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Chiropractic Services Paid by Medicare Begins Test
Five states included in initial demonstration project
to increase chiropractic care
April 7, 2005 - The Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid has announced the start of a two-year demonstration to expand
Medicare coverage of chiropractic services in five states and determine
the impact on satisfaction, use of services, and costs for Medicare
beneficiaries.
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Seniors Getting Relief for Back Pain as Medicare, VA
Expand Service
Nov. 15, 2004 Last week Medicare named Maine, New
Mexico, Illinois and Virginia as the states where chiropractic services
for neuromusculosketal conditions will be covered for senior citizens in
a demonstration project authorized in the Medicare Prescription Drug,
Improvement, and Modernization Act. This follows expansion announced
earlier this ear for expanded chiropractic services for veterans by the
Department of Veteran Affairs.
More... 11/15/04*
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Beginning April 1, 2005, chiropractors in the
entire states of Maine and New Mexico, the northern Illinois area
(including 23 counties in Illinois and Scott County, Iowa), and 17
counties in Virginia are able to offer Medicare Part B patients an
expanded array of services they are currently allowed to provide by
state law, but were not previously paid for by Medicare.
These services include medical, diagnostic, and
therapy services, including extraspinal manipulation or adjustment of a
body part other than the spine, x-rays, EMG and nerve conduction
studies, clinical lab tests, electrotherapy, ultrasound therapy, and
evaluation and management services. Doctors of chiropractic will also be
allowed to order MRIs, CT scans, x-rays, clinical lab services, as well
as make referrals for physical therapy services.
Current Medicare coverage for chiropractic care is
limited to manual manipulation of the spine to correct a subluxation of
the spine. The demonstration expands Medicare coverage to include
medical, diagnostic, and therapy services to treat neuromusculoskeletal
conditions.
The two-year demonstration, which was mandated
under section 651 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and
Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), will evaluate the feasibility and
advisability of expanding the coverage of diagnostic and other
chiropractic services under Medicare.
Medicare currently only pays for a limited number of services from
doctors of chiropractic, even though chiropractic services may be less
costly alternatives to other types of medical care, said CMS
Administrator Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. By expanding chiropractic
coverage in this demonstration, we are reducing out-of-pocket costs for
seniors who visit chiropractors, and we will learn whether paying
chiropractors for delivering these additional services can help improve
health outcomes and keep Medicare costs down.
CMS will hire an independent evaluator to assess
the cost impact, utilization and beneficiary satisfaction under the
demonstration.
The ultimate beneficiaries of the demonstration
project are the 1.6 million Medicare recipients who will now have
greater access to a broader scope of chiropractic services, said ACA
President Donald Krippendorf, DC. Not only do we believe patient
satisfaction will be high among seniors -- who typically do very well
with chiropractic treatment -- but also that outcomes will be improved
and Medicare costs will be lowered because chiropractic will help
seniors avoid costly and unnecessary medications, hospital stays and
back surgeries. This is a win-win situation -- for seniors, the Medicare
program and the chiropractic profession-- and we are thankful to have
this opportunity.
More information regarding the demonstration is
available on the CMS website at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/researchers/demos/eccs/default.asp.
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