It is now time for health care practitioners of all disciplines to make their health care services more accessible to patients in a one-stop health care practice: the multidisciplinary practice.
The multidisciplinary practice is a great concept, but care and good judgement must be used in implementing the structure and operation of a multidisciplinary practice.
A number of organizations in the U.S. advertise extensively on creating multidisciplinary practices consisting of doctors of chiropractic and medical doctors. The concepts and role models as advertised seem very attractive to health care providers who are entrepreneurs and have the patients' interest in mind when exploring the multidisciplinary potential further.
Unfortunately, some multidisciplinary practice experts have set in motion practices that are now the subject of fraud investigations. These consultants' actions have caused intense scrutiny of multidisciplinary practices involving MDs and DCs.
The doctor who is ready to join a multidisciplinary practice must know the consultants are knowledgeable in the correct and legal way to build an integrated clinic. A quick way to gauge a practice consultant's knowledge is to examine the philosophy and focus of his advertisement. If the consultant states you will be taught how to avoid or eliminate limited chiropractic coverage, you could be headed for trouble and the target of a fraud investigation. Red flags should pop up if your multidisciplinary practice expert tells you how to recruit a MD into your practice as a part-time exam doctor, or how to use the MD's name on bills to obtain higher reimbursement or broader coverage.
The multidisciplinary practice should be created for the benefit of the patient, not for the purpose of getting paid for your chiropractic services in the name of your part-time exam doctor. That is health care fraud, an intentional act to deceive or misrepresent services to gain something of value from another.
Multidisciplinary practices are not illegal, but the entrepreneur can make them illegal by the way they are implemented. If you have questions on the validity of your multidisciplinary practice, you should immediately contact a fraud assessment expert or your attorney for advice.