Chiropractic Economics Blog

The National Board of Chiropractic Examiners has released the Practice Analysis of Chiropractic 2010.

You can download the full report for free here.

The practice analysis reports are used extensively to inform and educate state licensing boards, associations, legislators, and insurance companies on the practice patterns of full-time chiropractors.

The findings are based on approximately 2,400 respondents from all 50 states.

Some interesting findings in the report:

Work Load

Amongst full time chiropractors:

49.8% work 30-39 hours /week

24.4% work 40-49 hours/week

3.5% 50-59 hours/week

Chiropractic as “healthcare plan gatekeepers”

59% fewer hospital stays

62% few outpatient surgeries

83% low pharmaceutical costs

Work Environment

6.9% Work in a hospital setting

4.4% are under contract to serve active or non-active duty military personnel.

39% have an office in the city

24.7% have an office in the suburbs

20.4% haven an office in a small town

15.9% have an office in a rural setting

Dr. Dean Fishman had his “ah-ha” moment talking to the mother of a young patient in his office in Plantation, Fla.

As the patient was sitting in the corner of the exam room, typing away on her phone with her head hung low and her body basically curled up into a ball, Fishman was giving her mother a clinical diagnosis. When he was explaining her daughters loss of a normal cervical curve the term just came out- “Text Neck”.

“The patient’s mother had a visceral reaction, sat up straight and started speaking very matter-of-factly about her daughters texting habits,” said Fishman.

After determining a schedule of care for the patient that included exercises and changing the angle at which the patient viewed here phone he realized he was on to something.

“This patient was a great patient because the term text neck made sense to her.”

He did case studies on 10 patients in his office, taking them through a care plan that included pre and post x-rays, digital muscle testing, and range-of-motion testing. The Text Neck Institute was born.

“I want to teach my patients to live with mobile technology,” said Fishman.

In text neck has turned into a practice builder for Fishman, whose reported a 30% growth in his practice and well as developing a smartphone app to monitor his patients progress.

The $2.99 app (currently available in the Android Marketplace, an iPhone edition is coming soon) tracks the viewing angle of the phone and alerts the patient the angle is less than ideal. The app runs in the background as patients go about their daily tasks and alerts them regardless of the app they are currently running.

Check out the news coverage on CBS 6 in Miami, Fla.

Check out the Wall Street Journal article that came out yesterday: Finding Science in Acupuncture.

Melinda Beck profiles various doctors and academics and explores how “acupuncture works in treating arthritis, and back pain.”

Highlights

• “….the use of acupuncture continues to spread—often alongside conventional medicine. U.S. Navy, Air Force and Army doctors are using acupuncture to treat musculoskeletal problems, pain and stress in stateside hospitals and combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

• “3.2 million Americans had undergone acupuncture in the past year—up from 2.1 million in 2001, according to the government’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.”

• “It’s not like there’s a Merck Manual for acupuncture,” says Joseph M. Helms, who has trained some 4,000 physicians in acupuncture at his institute in Berkeley, Calif. “Every case is evaluated on an individual basis, based on the presentation of the patient and the knowledge of the acupuncturist.”

In the March 29, 2010 issue of Forbes Magazine, Harvard Medical School Professor Ted J. Kaptchuk discusses how the body tends to heal itself…sort of.

In 2008 ,Kaptchuk, 62, whose “western” college degree is in religious studies from Columbia University, devised a clinical study involving irritable bowel syndrome. In a trial involving 262 patients with severe IBS, he subjected them to a fake acupuncture delivered with lots of warm talk from a sympathetic acupuncturist but involving no needles.

He found that 62 percent of those who received the fake treatment got better. Only 29 percent of a control group of patients put on a waiting list saw their symptoms get better. A third group who obtained the fake acupuncture, but without a warm, friendly talk also got better. His findings were published in the British Medical Journal.

His conclusion: “Our own will, imagination and belief can modulate the course of illness.”

I also assume that he imagined that he should be a professor at Harvard Medical School without a medical degree and voila it happened.

The Business Insider has a cool slideshow titled “10 reasons why the US healthcare system is the envy of the world“. Check it out to go more in depth with their charts and slides.

• Most preemptive cancer screening
• Highest rate of cancer survival
• Highest rate of cancer survival
• Most identification and treatment of psychological disease
• Most advanced equipment per capita
• Highest pay attracts the best doctors
• Most advanced research
• If you have the money, US health care is nonpareil
• If you are injured by malpractice, you can sue like mad
• Health care reform will be even harder in countries that take exce

Scribd, which bills itself as “the largest social publishing company in the world” has become the industry standard for distributing documents any kind. From corporate reports to college term papers, Scribd has over 10 million documents published and available to the public.

What does any of this have to do with you?

There are dozens and dozens of adaptable marketing materials available to you for free. Some come from gov’t agencies, while others come from individual DCs or small business’s.

Take a look at this example of monthly newsletter.

These materials should not be used verbatim and will have to be used as a blueprint and customized for your practice, but you can easily download a text file or .PDF.

“Scribd hereby grants to You a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, freely revocable license to view, download (including, without limitation download to a portable device), print, and have printed User Content for personal use subject to any express restrictions contained in the license under which such User Content is distributed.”

Translation: You can download all day, but you must (and should) avoid using the content as is. Instead, think of it as inspiration for your own campaign.

With Super Bowl XLIV coming up this Sunday in Miami, chiropractic has managed to make its way into discussion.

Arguably the biggest storyline this week is the health of the Indianapolis Colts star defensive end Dwight Freeney. Freeney tore ligaments in his right ankle in the AFC championship game against the Jets and made has been listed as “questionable” by his teams medical staff.

He made the trip down to Miami a little earlier and check out his quotes in the Kansas City Star:

David Lazarus wrote an article for the LA Times last week, “Chiropractic visits lead to higher premium insurance” detailing the situation of Liza France, a healthy Hollywood resident whose insurance costs rose 25% a month after disclosing she sees a chiropractor a few times  a year.

A spokesperson for her provider, Anthem Blue Cross, was a little vague about the details:

“France said a service rep for the insurer explained that chiropractic treatment is riskier, and that’s why her premiums would be higher.

Anthem’s Slowey declined to elaborate on the company’s policy regarding the perceived risks of chiropractic care. But he said higher premiums are typically based on underlying medical conditions, not the treatment that people receive.”

After a day or Lazarus calling around, Anthem changed it’s tune.

“He told me they had decided to lower my premium back to $113,” she said.

Did he say why?

Like I say, there’s a reason we’re talking about healthcare reform. This is why.”

By popular demand, a collection of our best startup articles.

• Finding a job in chiropractic
• How to talk to a banker: 6 tips for winning points with your financier
• Search for incentives for new businesses
• Hunting for a new practice
• Finding an associate position
• Becoming an independent contractor

Like what you see? We’ve got a site (and newsletter) geared towards chiropractic college students and recent grads at StudentDC.com.

If you’ve got startup advice, or just want to share your startup story (good or bad) shoot me an email (rdaley@chiroeco .com) and we’ll make it happen.

The Wall Street Journal released their “Best and Worst Jobs of 2010,” ranking 200 professions based on five criteria — environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress.

Chiropractor fell a respectable 56th on the list, sandwiched between personnel recruiter and school principle.

The report was compiled by Careercast.com and you can see how they came up with their list.