim, only to receive a denial, labeling the treatment or diagnostic testing you conducted as “observational” or “investigational.” It’s a response familiar to many doctors of chiropractic.

“This is happening so frequently now,” says Charles Herring, DC, president of the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER). “Someone representing the insurance company does a literature search and writes up a policy position stating that X is not a covered benefit, because it’s been determined from the literature [to be] an observational or investigational service.”

These documents, usually called “clinical policy bulletins,” mean that even before your claim can be considered, you have to come up with scientific literature to effectively counter the insurance company’s ruling.

That’s what our Research Section is for. It’s a vast collection of articles supporting the documented benefits of chiropractic care.

Would you like to read the rest of the Research and your Bottom Line article?