The High Cost of Health Care

To solve a problem, we must first seek to understand it. Please read the enclosed article and give me your feedback in the office or via email. Following the link is a brief statement from a colleague that I think is right on.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all


Professionalism and High-Cost Health Care
By Stephen M. Perle, DC, MS

The June 1 issue of the New Yorker magazine has an excellent article about what drives up the cost of health care: “The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care” by Atul Gawande, MD. In the article, Dr. Gawande compares the cost of health care in McAllen, Texas, and in nearby El Paso. The two areas have basically the same demographics and health statistics, so it’s not the people. They both have similar healthcare technology, so it’s not the infrastructure. And their cost of living is about the same. Yet, McAllen’s Medicare expenses are about twice those of El Paso. The only city in America with higher medical costs is Miami, and it has a much higher cost of living (one would think the higher cost of living would lead to better health outcomes, but it does not). On the other hand, Rochester, Minn., home of the Mayo Clinic, has one of the lowest rates of medical costs per patient.

I suggest reading the article, but my take on it is very simple: The doctors at the Mayo Clinic live up to the moral principle that created the social contract whereby society grants autonomy to professionals (classically, this includes clergy, attorneys and those in the healthcare field). Society created the social contract because it lacked the knowledge needed to properly understand and regulate the professions. The contract states that professions receive autonomy to practice as long as they subjugate the needs of the profession and individual professionals to the needs of the patient, parishioner or client. The Latin phrase credat emptor replaces caveat emptor. The latter, we all know, means “Let the buyer beware.” The former, however, is “Let the buyer have faith”—faith that the professional’s recommendations are in the buyer’s best interest, not the professional’s.

What does this mean with respect to McAllen, Texas? Dr. Gawande’s research shows that the problem causing the inflated healthcare costs is an almost unconscious attempt by healthcare providers to avoid “leaving money on the table” by billing for everything possible—regardless of a patient’s actual need.

In the past, every study examining the cost of chiropractic care compared with medicine showed that we were a more cost-effective intervention. More recent studies have the opposite finding. For whatever reason, some in our profession have put their profit ahead of their patients’ needs. We must keep in mind that professionalism matters. Until the prevailing ethic among all healthcare providers (doctors of chiropractic included) stops being the health of their wallets and properly returns to patients’ health and the value patients receive from our care, no effort will reduce costs and increase health and wellness.

Dr. Perle is a professor of clinical sciences at the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic, where he has taught an ethics course for more than 15 years.

Thanks! Woof Woof!

Smidgie is a patients dog that came in for an adjustment and a laser treatment after a fall that led to back pain. We did one session and three days later recieved some flowers with this note attached.

Overtreating Back Pain: Time to Back Off?

I recently came across an article from the January 2009 issue of "The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine" with the headline title. Chropractic Care was not mentioned (but should have been listed as an option). I've enclosed the link to the full article as well as a summary of the key points from a fellow chiropractor.

If you or someone you know is suffering from low back pain, PLEASE have them read this material.

http://www.jabfm.org/cgi/reprint/22/1/62

Cold Laser information

We have been overwhelmed with the effectiveness of our Cold Laser and have received more inquires on the how it works. I put together a PowerPoint program which I have used inside the office and at external events that gives covers some basic points about the laser. I've enclosed a few slides here for those who have asked for more information:

#1) The definition of Laser

#2) What the Laser does

#3) Treatment information

#4) The interaction at the cell wall

#5) The laser provides treatment options for a wide array of symptoms

PART 2 coming soon:

Research, practical applications, results obsrved and energy medicine

Motorheads unite!

Just finished this book. If you are "hands on" person, or have past mechanical experience (fixing motors, motorcycles, cars, construction, etc) I think you'll enjoy the concepts. Here's a link for the summary:

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work

http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcraft-Inquiry-Value/dp/1594202230

Article on back pain

Those of you that have know me for a while know that we work with the entire body and focus on wellness as a goal. That being said, I feel its my responsibility to share as much information as I can with the community in the hopes of providing a better understanding of the human body, how it works and options to improve health. I don't agree with all of the statements in this article , but I do feel it provides a somewhat balanced look at dealing with back pain and mentions chiropractic. They also have 24 million readers.

http://www.aarpmagazine.org/health/the_back_story.html?print=yes#

Some old photos of my brothers and friends