Going to college is a goal for many students graduating high school.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “In October 2017, 66.7 percent of 2017 high school graduates age 16 to 24 were enrolled in colleges or universities. Among persons age 20 to 29 who received a bachelor's degree in 2017, 77.6 percent were employed.” The full realization of how much college costs may only be fully grasped after receiving an acceptance letter. Unfortunately, unless financial planning starts years earlier, many students’ dreams may be dashed, or cumbersome borrowing could become a burden that follows them for years to come.

Spinal manipulation and mobilization for the treatment of back and neck pain have been the topic of several systematic reviews, with some suggesting that the evidence in support of the view that spinal manipulative therapy is superior to other standard treatments for chronic low back pain is sparse. On the other hand, more recent systematic reviews have reported that spinal manipulation and mobilization are “viable” options for treating pain. Despite this degree of variability among studies, manipulation and mobilization are still considered to be effective treatments when compared with other therapies. The purpose of this systematic review was to unravel these differences and inconsistent findings. 

Although the culture of health care is shifting and complementary and alternative options are being implemented in hospital and primary care settings, many allopathic practitioners are not necessarily familiar with chiropractic. My biggest take-away from being exposed to interprofessional collaboration on a day-to-day basis in the VA is the need for chiropractors to prepare answers to questions regarding what chiropractic care is, common conditions seen, neurophysiological effects of treatment, and the incidence of adverse events.

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) received news recently that the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) discovered inappropriate Medicare payments to chiropractors between 2013-2016 caused by a delay on the part of CMS to implement claims processing edits that automatically deny non-covered services. A few media outlets picked up on the report, focusing on the payments, not surprisingly. But there’s more to this story. The OIG report actually found that CMS’s billing edits were largely successful in preventing improper payments, and that most of improper payments were made prior to CMS finally implementing its edits in 2014.

According to ACA Senior Scientific Advisor Christine Goertz, DC, PhD, the most common issues raised by those outside the chiropractic profession relate to the quality and consistency of chiropractic care delivery. The second most commonly asked question invariably pertains to the costs associated with chiropractic care. While there is no definitive answer and more research is needed, Dr. Goertz reveals what the evidence we have to date tells us about the costs associated with chiropractic.