Chiropractic and Medical Costs of Low Back Care
Stano, Miron; Smith, Monica. “Chiropractic and Medical Costs of Low Back Care.” Medical Care 34(3): 191-204.
This is a landmark comparison study of health insurance payments and patient utilization patterns for common lumbar (low back) pain for patients who receive treatment from Medical Doctors versus Doctors of Chiropractic. The results found that there were lower costs for episodes in which DCs were the first providers. The mean total payment when DCs were the first providers was $518. whereas the mean payment for cases in which a MD was the first provider was $1020.