Fear vs. Reality
If this letter states what is true, it is a valid point. The problem, however, is that the word that concerns them is taken out of context to the ask.
Physician
“Physician”: a person trained in the art of healing (Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition) “Specifically: a health care professional (such as a dermatologist, internist, pediatrician or urologist) who has earned a medical degree, is clinically experienced, and is licensed to practice medicine as usually distinguished from surgery: a doctor of medicine or a doctor of osteopathic medicine.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave a limited definition of Physician to Chiropractors in 1972. This limitation was not their full scope of licensure. It was limited to, “Manual manipulation of the spine to treat a subluxation.”
What a Chiropractor is licensed to perform is not the same as a medical or osteopathic doctor. It is not the interest of Chiropractors to cross the line into medicine, only to clarify the definition of the type of Physician they are educated, trained, and licensed to be. No more and no less.
Chiropractors are not medical doctors. This is a fact. It is an agreed upon fact. Chiropractors perform manual manipulation by hand or with the use of tools that do not penetrate the skin or enter any orifice [other than in a single case where the TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint)is adjusted]. They do not prescribe medications or perform any surgeries.
Confusion
The cause for confusion is how definitions are provided and interpreted. The word “doctor,” for example, does not mean one can heal another person. It is their level of expertise in any given field. It is often confusing when someone is referred to as “Dr. So-and-So.” This confusion does not diminish the level of education and expertise because they do not care for patients.
Similarly, Doctors of Chiropractic face confusion about what they can and cannot do as a licensed provider. They are educated, trained, and licensed to care for patients. They are already defined as Physicians by CMS. It is the wish of the profession to clarify what this means in correlation to what they are educated, trained, and licensed to do in patient care.
Adding Clarity
Both the Medical and Chiropractic professions would benefit from clarity. Doing so would not create an ability for Chiropractors receive the same as pay medical doctors or osteopathic medical doctors. It would simply enable them to receive reimbursement for the care they already provide by Medicare when they treat Medicare patient recipients.
This law does not change the scope of what a Chiropractor does when treating patients. It changes what the patients pay out of their own pockets for medically necessary treatments.
Open conversations can lead to understanding, clarity, and mutual trust. In Community Health Centers, Chiropractors work alongside medical providers with mutual respect. Let’s end the silos and remember what we all are here for: the patients. Let’s work together to make healthcare better, safer, and what is best for the patients first!
