HAP Partners With Henry Ford Health System to Improve Care for Low Back Pain Patients.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

DETROIT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2004

Health Alliance Plan (HAP) has awarded $878,000 to the Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine for an innovative chronic low back pain study. The center, located in Novi, Mich., is part of Henry Ford Health System.

The study, led by Robert A. Levine, Ph.D., co-director of the center, aims to improve the quality of care for chronic low back pain sufferers while reducing health care costs. The back pain study will involve 180 HAP members in metro Detroit.

"The goal of the integrative medicine-based program designed by Dr. Levine is to improve outcomes for patients while reducing potentially unnecessary surgery, high-technology testing, and pharmaceuticals," said Mary Beth Bolton, M.D., HAP senior vice president and chief medical officer. "HAP supports this research because evidence suggests that inadequate management of chronic pain may result in unnecessary procedures for patients and higher costs. These added costs do not benefit the patients with the disability."

More than 100 million people in the United States suffer from chronic low back pain. The disease is a significant, multi-billion dollar cost to American society, taking into account health care costs, time off of work and lost productivity.

Low back pain is traditionally treated with physical therapy to rehabilitate the patient and pharmaceuticals, such as pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs, to manage pain. In severe cases, surgery or injections are employed.

"HAP is providing a great service to the medical community by providing funding for a back pain program that will be easily reproduced throughout the health care system," said Levine. "We expect the study to show that novel, integrative approaches are valid and produce positive results with patients. Once the approaches are validated on a large scale, providers will be placed in parts of Henry Ford Health System to administer the treatments."

Patients will initially be evaluated by Shlomo Mandel, M.D., a Henry Ford Hospital orthopedic specialist. Participants will then receive conventional care or one of two innovative approaches to treating back pain:

-- Comprehensive Integrative Care - includes chiropractic 

manipulation, neuromuscular therapy, movement reeducation 

(breaks dysfunctional movement patterns), acupuncture, and

hypnotherapy.

-- Streamlined Integrative Care - includes therapy that restores

neuromuscular balance, non-needling acupuncture, a joint

mobilization technique, and hypnotherapy.

Both services employ hypnotherapy to enable patients to be aware of how their subconscious mind drives automatic reactions that can lock back pain in place. Patients are trained in self-hypnosis, which they can use to suppress automatic reactions and help restore health.

"This is an innovative program because it is a multi-modal approach that comprehensively addresses the whole person," said Levine. "There is significant evidence that indicates using a single mode of therapy to treat chronic disease is often ineffective. Our integrative program maximizes the synergy between different treatments and offers the patient the best chance of recovery."

The initial research to validate the approaches will be complete in approximately 18 months. Following the initial research, the study will demonstrate that the treatments can be disseminated in other areas of Henry Ford Health System and produce similar positive results.

The grant was funded by Quantum Leaps in Quality, a HAP grant program aimed at developing dramatic improvements in patient safety and health care quality.

Headquartered in Detroit, HAP is a nonprofit health plan serving more than 540,000 members and 2,800 employer groups. HAP is a subsidiary of the Henry Ford Health System, one of the nation's leading regional health care systems. The National Committee for Quality Assurance awarded HAP's commercial HMO its highest status, Excellent Accreditation, and Full Accreditation for Alliance Health and Life Insurance Company PPO products. General Motors designated HAP's Commercial HMO a "Benchmark HMO" for providing high quality service and value.

Henry Ford Health System, one of the country's largest health care systems, integrates primary and specialty care with research and education. It includes six owned or affiliated hospitals, a 540,000 member health maintenance organization, 22 ambulatory centers, home health care and other health-related entities located throughout southeastern Michigan. Last year, the system recorded 2.5 million ambulatory visits.