Hi Mark, 



There are a lot of great things going on in the world of 
Chiropractic and 

it's involvement in professional sports, namely football. Stacey 
Conrad, DC (

Indianapolis Colts), Alan Sokoloff, DC (Baltimore Ravens) and 
myself (Miami 

Dolphins) have been working hard on our (year old) Professional 
Football 

Chiropractic Society (PFCS).



The Chiros in an "official" and "unofficial" capacity with their 
respective 

Pro Football Team have had a lot of questions similar to yours 
(regarding 

reimbursement). So here goes ...



Reimbursement:

       1)   I have found that one of the best ways is to collect their 
health 

insurance. For several reason:



                a.  You are not burdening the team's coffers so when 
there 

are budgetary constraints you are not the first to go. Good example 
is when they 

dismantled Major League Baseball's 1997 World Series winners - 
Florida 

Marlins, my relationship as their "official" Chiropractor remained 
intact, yet every 

one else got canned ä the massage therapist, the assistant 
strength coach, 

etc.



                b.  Second, every team is insured by the same company, 
Cigna. 

The reimbursement rates are excellent for these multi-million 
dollar 

athletes. Your liability is high as you should be paid well! You can 
collect 80 to 150 

per treatment depending on what you do.



                c.  At our last meeting, (February 8th @ the Miami 
Dolphin 

Training Camp) we had a presenter from the billing company we 
use. Herb Caine 

(Physicians Billing Service) is brilliant with (ethical) coding. He 
had spoken 

to one of Cigna's administrators and found out:



                        i.  These are the variety of codes we can/should be 

billing for: 99203-25, 99213-25, 98940, 98943-51, 97110, 
97124, 97112, and 

97140-59.



                        ii. IMPORTANT: You may be asking why aren't these 

conditions billed under Workers Comp? The head of the claims 
review company for 

Cigna has been National Claims for the past 3 years, he said that if 
the player 

is not carried off the field then it can be billed under their health 

insurer. Same for Major League Baseball.



I have been doing this for the past 4 of the 9 years that I have been 
with 

the team - No Problems. In fact, the head trainer, Kevin O'Neill 
(Miami 

Dolphins) is getting Herb Caine and I involved with the National 
Athletic Trainers 

Association (NATA) to discuss protocols so other Chiros working 
with teams can 

maximize on their reimbursement. 



Also, Athletic Trainers are now allowed to bill for 2 or 3 codes and 
they may 

need Herb's assistance in understanding how to play "the game".



Now there are some Chiros that are on a stipend, they get paid all 
at once or 

biannually (or some variation thereof). For some, it doesn't matter 
how many 

people they treat, they get the same amount. Some get $40 or $50 
per spine and 

tend to get limited numbers of athletes because someone is being 
careful 

about spending too much on the Chiropractor.



The Chiros that are treating for free in hopes to have their name 
posted 

somewhere or so they can say they are "the Chiropractor for the ä" 
are actually 

doing a grave injustice to our profession. You get nuthin' for nuthin' 
and these 

guys start to experience a diminishing utility. 



There is so much to know when working with Professional Teams 
and securing 

your position despite massive changes.



If you have any other questions, feel free to email me or Stacey 
Conrad, the 

president of the PFCS - Drssconrad@aol.com or our secretary Alan 
Sokoloff - 

FIT PRO 1@aol.com. I am the VP of the group and it is great to hear 
about all 

that is happening in this arena.



Sincerely,



Spencer Baron, DC, DACBSP.