Chiropractic, and the health care industry in general, is undergoing a turbulent period. The health care professions are experiencing a change in attitudes from the consumer-public and regulating agencies that significantly impacts chiropractic.
"Ethics" has become a watch-word for the 90s. The compunction to "clean our house" has compelling and serious origins. An unhealthy vein of unethical practitioners of questionable practice management services has resulted in an avalanche of suits and counter-suits that are being adjudicated in courts across the country.
Insurance fraud detection programs have been launched in an effort to expose and rectify the abusers of care practice. Health fraud detection agencies have joined hands with the insurance industry to form a cooperative alliance in combatting violations.
Amid the chaos, ethical practice consultants struggle to balance out the unscrupulous practice of others and to stay afloat in a very stormy sea.
A mandate's been given, and the prudent will heed: The health care professions must keep their house clean or face the harsh consequences.
Business management expertise is a valuable commodity. The chiropractic profession can be well served by practice consultants who have the business acumen and their clients' interests at heart. The profession needs consultants who are less concerned about their percentage and more concerned about enhancing a practice through sound business advice, without resorting to unethical schemes for their self-aggrandizement.
In order to assist the DC in practice who feels the pressure of the "business of being in business" or simply wants to stay on the cutting edge of his profession, Dynamic Chiropractic is introducing a new column titled, "Practice Enhancement." Unlike most of our columns, the Practice Enhancement column is open to all chiropractic practice management consultants. It is our hope that their combined wisdom and shared insights will pave the way for an ethical and prosperous environment for chiropractic in the 90s.
We believe it is appropriate that we begin our first column with an open letter to the profession from the grand eclesiarch of practice consultants, Dr. William Harris. Dr. Harris has been a member of the chiropractic profession for over 50 years and while his message is brief, it captures the spirit of a new resolve for the ethical advancement of chiropractic.
Future contributors of the Practice Enhancement column may submit exclusive manuscripts to:
Dynamic Chiropractic
Practice Enhancement Column
P.O. Box 6100
Huntington Beach, California 92615
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
Spearheaded by burgeoning scientific and clinical research literature, psychedelics have reached a level of media coverage and popular interest that has not been seen for over half a century. By “psychedelics,” we are referring to the unique class of substances that includes psilocybin (the active compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”), LSD, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT, and mescaline – each of which occurs in the natural world (except for LSD, which is a semi-synthetic compound).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
