Colorado workers' compensation: medical vs chiropractic costs for the treatment of low back pain

Gilkey, David; Caddy, Laine; Keefe, Thomas J.; Wahl, George; Mobus, Richard; Enebo, Brian A.; Duvall, Kirby; Griffiths, Kimberly

doi:10.1016/j.jcm.2008.06.002

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…First visit >14 days after injury; 6. Health maintenance period < seven days NR/11,420/894 Gilkey [ 35 ] 2008 Colorado/Quasi state agency Claims/Pinnacol Assurance 1/1/2000 - 12/31/2002 Nonspecific low back injury/Any Closed claims for nonspecific low back injuries 1. Multiple providers; 2.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other maintenance care, 5. No maintenance care 735 b $566 Chiropractic −27 % Gilkey [ 35 ] 2008 Not specified 76 $868 MD care 2,380 $264 Comparator 229 % Jarvis [ 38 ] 1997 All health care costs associated with claim 1,007 $596 MD care 2,279 $658 Chiropractic −9 % Johnson [ 34 ] 1999 Office visits, PT, imaging, other diagnostic testing, medications, hospital visits 173 $1,044 MD care 671 $1,075 Chiropractic −3 % Phelan [ 36 ] 2004 Office visits to DC/MD/PT, medications, hospital inpatient, hospital outpatient, supplies 181 $685 1. MD care, 2.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…lost productivity) account for a majority of the total costs of spine pain they are difficult to measure and often complex. Only 5/25 (20 %) measured these costs; they were generally lower for patients receiving chiropractic care [ 33 , 35 , 36 , 38 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A systematic review comparing the costs of chiropractic care to other interventions for spine pain in the United States

Dagenais

Brady

Haldeman

et al. 2015

BMC Health Serv Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundAlthough chiropractors in the United States (US) have long suggested that their approach to managing spine pain is less costly than other health care providers (HCPs), it is unclear if available evidence supports this premise.MethodsA systematic review was conducted using a comprehensive search strategy to uncover studies that compared health care costs for patients with any type of spine pain who received chiropractic care or care from other HCPs. Only studies conducted in the US and published in English between 1993 and 2015 were included. Health care costs were summarized for studies examining: 1. private health plans, 2. workers’ compensation (WC) plans, and 3. clinical outcomes. The quality of studies in the latter group was evaluated using a Consensus on Health Economic Criteria (CHEC) list.ResultsThe search uncovered 1276 citations and 25 eligible studies, including 12 from private health plans, 6 from WC plans, and 7 that examined clinical outcomes. Chiropractic care was most commonly compared to care from a medical physician, with few details about the care received. Heterogeneity was noted among studies in patient selection, definition of spine pain, scope of costs compared, study duration, and methods to estimate costs. Overall, cost comparison studies from private health plans and WC plans reported that health care costs were lower with chiropractic care. In studies that also examined clinical outcomes, there were few differences in efficacy between groups, and health care costs were higher for those receiving chiropractic care. The effects of adjusting for differences in sociodemographic, clinical, or other factors between study groups were unclear.ConclusionsAlthough cost comparison studies suggest that health care costs were generally lower among patients whose spine pain was managed with chiropractic care, the studies reviewed had many methodological limitations. Better research is needed to determine if these differences in health care costs were attributable to the type of HCP managing their care.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-015-1140-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract