In Support of Chiropractic (and Maintenance) Care
Although I prefer the term “stabilizing care”, maintenance care remains a controversial topic, at least with insurance providers and the science buffs who claim that only randomized trials are “proof”.
I invite you to read Ron Rupert, D.C,.’s article “Maintenance Care: Health Promotion Services Administered to US Chiropractic Patients Aged 65 and Older, Part II” as it reports some very interesting statistics:
- The cost of health care for patients receiving MC in this study was far less than that for patients of similar age in the general population, despite the doubling of physician visits (chiropractic visits vs. medical visits). The greatest difference in health care costs with patients receiving maintenance care was in the areas of nursing care and, especially, hospital care.This reduced need for hospital and nursing home services has recently been corroborated by the research of Coulter et al. [Review the Coulter et al statistics]
- Chiropractic patients receiving maintenance care, when compared with US citizens of the same age, spent only 31% of the national average for health care services and reported a 50% reduction in medical provider visits!.
- The health habits of patients receiving maintenance care were better overall than the general population, including decreased use of cigarettes and non-prescription drugs. Furthermore, 95.8% believed the care to be either “considerably” or “extremely” valuable.
There are more articles like this @:
I like that term “stabilizing care”
I love it when I have patients that have been with me for over 60 visits as they are the most healthy
What to call the various types of care chiropractors offer has been a fascinating study. My attempts have narrowed it down to five. You can see my hierarchy of the types of chiropractic care and maintenance is among them.
But this parsing is largely lost on patients who generally see two types of care as more digital than analog: symptomatic care and nonsymptomatic care.
Symptom care is what prompts most chiropractic patients to show up in your office. They have an ache or a pain that they’re hoping a “back doctor” can help them with.
Nonsymptom care, like bathing, brushing and flossing our teeth, washing our hands and taking supplements, is preventive/maintenance in nature. This type of care is rarely made because of a chiropractor’s nagging or intellectualizing about the consequences.
Careful that the life-affirming intervention of a chiropractic adjustment doesn’t degenerate into the “how-many-angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin” argument.
RESPONSE from Frank:
Thanks Bill.
I have always found great value in your patient-oriented materials (www.patientmedia.com). There was no link embedded in your “types of chiropractic care” comment, so I added a link to one of your articles on the topic. If you meant to link to a different article, please change it.
It would be interesting to see if any of this data goes any farther than the chiropractor population. We already know this, but does anyone else? Do the third party payers who pay for the services rendered? To us, it makes good business sense to encourage more “stabilizing care” to help reduce costs.
Ken Whidden, DC
Emerald Coast Chiropractic
Great information, thanks!
Personally, I like the term “supportive care”, but “maintenance” is okay and “stabilizing” is pretty good, but that makes it sound like you are still improving the health of the spine, still working toward the goal, and pain levels are getting better.
Great info. Thanks for this post Frank.
Not that it matters but I use the following terms:
1. Intensive Care
2. Transitional Care
3. Supportive Care
However, we have a major focus on rehabilitation and integrating it with high volume systems.
Cheers,
Anthony
Just about everything in life needs maintenance care if it is to function at its most optimal level. Maintaining the health of your spine is no different.