Despite having the costliest health care system in the world, the United States is last or next-to-last in quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and the ability of its citizens to lead long, healthy, productive lives, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based private foundation focused on improving health care.

According to 2007 data included in the report, the U.S. spends the most on health care, at $7,290 per capita per year. That's almost twice the amount spent in Canada and nearly three times the rate of New Zealand, which spends the least.  The Netherlands, which has the highest-ranked health care system on the Commonwealth Fund list, spends only $3,837 per capita.  Overall, the Netherlands came in first on the list, followed by the United Kingdom and Australia. Canada and the United States ranked sixth and seventh.

Commonwealth Fund also pointed out that in 2008, 14 percent of U.S. patients with chronic conditions had been given the wrong medication or the wrong dose. That's twice the error rate observed in Germany and the Netherlands.  As a result we rank last in safety and do poorly on several dimensions of quality.  There are too many duplicate tests, too much paperwork, high administrative costs and too many patients using emergency rooms as doctor's offices. In addition, poverty appears to be a big factor in whether Americans have access to care, the report found.  The United States also performed worst in terms of the number of people who die early, in levels of infant mortality, and for healthy life expectancy among older adults.

Source: http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=640404

Dr. David P. Chen

Chiropractor in Laurel, Maryland

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A study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine reports on interviews with 31,044 individuals who used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for low back pain (LBP). The results are as follows:

The top 6 CAM therapies for LBP, starting with the most-used approaches are: chiropractic, massage, herbal therapy, acupuncture, yoga/tai chi/qi gong, and relaxation techniques.

Chiropractic use (76% of respondents) was larger than all the other 5 therapies combined.

Of those who used CAM modalities for back pain, 27% used it because conventional medicine did not help, 53% used it in conjunction with medical care, and 24% used it because their medical provider recommended it.

Chiropractic users scored the highest on their satisfaction and clinical benefits out of all 6 approaches. This reconfirms earlier findings from the Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 2005, which reported that spinal manupulative therapy (SMT) provided the greatest pain relief scoring higher than nerve blocks, opioid analgesics, muscle relaxants, acupuncture, or NSAIDs.

Reference: Kanodia AK, Legedza ATR, Davis RB, et al. Perceived benefit of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for back pain: a national survey. J Am Board Fam Med. 2010;23(3):354¡V362.

Dr. David P. Chen
Chiropractor in Laurel Maryland