Doctor of Chiropractic Degree: How D.C.s Help Lower Healthcare Costs

Communications Staff

The healthcare journal The Hospitalist in 2015 noted that “unnecessary healthcare services” accounted for 27% of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on health care. Escalating healthcare costs due to unneeded medications and procedures should be a concern for everyone, and a careful discussion about treatment options is always a good idea. Those with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree are already committed to a conservative approach to care.

Last year, the American College of Physicians (ACP) published new guidelines advising conservative care options first for neck and back pain, including chiropractic treatments – administered by those with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree.

How the Doctor of Chiropractic Degree is Contributing to a Solution

A doctor of chiropractic (D.C.) is a healthcare professional who is focused on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders of the spine, as well as other parts of the musculoskeletal system. Chiropractic education is academically rigorous and considered equivalent to the number of hours required for med school.

For example, those receiving a chiropractic education receive on average 4,826 hours of classroom instruction and clinical experience. Chiropractic education typically covers more hours than med schools in studying anatomy, physiology, bacteriology, diagnosis, X-ray, and orthopedics.

Why Conservative Care Makes Sense

According to a series of articles published in The Lancet in 2018, sometimes the “go-to” medical treatment decisions are ineffective. Why is that? According to The Lancet, “Lack of awareness among both the general public and doctors who are not pain management specialists.”

Andrea Furlan is a pain researcher at Canada’s Institute of Work and Health, and on staff as a pain management physician at the University of Toronto School of Medicine. Back pain, she said in an NPR report, involves a combination of factors: genetics, social and psychological causes, and related issues like obesity, smoking, and insomnia.

Because of that, researchers want to see physicians emphasize nonpharmacological treatments for most patients with chronic pain whenever possible. This advice is reflected not only in the ACP guidelines but in publications such as the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Chiropractic Education Meets a Growing Need

Another certainty is that occurrences of back and neck pain will continue:

• Experts estimate that up to 80% of the world’s population will experience back pain at some time in their lives
• In the U.S., pain accounts for more than 264 million lost workdays per year—that’s two workdays for every full-time worker
• Today, some 500-plus million people worldwide have lower back pain. This number is expected to grow as the world’s population gets older, and those in lower- and middle-income countries migrate to cities and adopt less active lives.

Because doctors of chiropractic are primary healthcare professionals focused on diagnosis, care, and prevention of disorders of the spine and other parts of the musculoskeletal system, going to chiropractors for this specialized type of pain certainly makes sense.

Two conclusions from 2017’s Chiropractic: A Safe and Cost-effective Approach to Health show this. One is that a study analyzing data from 85,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield patients in Tennessee reported that pain treatments initiated with a chiropractor saved 40 percent in health care costs when compared with care through a physician. A second is that a 2016 Gallup-Palmer survey showed 97 percent of past-year patients said they would visit a chiropractor again if they have neck or back pain.

The Doctor of Chiropractic Degree at Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC)

When considering the type of healthcare professional you want to be, remember that a chiropractic education has much to offer:

• A nonpharmaceutical approach to health and wellness
• A commitment to high-quality patient care across the patient’s lifespan
• An emphasis on evidence-based treatments and cost-effectiveness
• Students typically complete their D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic degree) within 3-1/2 years.

Where you earn your Doctor of Chiropractic degree is a highly personal decision. At Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC), you can become the difference in healthcare. CUKC is a private, nonprofit, healthcare-focused university in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kansas. The University will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2022; more than one of every 10 chiropractors is a graduate of our College of Chiropractic.

To learn more about the chiropractic profession, download this new, free ebook: Your Complete Guide to the Chiropractic Profession.