Testimony To Veterans Affairs Documents Wisdom Of Choosing Chiropractic First

On March 2003, Dr. George McClelland , D.C., testified before the Department of Veterans Affairs about the efficacy and cost-savings related to Chiropractic care over conventional care for musculoskeletal problems.  In his testimony, he noted that the bulk of studies he reviewed demonstrated lower costs for Chiropractic treatment, including workers’ compensation studies, databases from insurers and an analysis by a health economist in Canada. In fact, he cited specific savings estimated by Pran Manga, the Canadian health economist.

Mr. Manga concluded that doubling the utilization of Chiropractic services from 10% to 20% may realize savings as much as $770 million in direct costs and $3.8 billion in indirect costs.

Dr. McClelland also cited the findings of the 1974 Congressional Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce with regard to surgical necessity. This committee found that 17.6% of recommendations for surgery were not confirmed by second opinions.  Using these figures to extrapolate the number of unnecessary back surgeries in the U.S. would mean that annually, figures would approach 44,000 unnecessary surgeries per year at a cost of $484 million.

The CEO of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston summarized the gist of Dr. McClelland’s testimony this way: "When all sources of error are added up, the likelihood that a mishap will injure a patient in a hospital is at least three percent and probably much higher. This is a serious health problem. When one considers that a typical airline handles customers’ baggage at a far lower error rate than we handle the administration of drugs to patients, it is also an embarrassment."

SOURCE:  Chiro.org/ Links/ Abstracts/ Testimony to the department of veterans affairs