CARMICHAEL, CA – A study of primary care physicians practicing complementary and alternative medicine has shown greater reduction of clinical utilization and cost than primary care physicians using conventional medicine alone.
With payers looking to cut healthcare costs, will the results, published in the May 2007 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, induce them to include complementary and alternative medicine practitioners in their provider networks?
Many health plans include some form of complementary and alternative medicine. Kaiser Permanente offers acupuncture and some chiropractic care in the treatment of chronic pain.
Mike Flynn, DC, board member of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, noted that chiropractic visits are covered by virtually every health plan. “However, the integrative approach cited in this study – whereby chiropractors serve as gatekeepers and coordinate healthcare delivery with other primary care physicians such as DOs and MDs – is an emerging model,” he said.
The study looked at data from metropolitan Chicago-based Alternative Medicine Integration’s Integrative Medicine IPA, whose primary care physicians are all doctors of chiropractics.
Richard Sarnat, MD, lead author of the AMI study, emphasized that offering coverage and promoting utilization are two different things.
That may change, according to Flynn, who pointed out that the AMI study is the first to document savings and patient satisfaction, among other benefits, of an integrated program. “We are expecting to see an uptake in coverage based on the positive results reported,” he said.
“It is my sincere hope that the addition of this study to the growing evidence base in support of the clinical and cost effectiveness of integrative medicine will further compel all insurers, including self-direct ERISA plans, to adopt a paradigm shift towards integrated medicine and away from crisis-management in the narrow paradigm of pharmaceutical/surgical management as a first-line treatment,” Sarnat said.
“The medical management strategies we currently are using are not working,” he added. “A change of paradigm may be much more effective for clinical and cost improvement.”
“While reducing costs is always of interest, Aetna’s primary goal is improving the quality of care our members receive, particularly in terms of seeing that care consistently follow evidence-based guidelines,” said Susan Millerick, director of communications for Aetna. “It appears that the main focus of this study is on costs. We look forward to learning more about the success of this model in terms of care quality and improved patient outcomes.”