I recently sat down with Dr. Jay Greenstein to discuss the importance of reliable data in chiropractic -- and how it's no longer something that just the "techies" need to understand and care about.

Dr. Greenstein studied at the University of Maryland and then proceeded to National College of Chiropractic. After becoming licensed in 2001, he went to work with Dr. Jan Corwin, the Olympic Team chiropractor in the 1988 Olympic games. A year later he moved to Washington, DC to start his own practice. Fast-forward to 2020 and we find Dr. Greenstein owning and running four practices in two states, a wellness company, a clinical research foundation, and a technology and consulting company, Kaizenovate.

Kaizenovate builds technology to help providers improve patient outcomes, improve practice income, and provide group and private consulting. Dr. Greenstein has spoken on the importance of data in chiropractic at several UVCA conventions and is presenting a webinar on the topic with Mr. Brad Cost on January 14th.

Dr. Greenstein on Chiropractic and Data

Dr. Greenstein explains that insurance companies have extensive data on providers -- and that they often use that data as a weapon against chiropractors. Although medical journals like Lancet and American Annals of Internal Medicine for the American Colleges Edition clearly support the things that chiropractors do every day, the world is changing. Emerging technologies like Blockchain and cloud computing have the ability to make chiropractors smarter in practice and in real time. Dr. Greenstein has spent a great deal of time working with Mr. Brad Cost, owner of Infinedi, LLC, using East Coast Association Independent Physician Network (ECA/IPN) provider data. This work has enabled them to clearly identify reimbursement defects, errors, and policies that are pushed down from the insurance companies and adversely affect their network and chiropractors around the country. For example, they were able to clearly identify reimbursement issues related to CareFirst and its implementation of Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction (MPPR). MPPR was initially started by Medicare, then CareFirst decided to try and use it to pay doctors whatever it wanted. The data analysis allowed the ECA/IPN to identify patterns and bring these patterns to CareFirst's attention. While CareFirst didn't necessarily change its policy, the company knows that the ECA/IPN has access to real data and understands what is happening from a big data perspective -- a far better position to be in.

The important point here is that having real, current, and accurate aggregate data gives the ECA/IPN and Infinedi a very clear picture as to the frequency with which these inappropriate bundlings and denials are happening. The insurance company can say that it's happening only 3% of the time. Without access to the data ourselves, we can't verify or contest that. 

What Can a Chiropractor Do?

Dr. Greenstein recommends that a chiropractor make a conscious point to become technology enabled. He explains that the most impactful way to start this is to use a service like Infinedi that will aggregate a chiropractor's data in order to help him or her better understand the practice and serve his patients to the best of his ability. Otherwise, it is common for chiropractors not to be able to identify the patterns among the issues they are having with insurance companies denying their claims.

Conclusion

According to Dr. Greenstein, chiropractors must keep up with the current trend of using data and analytics accurately and strategically. He believes that when chiropractors work together to aggregate big data, we own our own future.

Join Dr. Jay Greenstein and Mr. Brad Cost on Thursday, January 14th, from 1:00-1:30 p.m. ET, for a short free webinar on "Using Our Network and Data to Fight Payer Abuses." For more information or to register, visit www.virginiachiropractic.org, click on the Education tab, then select Calendar.