Massage Providers Ready to Help Tackle Opioid Epidemic
Medical and healthcare policy experts are increasingly coming into agreement about the cost-effective benefits of using massage therapy as a noninvasive and extremely safe treatment for chronic pain management.Â
The clear driver behind this growing consensus has been the nation’s efforts to combat the growing opioid epidemic.Â
Many people get addicted to opioids like OxyContin or Fentanyl after being prescribed for chronic pain.
After becoming addicted, patients often abuse painkillers, either through their own prescriptions or through the black market, or they move on to other readily available opiate sources such as street heroin.Â
As this scenario has become more common, we have seen the number of opioid related overdoses, including more than 67,000 deaths in 2016 according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (a 21% increase over the previous year), skyrocket into epidemic proportions with a little sign of slowing down.Â
Massage therapy has proven to be an effective alternative, or at least a complement to other pain management strategies, that helps individuals obtain pain relief while avoiding opiate addiction.
Massage therapy is a long-standing treatment in rehab facilities and gaining official recognition in government and healthcare.
On September 18, 2017, the National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter, signed by more than 35 attorneys general, to the CEO of an organization called America’s Health Insurance Plans.
This is an association that represents more than 1000 health insurance companies. The letter urged the association members to prioritize and find ways to implement non opioid-based treatment options, including, specifically, therapeutic massage.Â
It is unclear when or if these recommendations will be implemented. Health insurance companies in the United States have been highly resistant to making therapeutic massage more available to their policyholders as an included benefit.Â
Why Won’t Insurance Companies Cover Massage Therapy?
One reason for this could be that people find massage pleasurable and may want to do it as often as possible, potentially leading to misuse of insurance benefits for recreational purposes rather than therapeutic needs.
Florida banned massage therapists from treating auto injury victims in 2012 due to insurance fraud misuse of massage therapy.
Fraud investigation in Florida caused residents to lose access to necessary massage therapy.
Covering massage therapy as a benefit needs careful management to prevent excessive costs from overuse, abuse, and fraud for insurance companies.
Insurance companies hinder massage therapists, like those at Body Well, from registering as providers to accept patient’s insurance and offer valuable healthcare services.
We often have to decline potential patients seeking medical massage services due to insurance limitations.
If possible, we would provide medical massage benefits like we do with auto insurance and worker’s compensation plans nationwide.
Healthcare providers are considering prescribing massage therapy to combat the opioid epidemic.
High-level officials are urging insurance companies to cover massage therapy for safe, non-addictive relief. Providers are ready to meet the demand.
Lack of insurance company leadership causes preventable deaths and costs.
Body Well Massage Professionals is ready to help solve the opioid crisis by partnering with stakeholders to implement recommendations from the Association of Attorneys General.
Massage is safe medicine that works and can save many lives. Let’s keep pushing to make this happen!
