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Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BCBS) of Kansas, in August 1999, presented a study titled “Lumbago Treatment.” The information for this study was gathered from a program called the McKesson Episode Profiler. This data program allowed BCBS to sort the healthcare statistics of different types of doctors as well as the types of conditions that were listed on the insurance claim forms. Using this information, BCBS could determine the cost and effectiveness of chiropractic care for what they termed “Lumbago.”

The results showed that 38 percent of the patients chose to seek chiropractic care rather than medical care. This was in contrast to the fact that less than eight percent of the doctors in the study were chiropractors. This indicated that it took fewer chiropractors to care for more people.

The results also revealed that chiropractic care was more cost-effective than anesthesiology, neurosurgery, neurology, registered physical therapy, orthopedic reconstructive surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and rheumatology. The study further showed that most of the chiropractic expenses (89%) were directly related to patient care, while only 45 percent of the medical costs were related to the treatment of the condition, with the remainder of the costs being for diagnostic procedures.

Additionally, the study deliberately excluded any costs for hospitalization, surgery, or fees paid to orthopedists or neurosurgeons for surgery-related costs. Without these additional costs being included in the study, the medical care costs were reported much lower than they actually were, and the savings from chiropractic care were actually much larger.

This study confirmed what many others have in the past: patients suffering from back problems are in much better, and more cost-effective, hands with chiropractic care.