A systematic review comparing the costs of chiropractic care to other interventions for spine pain in the United States

doi:10.1186/s12913-015-1140-5

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BMC Health Serv Res. 2015; 15: 474.

Published online 2015 Oct 19. doi: 10.1186/s12913-015-1140-5

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Table 2

Comparison of health care costs in private health plans

				Chiropractic care		Comparator group(s)	Comparator		Lowest	Difference^c
First author	Year	Health care costs included	Cost type	N	Costs		n	Costs
Allen [33]	2014	Outpatient (DC, MD, PT), medications, surgery, imaging, injections, other	Paid	1672^a	$6,171	1. MD care, 2. advice, 3. PT, 4. multiple providers	13,115^a	$9,958	Chiropractic	−38 %
Grieves [29]	2009	Imaging, hospital, physical therapy, outpatient office	Allowed	411	$851	1. MD primary care, 2. MD specialist care	486	$2,871	Chiropractic	−70 %
Liliedahl [32]	2010	All health care services	Paid	36,280	$452	MD care	66,158	$740	Chiropractic	−39 %
Mosley [30]	1996	Imaging, medications, other	Paid	121	$539	MD care	1,838	$774	Chiropractic	−30 %
Shekelle [31]	1995	Hospital care, physician services, medications, outpatient services, injections, supplies	Billed	412^a	$264	1. MD primary care, 2. orthopedist, 3. internist, 4. DO, 5. other providers	608^a	$166	Comparator	59 %
Smith [27]	1997	Not specified	Paid	97^b	$1,038	MD care	101^b	$3,068	Chiropractic	−66 %
Stano [28]	1996	Not specified	Paid	1,575^a	$518	MD care	4,608^a	$1,020	Chiropractic	−49 %
Stano [23]	1995	Outpatient (not specified)	Paid	2,408^a	$493	MD care	4,391^a	$1,000	Chiropractic	−51 %
Stano [24]	1994	Outpatient (not specified)	Paid	10,659	$5,474	MD care	27,021	$8,427	Chiropractic	−35 %
Stano [22]	1993	Outpatient (DC, MD, facility, other), inpatient (MD, hospital, other), and medications	Paid	1,326	$2,150	MD care	7,144	$3,127	Chiropractic	−31 %
Stano [25]	1993	Outpatient (DC, MD) and inpatient (not specified)	Paid	2,668^a	$573	MD care	5,212^a	$1,112	Chiropractic	−48 %
Stano [26]	1993	Outpatient (DC, MD) and inpatient (not specified)	Paid	4,156	$5,747	MD care	6,789	$8,240	Chiropractic	−30 %

^anumber of episodes (not patients)

^bminimum 3 episodes with care from same provider

^creported as (−(comparator costs - chiropractic care costs)/comparator costs) × 100 %

DC doctor of chiropractic, MD medical doctor, PT physical therapy