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If you have traveled very far in chiropractic circles, you have probably heard that chiropractors and medical doctors think differently, but there is a growing trend to combine these disciplines in caring for the needs of people in pain.
 More and more, healthcare professionals refer to each other: In a 2002 study, two researchers found that 65 percent of doctors surveyed referred patients to chiropractors and 98 percent of chiropractors made routine referrals to medical doctors1. The time is right to consider teaming up to provide services.
As you think about your future career in chiropractic and the type of practice you see yourself in, you might want to consider these team approaches to chiropractic:
1. Hospital chiropractic practice. Some hospitals now are incorporating chiropractic into their programs. As chiropractic practice grows more popular, hospitals are finding that having a chiropractor on the premises helps patients as they deal with pain and as they transition to post-hospital activities.
Hospitals are now offering more complementary and alternative medicine services, including chiropractic care.2 One hospital in Massachusetts has a self-contained chiropractic clinic within the hospital.
Although chiropractic as yet is not among the top CAM services provided in hospitals, the trend is on the rise. In New York, a hospital/nursing home teamed up with New York Chiropractic College to provide chiropractic services to chronically ill patients.3 And in Missouri, Cleveland Chiropractic College has teamed up with Truman Medical Center to establish a chiropractic clinic in the hospital. 4
While few chiropractors are currently offering services in hospitals, this area is wide open to new opportunities for graduates who are willing to work hard to gain the respect of physicians and hospital boards.
2. Multidisciplinary practice. Another possibility is termed “multidisciplinary” practice, which consists of chiropractors teamed with related services such as physical therapy, acupuncture, and massage therapy, and with other healthcare providers, primarily medical doctors. These multidisciplinary clinics are very profitable, as shown by Chiropractic Economics 2006 salary survey. 5 DC/MD practices show a considerably higher than average practice income ($264,365) than do solo chiropractors ($167,824).
| Read about the success of a chiropractor in Wheaton, Ill., who has teamed up with medical doctors, physical therapists, massage therapists, and other chiropractors in a multidisciplinary practice. See “Success Profile: Dr. Susie Warden’s One Stop Healthcare Shop,” at www.studentDC.com/0602121. |
If you like the idea of working with other health care providers, you might want to search in the area where you’re going to locate for hospitals who are amenable to an alliance with a chiropractic practice, or medical doctors who are interested in a team approach to patient care. Check your state’s regulations regarding chiropractors in hospitals.
Notes
1. Meeker W and Haldeman S. Chiropractic: a profession at the crossroads of mainstream and alternative medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine. 2002; 136:216-227.
2. “Survey shows more hospitals using CAM,” www.chiroeco.com/news/2003/october/morehosp-usecam.php.
3. “Hospital, Chiropractic College Collaborate on Patient Care,” www.chiroeco.com/news/2003/march/hospital-chiro-collab.php.
4. “Cleveland College to operate clinic in hospital,” www.chiroeco.com/news/2003/september/cleveland-clinic-hosp.php.
5. Chiropractic Economics 9th Annual Salary and Expense Survey, www.chiroeco.com/article/2006/Issue6/9thSalarySurvey.pdf.
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