A preliminary comparison of primary care use by refugees before and after acupuncture
-
Ellen Silver Highfield
,
Mckenna Longacre
Abstract
Background: Limited research exits on utilization and cost-effectiveness of acupuncture among underserved communities, and virtually no evidence has been published with respect to refugee populations. In this study, we examined the relationship between acupuncture and the total utilization of primary care services in a cohort of refugee patients with chronic pain.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 16 refugee patients with chronic pain at Boston Medical Center (BMC). The research was IRB-approved. Demographics and total charges associated with primary care over 18 months were collected.
Results: Total charges associated with primary care services decreased by 50.2% in our refugee cohort in the 12 months following acupuncture treatment, equivalent to a savings of $691 per patient per month.
Conclusions: This preliminary review demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in total charges associated with primary care following acupuncture treatment (p=0.0308). This study suggests the need for further investigation of the relation between acupuncture and refugees with chronic pain, as well as the financial implications of this relationship. It is unclear why refugees may seek fewer primary care services after acupuncture treatment. Additional study is needed to further explore whether this relationship is generalizable to other hospital services and to other patient populations.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr Anton Shcherbina from the Pain Management and Rehabilitation Department of BMC for sharing his expertise of chronic pain, and Drs Elizabeth Rourke and Sondra Crosby for their on-going support of the CAM Clinic, as well as their ceaseless devotion to the care of underserved populations. We would also like to acknowledge our volunteers and staff of the BMC CAM Clinic, including Siri Khalsa and Chi Sun, as well as Linda Rosen from the Data Warehouse for her invaluable assistance in data collection. We also thank Boston Medical Center and the Boston University School of Public Health Department of Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights, the Mary B Dunn Foundation, and Lhasa OMS for their continued support of the BMC CAM Clinic.
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: None declared.
Employment or leadership: None declared.
Honorarium: None declared.
Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.
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©2014 by De Gruyter
Artikel in diesem Heft
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Review
- Phytodentistry: use of medicinal plants
- Preclinical Studies
- The effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Cannabis Sativa on appetite hormone in rat
- Hypolipidaemic and haematological evaluation of the hydromethanolic extract of Ficus glumosa stem bark in alloxan-induced diabetic rats
- A study to investigate the biological activity of proteoglycan mixture extract from Convolvulus arvensis
- Some biochemical and haematological changes in rats pretreated with aqueous stem bark extract of Lophira lanceolata and intoxicated with paracetamol (acetaminophen)
- Clinical Studies
- Tai Chi and meditation-plus-exercise benefit neural substrates of executive function: a cross-sectional, controlled study
- A preliminary comparison of primary care use by refugees before and after acupuncture
- Practices and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine in inflammatory bowel disease: a survey of gastroenterologists
