One-on-One With an Industry Expert: Joel Brill, MD, president of ClarigoMed LLC, Arlington Heights, Ill

Diagnostic testing and therapy services is a fast-growing and multibillion dollar industry. Chiropractic Products asks Joel Brill, MD, president of ClarigoMed LLC (sister company to ZT Technical Services LLC, HTZ Technical Services, and Diagnostic Testing Centers of America (DTCA)) about this secondary profit center.

Why is continuity of care important for chiropractic practices?
When patients are referred to multiple providers, the result is fragmented care, which can lead to patients missing their appointments and ultimately failing to complete diagnostic testing and the therapeutic care plan. Few doctors have the time to monitor and follow-up on their patients, yet are held responsible. These adverse outcomes can be mitigated when doctors take the right steps to ensure continuity of care for their patients.

What are the ancillary therapeutic and diagnostic care services provided?
Diagnostic testing services include nerve conduction velocities, F-wave testing, H-reflex testing, evoked potential studies, brainstem auditory evoked response, electromyography, and musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging. These studies are important for evaluating patients with conditions such as diabetes mellitus, carpal tunnel syndrome, radiculopathies, neuropathies, traumatic nerve lesions, myasthenia gravis, limb pain and weakness, disturbances in skin sensation or paresthesia, fasciculation, joint pain, muscle weakness, spinal cord injury, myositis, myopathies, swelling, and cramps. Depending on the clinical circumstances, these patients may then also need physical therapy adjunctive services.

How can chiropractic practices capture lost revenue opportunites?
ClarigoMed delivers solutions to DCs and their patients allowing for continued treatment during and after normal treatment protocol ends. ClarigoMed offers significantly different testing modalities, which are not otherwise available in chiropractic offices. The doctor is eligible to earn a supervisory fee because the services are being provided in his own office. As a result of this collaboration, the doctor earns this revenue on top of their normal fees. ClarigoMed’s testing modalities are covered under most insurance plans and offer doctors additional income—over and above the existing modalities they are currently utilizing. The result: 1) patients receive expanded services, which assist in their healing process; and 2) physicians reap the benefits of better patient care and increased practice growth.

What is the history of ClarigoMed LLC?
Our team members exemplify our mission of “Better Medicine. Better Care.” CEO Mitchell E. Rubin, has also created other health care companies dedicated to improving diagnostic testing services for patients and doctors. “During a decade of providing diagnostic testing nationwide, we saw an unfulfilled need,” said Rubin. “Doctors needed help to create a platform to provide continuity of care for their patients, and ClarigoMed is meeting that need.”  

Tell us about ClarigoMed’s commitment to the chiropractic profession.
With more than 50 years of experience, the founders of ClarigoMed are committed to improving the health care experience for patients and practitioners. Having the capability of providing patients with more extensive in-office services helps you offer better care. Testing creates a strong basis of support for your diagnosis. Nothing will give you and your patients more confidence than knowing that your diagnosis and treatment plan are based on state-of-the-art diagnostic testing and physical therapy services.

What do you see for the future of chiropractic?
The future chiropractic practice will deliver more ancillary services for patients. “We believe that in the next decade DCs doing business with ClarigoMed have the potential to rival larger health care practices because of these services,” Rubin concludes. CP