Care Satisfaction
Nine Out Of Ten Find Chiropractic Treatment Effective
Demographic Characteristics of Users of Chiropractic Services. The Gallup Organization, Princeton, New Jersey, 1991.
A nationwide demographic study of users of chiropractic services was conducted by the renowned Gallup Organization. Their findings included some enlightened information about patient satisfaction.
The Executive Summary notes,
Nine of ten chiropractic users felt their treatment was effective...Eight of ten chiropractic users were satisfied with the treatment received and they felt that most of their expectations were met.
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Chiropractic Patients More Satisfied than Physicians Patients
Cherkin, D., MacCornack, E "Patient Evaluations of Low Back Pain Care from Family Physicians and Chiropractors," Western Journal of Medicine, 1989, Volume 150, Pages 351-355.
Chiropractic patients were described as being three times more satisfied with their care than patients of family practice physicians.
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Comprehensive Database of 2 Million Chiropractic Patients Encourages Future Research
Stano, M., Ehrhart, J., et al. "The Growing Role of Chiropractic in Health Care Delivery," Journal of American Health Policy, November/December 1992, Volume 2, Number 6, Pages 39-45.
Research scientists will soon have access to the records of 2 million inpatients and outpatient records that include figures from all health disciplines. MEDSTAT Systems, Inc., has provided the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) with a database that will provide a valuable new source of information that can be used to study a wide range of acute and chronic neuromusculoskeletal conditions.
While the primary purpose of the database is to promote scientific studies of chiropractic care, it has provided insight into the most frequently treated conditions, payment and utilization data, and insurance plan characteristics. It was also noted:
The ACA data presents a unique opportunity to determine whether, and for which patient conditions, chiropractic may be cost-effective. We are just beginning this task and already found that chiropractic users tend to have substantially lower total health care costs.
The data also reveals that, overall, chiropractic payments represent a small portion (1.8%) of total third-party payments. Thus, even though the profession has grown rapidly, chiropractic care cannot account for much of the rapid increases in health care costs experienced in the 1980s.
