Cost per Case Comparison of Back Injury Claims of Chiropractic versus Medical Management for Conditions with Identical Diagnostic Codes

This worker’s compensation study compared chiropractic care to medical care back injury claims and concluded that for the total data set, cost for care was significantly more for medical claims and compensation costs were 10-fold less for chiropractic claims. It also found that chiropractic patients return to work ten times sooner after an injury. Total costs per case for the ICD-9 code for lumber disc were found to be $8,175 for total medical care versus $1,065 for chiropractic care.