Medicare Headed for Chiropractic Expansion?
The wheels of Government are grinding slowly in the direction of allowing for more Chiropractic services to Medicare recipients – but at least they are grinding and maybe even moving in the right direction.
For the past two years our government has been engaged in a feasibility study to determine the practicality of expanding Chiropractic services within the Medicare system. It’s called the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Chiropractic Demonstration Project, and it began an important clinical testing phase in April 2005.
It could be viewed that the government has a cost savings motive in doing the study and this was made clear at the start with this comment from CMS Administrator Dr. Mark McClellan, “We recognize that many Medicare beneficiaries seek the services of chiropractors for back pain and other conditions. This demonstration provides the opportunity to evaluate whether expanding coverage of Chiropractic services reduces overall Medicare expenditures for neuromusuloskeletal conditions.”
Current Medicare rules allow for Chiropractic coverage limited to manipulation of the spine to correct a subluxation (partial displacement) or a malformation. This changed under the terms of the demonstration projects. First, test patients did not need to be referred by another healthcare provider before receiving treatment. Second, evaluation and treatment were expanded to include x-rays, diagnosis, neuromusculoskeletal disorders, and other therapies.
The project now enters its second stage where all of the claims data will be collected and evaluated from the five states (Illinois, Iowa, Maine, New Mexico and Virginia) where the study was conducted. This process is now expected to last another year into the spring of 2009. Congress will be presented with findings at that time.
What does all this mean for the Chiropractic profession and the people who could benefit from receiving services under Medicare? “Upon completion of the Medicare Chiropractic Demonstration Project, the Chiropractic profession should have solid and reliable data on which to build our case for a permanent expansion within Medicare,” said Dr. Richard Brassard, president of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA).
“If the data are favorable, it will be the pathway to enacting a law that will win us the Medicare coverage we have sought for years. The results of the demonstration project could finally mean the end of 30 years of discrimination against millions of patients who have been denied needed care for far too long.”