Two chiropractors and a patient, backed by the Arizona Chiropractic Society (ACS), filed a lawsuit on March 14 against the Arizona Department of Insurance (ADOI), alleging failure to enforce the chiropractic insurance equality law, ARS 20-461(A)17 and ARS 20-461(B). This law requires insurers to give patients the option to use their health insurance to see a medical, osteopathic or chiropractic doctor for treatment of common neck and back problems and pay the same co-pays and deductibles with the same overall limitations on treatment.
At the current time, co-pays, deductibles and other limitations for chiropractic care discriminate severely against chiropractic care with financial barriers so huge that insurers, led by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, basically force patients to choose MDs or DOs for back and neck pain. ADOI, despite hundreds of consumer complaints over multiple blatant violations, has refused to enforce this law, which only they have the legal authority to enforce. Therefore, this legal action is asking the courts to order ADOI to properly enforce the law. Technically, it is called a "Writ of Mandamus" or a "Special Action."
For extensive additional information, go to the Arizona Chiropractic Society Web page, www.azchiropractors.org. If you have any questions, contact Alan M. Immerman, DC, ACS president and executive director, at (602) 368-9496 or acs@azchiropractors.org.
Source: Arizona Chiropractic Society
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.
On Feb. 1, 2024, two more legislators – John R. Carter (R-Texas) and Robert “Bob” Good (R-Va.) – co-sponsored the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2023, bringing the co-sponsor total to 155, two more than the total achieved over the entire two-year congressional cycle in which identical legislation last appeared (2021-22).
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.
