The Chiropractic Beacon » Healthcare

How Many Chiropractors In The United States?

Administrator — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:50:56 +0000

This is not an easy question to answer. Many people and websites have a difference of opinion as to how many chiropractors there are in the United States. The differences may be in the total number of chiropractors vs those actively practicing or those actively licensed.

Here are some interesting facts and figures we found around the internet on chiropractic numbers.

Chiroweb 2011: 58,000
Bureau of Labor Statistics 2008: 49,100
Manta.com 2011: 79,600
D’Youville College 2000: 81,000
Chiropractorsfinder.com 2006: 86,300

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF ACTIVE CHIROPRACTORS AND CHIROPRACTOR-TO- POPULATION RATIOS, SELECTED YEARS: 1980-2001

Active
Year Chiropractors Population Chiros/100,000 Population
1980 25,600 227,225 11.3
1982 28,300 231,664 12.2
1984 31,500 235,825 13.4
1986 35,000 240,133 14.6
1988 39,000 244,499 16.0
1990 42,400 249,464 17.0
1991 44,200 252,153 17.5
1992 46,000 255,030 18.0
1993 48,000 257,783 18.6
1994 50,000 260,327 19.2
1995 52,100 262,803 19.8
1996 54,300 265,229 20.5
1997 56,600 267,784 21.1
1998 59,000 270,248 21.8
1999 61,500 272,691 22.6
2000 64,100 275,130 23.3
2001 66,800 277,803 24.0

Here are some of the more interesting facts we found at http://www.chiroeco.com/article/2006/Issue11/PD4.php

• States with the most chiropractors. The five states with the most active licenses include California (13,554), New York (6,225), Florida (4,755), Texas (4,190), and Pennsylvania (4,000).

• States with the fewest chiropractors. The five states with the fewest number of chiropractors with active licenses are Alaska (178), Wyoming (205), Vermont (247), North Dakota (258), and Rhode Island (272). The District of Columbia reports 60 active licenses.

• Ratios of DCs to the population. The 10 states that have the lowest number of chiropractors compared to the general population include Delaware (1 DC for 9,533 people), Mississippi (1 to 8,595), Louisiana (1 to 8,276), Maryland (1 to 8,049), Indiana (1 to 5,829), Alabama (1 to 5,828), West Virginia (1 to 5,740), Ohio (1 to 5,198), Virginia (1 to 5,006), and Texas (1 to 4,977). (These calculations are based on population statistics taken from the 2000 U.S. census and the number of active licenses in 2004, according to FCLB.)

How To Get Started Using Kinesio Taping In Your Chiropractic Clinic

Administrator — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:40:42 +0000

Kinesio Tex Tape and SpiderTech Tape are very popular and have been seen everywhere on elite and amateur athletes since the 2008 Summer Olympics. Kinesiology Tape has been around for a long time and used very successfully to help treat many muscle and joint injuries, however the media publicity was at its highest when scantily clad Olympic beach volleyball players were seen with Kinesiology Tape on their shoulders, knees, ankles, and backs.

Kinesiology Tape is an elastic therapeutic tape that was first seen in the 1970s when Kinesio Tex Tape was invented by Dr. Kenzo Kase, a Japanese chiropractor. It is made from a cotton strip with an acrylic adhesive and is designed to mimic the qualities of human skin.

Kinesiology Tape is applies over muscles and joints and can help reduce pain, reduce inflammation, relax tired muscles, support the muscles, all while still allowing for full range of motion.

So how does one get starting using Kinesiology Tape in practice? First one must find out how to get reimbursed for using the tape. The “ChiroCode DeskBook 18th Edition 2010″ says “The Kinesio® Taping Association can not guarantee that the use of these codes will result in payment. It is the responsibility of the Practitioner to bill appropriately for services and to check with Medicare or other healthcare insurance companies if there are questions. Reimbursement results will vary with regards to the state the practitioner is in and the insurance companies dealt with.”

What are the Codes for Kinesio Taping?

29200 – Thorax
29240 – Shoulder
29260 – Elbow or Wrist
29280 – Hand or Finger
29520 – Hip
29530 – Knee
29540 – Ankle and/or Foot
29550 – Toes

Please consult the “ChiroCode” Book, your state chiropractic association, or call the insurance companies to find out what they will cover. Be prepared to appeal insurance denials with letters of necessity, because they have been known to deny the payment hoping you will not take the time to appeal.

Next, I would take the time to learn how to properly use the Kinesiology tape in your office. There are many companies offering seminars and certifications that will get in prepared in just one weekend. You can also purchase a taping manual or DVD to study on your own. Two good manuals are “Illustrated Kinesio Taping Method Manual Book,” and “Clinical Therapeutic Applications Of The Kinesio Taping Method Book.”

Kinesiology Tape can be a very valuable tool to add to your practice and has shown to be very successful in helping to manage many types of musculoskeletal injuries. ChiropracticOutfitters.com carries a Kinesio Tape Starter Kit and a SpiderTech Starter kit that can easily and quickly get you started.

Douglas Yost
ChiropracticOutfitters.com

When Will We Reach Chiropratic’s Tipping Point?

Administrator — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:20:32 +0000

Universal acceptance. A strong goal for the chiropractic profession, but hardly attainable: even medical doctors are not universally accepted. Chiropractic is searching more for majority acceptance. We have been talking about it for years, but when will chiropractic finally reach its tipping point and become widely used by everyone everywhere? Can we do just “one thing” to change this or will it take more?

10% of Americans use chiropractic regularly—30.5 million people80% of Americans will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives—244 million peopleMore than 20 million of Americans will seek Chiropractic care this year30% of US population over age 18 had visited a chiropractor—68.4 million people

The US population right now is 305 million people. 75% of the population is over aged 18, which would be 228 million people. If 30% of the population over age 18 have visited a chiropractor, that would mean 68.4 million people over age 18 have visited a chiropractor. Overall that is close to 23% of the population that has been to a chiropractor in their lives.

I don’t know about you, but if I was selling a product or service that 23% of the US population had purchased I would be very happy and wealthy. Of course, there is not one chiropractor servicing 23% of the population, but the market penetration is at a pretty high level right now. So why do so many chiropractors seem to be struggling? Why do we see so many companies offering marketing plans, cards, services, coaching, all to get new patients?

One of the main problems is patient retention. We have tons of marketing information, brochures, pamphlets, and coaches telling us how to get new patients, which is a good thing, but with 23% of the population having visited a chiropractor already, maybe we should focus out attention on those that have already been. Someone who is referred to a business is 15 times more likely to buy and a satisfied customer is 10 times more likely to buy than someone new. We should be “selling” to our existing patient base, because they have already been there done that, and if we did a good job, they are satisfied patients. A Gallup Poll in 1991 said that 9 out of 10 chiropractic patients felt that their treatment was effective.

Chiropractic for years had been striving to get the other 76% of the population, those that have not visited a chiropractor before, to embrace the profession. The progress has been long and slow and has even had some success, especially over the last 25 years, but we still have not reached that proverbial tipping point. How about we switch gears completely and concentrate on the ones that accept and understand the power of chiropractic for a while.

If 68.4 million people are current or former chiropractic patients and there are 53,000 chiropractors in the US, then there are 1290 patients per doctor. This is more than enough chiropractic patients for every chiropractor to be helping and also makong a decent living doing it. Just like the chiropractic philosophy of inside-out, lets turn our marketing programs into an inside-out philosophy. Concentrate on retaining and reactivating the patients we already have and teach them the chiropractic philosophy and lifestyle and all chiropractors will be more than busy. Then if we ask those 68.4 million chiropractic patients to tell 5 people about chiropractic, we will reach the tipping point and have a shortage of chiropractors and not a shortage of chiropractic patients.

Let’s not give up on those unforunate 76% altogether. Donate as much as you can to the Foundation For Chiropractic Progress and let them handle getting the chiropractic story to those 76%, while we concentrate on retaining and reactivating, and our patients tell 5 people for us.

ChiropracticOutfitters.com gives 2% of all profits to the Foundation For Chiropractic Progress.

Study validates role of chiropractic to employers, payers

Administrator — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:14:00 +0000

A study commissioned by The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (www.f4cp.com), validating chiropractic physician services for lower back and neck pain to improve the value of health benefit plans, is generating widespread coverage in the healthcare media and significant attention in government circles.

The study was conducted by two esteemed medical researchers, Niteesh Choudhry, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School and Arnold Milstein, MD, Mercer Health and Benefits,

The relevant nature of the report has direct impact upon current healthcare discussions in our nation’s capital, prompting the Foundation to distribute this report to every member of Congress.

Additionally, the study and its authoritative results have been featured in the following high-profile media and e-newsletters reaching key decision makers in private and public sectors:

• Health Leaders – Target audience includes executives in areas of long-term care, accreditation, medical staff affairs, regulatory compliance, quality patient/safety, and workplace safety.

• Employee Benefit News – Provides up to the minute news and information for human resource and benefits decision-makers as well as brokers, advisers, and consultants.

• America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) – Smart Brief – Aimed at high level business-to-business readers in the medical insurance and healthcare industries with the goal of keeping them well informed on the news and issues related to their field.

• Fierce Markets – Distributed to healthcare executives, healthcare administrators, hospital administrators, and marketers at healthcare facilities.

• Modern Healthcare – Industry’s leading source of healthcare business news delivering in-depth analysis and a look into what’s happening next.

• Bio-Medical News – Sent directly to key medical company executives, doctors, surgeons, physicians, hospital staff, medical editors, and medical association staffs.

• Atlantic Information Services – Promotional release sent to E-Savings Club members who are buyers and readers of AIS products.

The electronic advertisements reached more than 357,000 opt-in subscribers comprised of physicians, human resource representatives, healthcare executives, and medical leaders. The results of the report were held in such high regard that editors from Employee Benefit News, AHIP – Smartbrief, and Health Leaders ran follow-up stories covering the study at length.

The Foundation plans to further leverage this report in its lobbying efforts to ensure chiropractic care is included in the ongoing healthcare reform discussion. To view the entire study, please visit, http://www.foundation4cp.com/.

Source: Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, http://www.foundation4cp.com/
Chiropractic Equipment

ChiropracticBookstore.com Celebrates One-Year Selling Chiropractic & Health Books

Administrator — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:31:45 +0000

ChiropracticBookstore.com opened for business one year ago and is selling chiropractic books and textbooks to chiropractic students and practicing doctors and nutrition, diet, and general health books to the public.

ChiropracticBookstore.com opened one year ago with the idea of making it easier to find chiropractic related books for students and doctors. They have also in the last year expanded to carry more general health books available to everyone.

In order to help the chiropractic profession flourish ChiropracticBookstore.com will give 2% of all profits to the Foundation For Chiropractic Progress, in hopes of further spreading the Chiropractic message.

The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress’ primary objective is to increase market share in every doctor of chiropractic’s office over the next decade by increasing chiropractic exposure to the public incrementally each year. The Foundation’s plan includes advertising in prominent publications throughout the country with testimonials from chiropractic patients that will convince customers to rethink established perceptions of chiropractic.

“Chiropractic students and doctors have responded favorably and found ChiropracticBookstore.com very helpful in getting the books they need for school and practice. They also like buying from ChiropracticBookstore.com because part of their purchase is going to help further spread the chiropractic message. They are helping their own clinics as well,” says Douglas Yost, President and Founder of ChiropracticBookstore.com

Chiropractic Is Neither Unconventional Nor Alternative

Administrator — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:24:30 +0000

A recent article on Rueters.com describes how more people are turning to unconventional and alternative methods of healthcare for their health problems. While the article was neither for nor against other forms of healthcare, the writers once again fail to understand that chiropractic is neither unconventional nor alternative.

Unconventional refers to something that is out of the ordinary or not conforming to accepted rules or standards. Whose accepted rules and standards are they referring to when they call chiropractic unconventional?

Medical doctors have reasoned that chiropractic should not be considered a standard treatment of care because there has not been enough scientific research to prove its viability. This thought process may have been true in the early 20th century, but chiropractic has been heavily researched and studied over the past 20-30 years and proven time and time again to be very effective for many types of conditions.

Research Supporting Chiropractic

Numerous studies have shown that chiropractic treatment is both safe and effective. The following are excerpts from a few of the more recent studies. By examining the research supporting chiropractic care, you will find that chiropractic offers tremendous potential in meeting today’s health care challenges.

For Acute and Chronic Pain

“Patients with chronic low-back pain treated by chiropractors showed greater improvement and satisfaction at one month than patients treated by family physicians. Satisfaction scores were higher for chiropractic patients. A higher proportion of chiropractic patients (56 percent vs. 13 percent) reported that their low-back pain was better or much better, whereas nearly one-third of medical patients reported their low-back pain was worse or much worse.”
– Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Nyiendo et al. (2000),

In a Randomized controlled trial, 183 patients with neck pain were randomly allocated to manual therapy (spinal mobilization), physiotherapy (mainly exercise) or general practitioner care (counseling, education and drugs) in a 52-week study. The clinical outcomes measures showed that manual therapy resulted in faster recovery than physiotherapy and general practitioner care. Moreover, total costs of the manual therapy-treated patients were about one-third of the costs of physiotherapy or general practitioner care.
– British Medical Journal, Korthals-de Bos et al. (2003)

In Comparison to Other Treatment Alternatives

“Acute and chronic chiropractic patients experienced better outcomes in pain, functional disability, and patient satisfaction; clinically important differences in pain and disability improvement were found for chronic patients.”
– Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Haas et al. (2005)

“In our randomized, controlled trial, we compared the effectiveness of manual therapy, physical therapy, and continued care by a general practitioner in patients with nonspecific neck pain. The success rate at seven weeks was twice as high for the manual therapy group (68.3 percent) as for the continued care group (general practitioner). Manual therapy scored better than physical therapy on all outcome measures. Patients receiving manual therapy had fewer absences from work than patients receiving physical therapy or continued care, and manual therapy and physical therapy each resulted in statistically significant less analgesic use than continued care.”
– Annals of Internal Medicine, Hoving et al. (2002)

For Headaches

“Cervical spine manipulation was associated with significant improvement in headache outcomes in trials involving patients with neck pain and/or neck dysfunction and headache.”
– Duke Evidence Report, McCrory, Penzlen, Hasselblad, Gray (2001)

“The results of this study show that spinal manipulative therapy is an effective treatment for tension headaches. . . Four weeks after cessation of treatment . . . the patients who received spinal manipulative therapy experienced a sustained therapeutic benefit in all major outcomes in contrast to the patients that received amitriptyline therapy, who reverted to baseline values.” ‘
– Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Boline et al. (1995)

Cost Effectiveness

“Chiropractic care appeared relatively cost-effective for the treatment of chronic low-back pain. Chiropractic and medical care performed comparably for acute patients. Practice-based clinical outcomes were consistent with systematic reviews of spinal manipulative efficacy: manipulation-based therapy is at least as good as and, in some cases, better than other therapeusis.”
– Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Haas et al. (2005)

Patient Satisfaction

“Chiropractic patients were found to be more satisfied with their back care providers after four weeks of treatment than were medical patients. Results from observational studies suggested that back pain patients are more satisfied with chiropractic care than with medical care. Additionally, studies conclude that patients are more satisfied with chiropractic care than they were with physical therapy after six weeks.”
– American Journal of Public Health, Hertzman-Miller et al. (2002)

Popularity of Chiropractic

“Chiropractic is the largest, most regulated, and best recognized of the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) professions. CAM patient surveys show that chiropractors are used more often than any other alternative provider group and patient satisfaction with chiropractic care is very high. There is steadily increasing patient use of chiropractic in the United States, which has tripled in the past two decades.”
– Annals of Internal Medicine, Meeker and Haldeman (2002)

We need to get the word out to everyone that chiropractic care is not an unconventional treatment and never has been.

Please go to The Foundation For Chiropractic Progress and donate to help spread the chiropractic message.

Go to www.ChiropracticBookstore.com and purchase a book you may need. 2% of all profits go directly to the Foundation For Chiropractic Progress.

What Is Universal Health Care? What Will Be Its Affect on Chiropractic?

Administrator — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:41:52 +0000

Universal health care is health care coverage, which is extended to all eligible residents of a governmental region. These programs vary widely in their structure and funding mechanisms, particularly the degree to which they are publicly funded. Typically, most health care costs are met by the population via compulsory health insurance or taxation, or a combination of both. The US is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not provide universal health care, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and others. Universal health care is provided in most developed countries, in many developing countries, and is the trend worldwide.

Universal Health Care was a big debate with the 2008 elections and will continue to be a big debate in the coming years. We seem to be a nation very divided on the subject and everyone has their own opinions on whether it will be a help or a hindrance. Here is a look at both sides of the issue at balancedpolitics.org. Take a look a decide for yourself. As far as chiropractic care being covered under Universal Health Care in United States no one knows yet, but many senators and representatives and promised to make sure it will be included.

Let’s take a look at what happened to chiropractic in Ontario and see if this is what will happen in the U.S. or to see if we can learn anything to make sure it doesn’t happen in the U.S.

On May 18, 2004, the provincial government of Ontario, Canada, announced its intention to delist chiropractic services from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), the province’s health care plan, effective Dec. 1, 2004. And despite the heroic efforts of the Ontario Chiropractic Association (OCA) and other organizations, the government remained steadfast in its decision, bringing an end to more than 30 years of public funding for chiropractic services in Ontario.

The government announced that along with chiropractic care, optometry examinations and physiotherapy would be also delisted from OHIP, in an effort to help balance the province’s budget deficit. Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara, who termed chiropractic a “less critical” service in a May press conference defended the cuts by saying that they would add up to more than $200 million in savings over the next two years and free up money for other procedures.

The decision by the legislature to delist chiropractic flew in the face of previous evidence that suggested coverage of chiropractic care could reduce overall health care costs. A 1993 study funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health, for example, found that enhanced OHIP coverage of chiropractic treatment could save Canada’s health care system an estimated $380 million a year in direct costs, and up to $1.2 billion per year in indirect costs attributed to short and long-term disability.

Massachusetts’ lawmakers made history in April 2006, becoming the first state to approve legislation that will require all residents to have some form of health insurance coverage by July 2007. Signed into law by Governor Mitt Romney on April 12, 2006 the plan forges a unique compromise between government assistance and personal responsibility, with the cost to individuals and families based on income. The legislation is expected to drive down the cost of insurance for everyone, as public funds are redirected to more effectively cover the state’s 515,000 uninsured. Since the implementation of this type of Universal Health Care coverage is still fairly recent, no one has been able to say what the long-term affect for the chiropractic profession will be.

Barack Obama’s Universal Health Care plan would include chiropractic coverage and he has said that chiropractors would play a significant role in expanding access to preventative care and strengthening our public health system.

For the sake of the 60,000 chiropractors and the 60 million chiropractic patients, lets all do are best to make sure that chiropractic is included in any type of U.S. health care system.