Capitation Rates & Data, February 2008

Inside:

Complementary and alternative medicine may reduce costs of care

Patients with lupus have lower utilization in HMOs

Private payers may reimburse PCPs for coordinating care of seniors with chronic illnesses outside office visits

Gatekeeping strategies don't influence patient trust

Complementary and alternative medicine may reduce costs of care

PCPs oriented toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) rather than surgical and pharmaceutical intervention demonstrated reductions both in clinical and cost utilization compared with colleagues who used conventional medicine only, according to a study published last year in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.¹ The findings suggest that involving doctors of chiropractic (DC) as PCPs in a capitated model can decrease costs while maintaining quality outcomes, according to lead author Richard L. Sarnat, MD, president of Alternative Medicine Integration (AMI) Group, LP, of Highland Park, IL.