Financial Considerations Following Baltimore Auto Accident Injuries

Financial Considerations Following Baltimore Auto Accident Injuries

As my avid blog followers are already aware, I am a Baltimore Chiropractor that spends the majority of my clinic time treating patients who have suffered injuries as a result of Baltimore auto accidents. Typically these injured patients suffer from acute post-traumatic headaches, neck pain, back pain, and in some instances radiating arm and/or leg pain. I focus most of my blog posts on how we diagnose and treat injured patients. In this post I thought I would shift the discussion to the financial end of Baltimore auto accidents. That is, if you are unfortunately injured, who pays for your treatment? What options are available for people with and without health insurance? We are asked these questions everyday in our office so I thought it would be appropriate to address financial options in my latest blog post. So, in no particular order, here are the options available to any patient injured in a Baltimore car accident that they can choose to pay for services rendered while they are receiving treatment:

1. Cash (self pay) – Injured parties can pay for services rendered out of pocket. A bill of services provided can be produced weekly and the injured party can pay out of pocket. The advantage of this system of payment is that medical bills will not “pile up” as they are being paid as they are accrued. The disadvantage is that based on the extent of an injury several weeks of therapy can become very expensive very quickly. Few patients have the financial resources to pay for services out of pocket. Some patients find this method unappealing, especially if they did not cause the crash, but instead, were injured as a result of another parties negligence. In the eight or so years that I’ve been a licensed Chiropractor I can only remember a hand full of patients that chose to pay cash for their treatment following an injury.
2. Health Insurance – Injured parties can pay for services rendered using their health insurance coverage following a Baltimore auto accident injury.  This office is in network with many leading health insurance companies. Just like what happens when you visit your family doctor, our staff can verify your health insurance benefits and let you know what copay, deductible, or other financial responsibilities that you may have. The advantage of this system of payment is that medical bills do not “pile up” as they are being paid as they are accrued. The disadvantage of this system of payment is that our office may not be in network with your particular health insurance. Further, a copay will be due on each visit and several weeks of copays can add up very quickly. Depending on whether or not you have met your deductible in your plan, you may owe additional money out of pocket before your insurance “kicks in.” Finally, any monies paid to your healthcare providers following an auto accident injury will need to be paid back to the health insurance company in the case of an at-fault third party driver.
3. PIP (Personal Injury Protection) – Injured parties can pay for services rendered using PIP coverage available on their automobile insurance policy. Unlike health insurance that requires providers to be “in network” PIP coverage is available to help pay for any treatment that is related to an automobile accident injury. This includes but is not limited to hospital visits, ambulance rides, x-rays, CT scans, chiropractic care and physical therapy. Our office staff is well trained in how to help you open a PIP claim and how to obtain a claim number to help facilitate payment on your behalf. The advantage of this system of payment is that there are no copays and no deductibles. The injured party does not have to pay any money out of pocket to open the claim. Furthermore, non-faulted auto accident injury patients can open PIP claims and can use their benefits without their insurance rates rising. The disadvantages of using PIP to pay for care is that some people in an effort to save money when they purchase automobile insurance neglect to pay for this coverage and as such do not have this benefit available to them. Often times it is not until after someone has been injured in a Baltimore auto accident that they realize that they neglected to pay for PIP coverage. This is why reviewing your auto insurance declarations every year is very important.
4. Third Party Lien – Injured parties can pay for their treatment under an agreement called a third party lien. This form of payment arrangement is only available to non-faulted auto accident injury patients. In essence these injured patients can choose to represent themselves and their own self-interest in securing a settlement/judgement from the faulted third-party insurance company. This means that it is their responsibility to receive all necessary treatment, collect all medical bills, and to present these bills and records on their own behalf to an insurance company once they are done treating for their injuries. The advantage of this form of payment arrangement is that injured parties can receive treatment without any payment up front. This allows them to return to their normal lives as quickly as possible without any financial disturbances due to an unforeseen crash.  The disadvantage of this arrangement is the headaches that it typically produces for those that choose to go this route. Injured parties have to continue to live their normal lives, work, and carve out time for treatment all the while they are receiving countless phone calls, messages, and demands from claims adjustors. While it is possible to successfully navigate a third party lien, most patients ultimately decide that it is too stressful to live their normal lives and to play the role of “representative” and ultimately many decide to hire a professional personal injury attorney instead.
5. Personal Injury Attorney – Injured parties can pay for their treatment by hiring a personal injury attorney to represent their interests. The attorney’s job is to handle all aspects of an injury claim on behalf of a patient so that they can focus on physical and emotional recovery and not have to deal with the paperwork and phone calls that it takes to successfully navigate a personal injury claim. In essence, compared to the example of a third party lien, the attorney and their staff will handle everything on behalf of an injured client, including paying the providers involved in the care of the injured party. All the client needs to do is receive their necessary treatment and to let the attorney know once they are completely healed. The advantage of hiring a personal injury attorney is in their expertise and their financial value. As dedicated professionals that spend in excess of 40 hours a week fighting insurance companies, they know the “tricks of the trade” and which pitfalls to avoid to help you settle your claim quickly and fairly. Furthermore, they have years of experience that help them to determine what a fair value is for your injury claim. They typically bring to the case way more value than they charge a client in fees. Typically, consultations with attorneys are at no cost and with no obligation. If an attorney decides that he wants to represent you and to take your case, his or her fee is contingent. This means that until or unless you win your case, you will not owe the law office any money. Given the many advantages associated with hiring a personal injury attorney, it is no surprise that the majority of injured clients decide to go this route. The disadvantage of hiring an attorney is that in some instances, cases may take longer to settle than some patients would like. That is, since they know case values and the law, personal injury attorneys sometimes have to take time to help bring about the best resolution of a complaint for their clients.

Paying for care following an auto accident injury does not need to be confusing or scary. While our primary obligation to an injured patient is to get them well quickly, it is important to better understand the best financial choice in your particular case so that there are no surprises. If you would like to discuss a particular option available for your care, please do not hesitate to speak to one of our staff members. If you, or someone you know, has been injured as a result of a Baltimore auto accident, please contact Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic at (443) 842-5500. We would be happy to help!

Dr. Gulitz

Predicting Chronic Pain In Whiplash Injuries

As many of my avid blog followers are already aware, I am a Baltimore Chiropractor and I spend the majority of my clinic time treating whiplash injuries resulting from Baltimore auto accidents. As I’ve mentioned previously these injuries typically present with acute post-traumatic headaches, neck pain and back pain. Of course, no two patients are the same, and these are not hard and fast rules.

I find this work very rewarding because there is usually a predictable outcome for the majority of our acutely injured Baltimore whiplash patients. That is, they present with intense symptoms quickly after whiplash injury, they respond favorably over the first 3-4 weeks of care, and they continue to improve as we ween them off care and progress them onto home care. For the majority of our Baltimore whiplash patients, there is a complete resolution of their symptoms and complete return to normal activities of daily living.

Unfortunately, not all Baltimore whiplash patients respond well to treatment. And this seems to be true regardless of age, gender, vehicular damage or prior injuries. I have been treating these types of patients for about eight years and I’ve often wondered why, despite my best effort, some patients make a complete recovery while others do not. And while I still don’t think we have a “perfect answer”, I think I have a bit more understanding of why that may be.

Research from the journal SPINE attempted to look at chronicity of pain in whiplash patients and they found that there was a link between early muscle fatty infiltrates (MFI) in the neck multifidi muscles and the chronicity of pain in whiplash patients.

They studied 36 whiplash subjects that were enrolled in the study less than a week after sustaining whiplash injuries. They studied these subjects at 1 week, 2 week, and three months post injury, measuring self-reported pain-related disability questionnaires, self-reported post-traumatic stress disorder questionnaires, and fat/water MRIs of their necks. They found that those subjects with higher levels of reported pain throughout the study had higher levels of MFIs in the cervical (neck) multifidus muscles.

The authors of the study suggest that we can use specialized MRIs to make predictive outcomes early on in care to determine who, despite rehab, chiropractic care, and physical therapy, are likely to have chronic pain following whiplash injuries. We can look at the MFIs in their neck muscles and based on that make predictions about who will be left suffering with chronic neck pain.

I find this result particularly fascinating for its implication in my practice. Often if patients are not having favorable outcomes to treatment and continue to report high levels of neck pain, we refer them for MRIs. The MRIs will typically focus on ligaments, intervertebral discs, and neurological tissues (nerve roots and the patency of neural foramina) while looking for evidence of pathophysiology. When these MRIs come back “negative” for disc injuries and nerve root compression, certain whiplash patients are considered to be “malingerers”, “liars”, or “crazy.” But maybe they aren’t. Maybe we need to run a different type of MRI and look for evidence of MFI as a cause of their reported chronic pain. Its something I will spend more time thinking about and discussing with radiologists who I refer MRI work to.

In the meantime, if you, or someone you know, has neck pain due to a Baltimore whiplash injury, please contact Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic at (443) 842-5500. We would be happy to help!

Thanksgiving – The Deadliest Day On The Road

As a Baltimore Chiropractor that spends the majority of my time in my clinic treating Baltimore auto accident patients with headaches, neck pain, and back pain, I spend more than a fair amount of time keeping up to date on all things Baltimore auto accidents. I am intrigued by what causes crashes, how people become injured in these crashes, and how to best help these injured individuals recover from their auto accident injuries.

If you are like me, you plan to hit the road Wednesday night to head home and stay with family before Thanksgiving on Thursday. While the holiday is one of my favorite, the grid lock and increased auto accidents that it causes are not my favorite. Did you know that Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. is the number one day for auto accidents and deaths from auto accidents each year?

As you might imagine there are a number of reasons why Thanksgiving is considered to be the deadliest day on the road. Here are some of the reasons:

1. A general increase in alcohol consumption on the evening before Thanksgiving. Since very few people have to work the next day, many people have “a few extra” adult beverages in an effort to socialize and relax. If they get behind the wheel they increase the odds of harming themselves or someone else.

2. The number of cars on the roads increases. I will personally be traveling about 250 miles to go to New York to see my family. There is about a 50 percent increase in the number of cars traveling more than 50 miles throughout Thanksgiving weekend compared to “normal” weekends. These long drives can be tiresome for drivers, so both a combination of increased cars on the roads and increased drowsiness is responsible for more crashes.

3. Increase darkness. As mentioned in a previous blog post, it is darker now when most people finish work and start driving home due to the end of daylight savings time. The decreased visibility makes it hard for us to see as we do in daylight, causing an increase in the likelihood of crashing.

Despite the numerous reasons why it is more likely that any of us will be injured or killed in a Baltimore auto accident on Thanksgiving and the days following, there are several straightforward and practical tips in order to have a safer ride and higher likelihood of surviving the weekend without being killed or injured in a Baltimore auto accident:

1. Check your tires – Even healthy tires lose air over time. Take 15 minutes to check tread and air pressure before departure. And remember to always check the air pressure of your tires when they are “cold”, generally before driving more than 2-3 miles on them.

2. Tune up – If you have been putting off that oil change, or topping off your fluids, now is the time to do it. There’s no worse time to be pulled over on a highway with a broken down vehicle then on a major holiday when support will become more sparse.

3. Follow the speed limit – Since there will be more cars on the road, it is imperative to travel at the speed limit.

4. Wear your seat belts – Don’t forget to buckle up. Engaging the proper restraints in your vehicle will make the ride safer for you and all of your occupants. Plus, its the law.

5. Minimize distracted driving – Make sure your cell phone is connected by blue tooth (if your car has it enabled) If not, designate a passenger to be a caller/texter/snapchatter on your behalf. The only job the driver should have is keeping their hands and 10 and 2 and obeying the rules of the road.

6. Get a good night’s sleep the night before. We all get anxious before the holidays given the long drives and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. If you can get a nap in before you drive to help you stay more alert, or if you can get more sleep the night before, or better yet, if you can leave really early the day of Thanksgiving just after waking up you will be more able to focus on the ever changing road conditions and thus decrease your likelihood of a crash.

We all have to do our part to make the roads safe on Thanksgiving so that we can enjoy our time with our family without injuring ourselves and each other. If you, or someone you know, is unfortunately injured in a Baltimore auto accident on Thanksgiving, please contact Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic. We would be happy to help you recover from your injuries!

Happy Thanksgiving from Dr. Gulitz and the entire team at Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic!

Dr. Gulitz

MVA Attempts to Save Lives with “5 to Drive” Rules

As my avid blog followers are already aware I am a Baltimore Chiropractor that spends the majority of my clinic time treating patients in Baltimore with headaches, neck pain, and back pain. We have been seeing an increase in the number of injured teen drivers as of late. I just figured that the end of daylight savings time which results in more dark driving hours was to blame. As it turns out, that’s only part of the reason for an increase in teen crashes and injuries as a result of Baltimore auto accidents.

As we all know young drivers are inexperienced. The inexperience they bring to driving, combined with distractions, can lead to a deadly combination for many Maryland teenagers. In 2015 Maryland saw 21 deaths in teenagers between ages 16-20, which was up from 12 in 2014.

The MVA is hoping to curb teen death by releasing what it calls the “5 to drive” rules. It is hoping that parents of teenagers go over these safety recommendations with their teenagers before they get behind the wheel.

1. No cell phones (no texting). It is said that glancing away from the road for even 5 seconds at 55 mph can have a car travel the entire length of a football field. With all of the social media apps out there, it can be hard not to glance at every beep on the phone or every snapchat message. The MVA wants teenagers to turn their phones off while they are driving.

2. No extra passengers. Driving alone allows a teen driver to focus on the road and not to be distracted by music or conversation. It has been determined that driving with even one extra friend in the car doubles the risk of a fatal crash for a teenager.

3. No speeding. Not surprisingly, it was found that the majority of teen deaths behind the wheel were directly attributed to speeding. It is important that young drivers learn how to follow posted speed limits.

4. No alcohol or drugs. Alcohol and drugs impair brain function and reaction time. This is a good recommendation for adults as well as teenagers. But as the saying goes, good habits start early.

5. Always buckle up. It has been determined that nearly 1 in 4 Maryland teenagers killed by a driving accident did not have their seat belts on. It is important to buckle your seat belt from the moment you get behind the wheel until you car is safely parked.

Obviously these “5 to drive” rules are pretty basic. It is important that parents discuss these rules with their teenagers and hold them accountable to these actions so that we can cut down the risk for teenage death and injury due to motor vehicle collision in Baltimore and Maryland.

If you, or someone you know, has been injured as a results of a Baltimore auto accident injury, please contact Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic at (443) 842-5500. We would be happy to help!

Dr. Gulitz

Increased Baltimore Auto Accidents Due To Daylight Savings Time Ending

As a Baltimore Chiropractor, the majority of my clinic time is spent treating patients in Baltimore that have been injured in auto accidents. Typically these patients suffer from post-traumatic headaches, neck pain, and back pain after having been involved in Baltimore auto accidents. Occasionally we see patients with shoulder, hip, and knee pain as well. In addition to auto accident injuries I spend time treating patients with non-traumatic headaches, neck pain, and back pain as well. We even see some patients who are not injured at all but just enjoy the process of having their spine adjusted in order to continue to live a pain free lifestyle.

Now that I’ve been practicing in Baltimore for over four years I am starting to see a trend of increased Baltimore auto accident injuries around the end of Daylight savings time. I wanted to look and see if there was a plausible explanation as to why we saw more of these injuries this time of year, and particularly, why we see so many immediately following the end of Daylight Savings Time. As it turns out, there are several explanations for this phenomenon. That is, it is true that there are statistically more automobile crashes this time of year.

As everyone knows, this weekend we “fall back” an hour. This means that we gain an extra hour of sleep. Essentially we trade that extra hour of sleep for an extra hour of evening darkness. Some researchers suggest that the increase in the number of auto accidents (both in terms of fatalities and injuries) is due to the fact that we have more people awake at 7 pm than we do at 7 am. By this argument we have more people on the road running errands and coming home from work when it is already dark out. This is a “volume” argument and suggests that due to the increased volume of people on the road, we see an increase in the number of auto accidents as a result. Additionally, researchers suggest that although it is darker out earlier in the day, people continue to drive as if its light out. That is, some forget to put on their headlights, and some continue to drive at higher rates of speed, as they would if it was still light out.

But lets not forget the impact on circadian rhythms. These “biological clocks” tell us when we should wake up and when we should go to bed. Although you seem to “gain” an hour in the morning your body is still used to being awake approximately 16 hours for the average person on the average day. When evening comes, now we have millions of people on the road who are tired and who have less visible driving conditions which can lead to more auto accidents.

Still, researchers suggest that the increase in auto accident injuries that we see are part behavioral as well. That is, in anticipation of “gaining” an extra hour of sleep, some people stay out later on the Saturday night preceding the end of daylight savings time. Not only are the more groggy and tired as a result which can impair their driving abilities, but in many cases, there can be excess alcohol consumption as a means of a “celebration” of the extra hour of sleep, which in and of itself, can lead to more crashes.

I find it very interesting that there is scientific proof of increased auto accident injuries and fatalities immediately following the end of daylight savings time. If you are interested in reading the abstract of the journal article that found these conclusions you can click here.

If you, or someone you know, has been injured as a result of a daylight savings time Baltimore auto accident injury, please contact Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic at (443) 842-5500. We would be happy to help!

Dr. Gulitz