Top 10 ACA Blog Posts of 2018

Thanks to all who have engaged with ACA Blogs over the past year. ACA Blogs featured just under 90 blog posts in 2018, written by a variety of different authors within the chiropractic profession, each with unique ideas and experiences. We were curious to see which topics were most popular among our readers, so we did some digging and gathered our most viewed blog posts from 2018, just in case you missed any of them the first time around.

  1. Blues Plans Issuing Denials for Certain Modifiers

ACA has recently heard from members in a few states that some Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are automatically denying claims that contain the -25 and -59 modifiers. The states we have heard from to date include Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. The Blues plans in these states are owned by Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), an umbrella company that also owns the Blues plans in Montana and New Mexico. ACA has since learned that a new code-auditing enhancement is the source of the denials.

2. ‘Spring Training’ for Baseball’s Chiropractors: 4th Annual PBCS Seminar and Workshop

The 4th annual Professional Baseball Chiropractic Society (PBCS) Seminar and Workshop took place on Jan. 19-20.  It was held at the beautiful spring training home of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers in Surprise, Ariz. This was the third consecutive year that the PBCS Seminar and Workshop was hosted at a Major League Baseball (MLB) spring training facility.  Thirty-four team chiropractors were in attendance from the MLB and Minor League Baseball (MiLB), repreenting a total of 18 MLB organizations.

3. House-Senate Opioid Bill Contains Provisions Related to Chiropractic

As the second session of the 115th Congress nears the election, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate recently agreed on a comprehensive legislative package to help end the scourge of opioid addiction.  The opioid issue, which federal and local legislatures across the country have been grappling with for several years, will soon see more federal dollars being focused on ways to help alleviate the destructive force associated with the addiction.

4. Research Review: Spinal Manipulation vs. NSAID (Diclofenac) for Acute Low Back Pain

The purpose of this randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, parallel trial was to compare high-velocity low-amplitude spinal manipulation with chemical treatment. In this case, the chemical treatment was diclofenac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory. The trial also included comparison with placebo. Considering the staggering impact of low back pain, the authors of this trial felt there were too few studies comparing spinal manipulation to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or placebo. They aimed to test patient satisfaction and function, time off from work, and rescue medication, specifically.

5. ACA and ATPA Collaborate on Dry Needling Code

Following a successful nine-year collaboration between the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), a new CPT® code for dry needling will likely be available to providers sometime in late 2019, paving the way potentially for proper coverage, national standards and a greater understanding of how this relatively new modality helps patients in pain.

6. What Does Research Reveal About Chiropractic Costs?

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.

7. ‘Travel-to-Treat’ Legislation Heads to President’s Desk for Signature

The U.S. Senate today passed by a vote of 93-6 legislation that ensures that sports health professionals traveling to another state with athletic teams remain covered by their malpractice insurance. The bill now advances to the president’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law. As lawmakers drafted the legislation, the American Chiropractic Association worked to ensure that doctors of chiropractic, along with other providers, were included in the bill’s final language.

8. Veterans Affairs Whole Health: A Holistic Approach to Care

Starting this year, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is launching its Whole Health System in each of the 18 Veterans Integrative Service Networks (VISN). This will be done via one flagship site in each VISN to assist veterans through self-empowerment, self-care, and clinical treatment. As part of my residency, I’ve been introduced to the program and have attended an orientation. The process of whole health can begin at any point the veteran chooses, though typically it’s initiated when they seek to establish care within VA. First, they will be connected with a health coach who will sit down and discuss what the patient desires with regard to his specific needs.  Subsequently, the veteran will fill out a patient health inventory, a tool that’s designed to get to the heart of what matters most to him.

9. When Opportunity Knocks: 13 Things Chiropractors Would Have Done Differently in School

Just over one year removed from graduation, I feel like I am a competent practitioner. But being simply competent isn’t enough–being the best that I can be is my goal. Thinking back, I realize there were a handful of things I could have done in school that would have benefitted me in the working world. On occasion, when I’m working on a particularly difficult patient, I reflect on my undergraduate and graduate school careers and sometimes think, “If I could redo it, I would.…” We all have things in our lives we wish we could change; that’s just part of living. What if we didn’t make those mistakes in the first place? We can’t change it, but I realized that others can learn from our mistakes. I am writing this blog post with that in mind. I want to share, as a new doctor, the things that I would do differently and what some of my more experienced peers would do differently.

10. Research Review: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Chiropractic Care and Cervical Artery Dissection: No Evidence for Causation

Based on case reports/series and case-control studies, an association between chiropractic neck manipulation (CM) and cervical artery dissection (CAD) has been proposed. However, questions remain as to whether CM is actually a cause of CAD, or if the relationship is the result of other extraneous factors. The purpose of this study was to examine the strength of evidence about whether CM causes CAD by performing a systematic review, meta-analysis and evaluation of the body of evidence as a whole.

 

Bonus: Two additional articles just barely missed the top 10 list:

My Rotation Through a VA Pain Medicine Clinic

Some of the most valuable knowledge you gain in the Veterans Affairs (VA) chiropractic residency program comes from rotating in other specialties. Within the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, Stephanie Halloran, DC, rotates at both the West Haven and Newington locations. Thus far, she has spent time in rheumatology, physiatry, women’s clinic (primary care), neurology, pain medicine and the interventional pain clinic. Although she says each rotation has contributed greatly to her clinical acumen, in this post she primarily focuses on what she learned in pain medicine.

5 Conditions Chiropractic Care Can Improve During Pregnancy

A recent study found that more than 75 percent of pregnant women experience pregnancy-related low back pain, pelvic pain, or a combination; and that this pain increases as pregnancy progresses. Chiropractic care is a safe, effective, and drug-free way to manage these and other musculoskeletal (MSK) symptoms during pregnancy. In this post, we review five common MSK conditions that respond well to chiropractic treatment.