Integration of Chiropractic Specialty Services into Federally Qualified Health Centers in America. An effort to enhance care of the underserved population suffering with chronic pain syndromes.

The purpose of this article is to describe the efforts of one Community Health Center's attempt to address the chronic pain epidemic with the integration of chiropractic specialty services. One School of Chiropractic Medicine accepted the challenge to train chiropractors to become chiropractic specialists with the goal of alleviating chronic pain for underserved patients in Connecticut. The outcomes of this fifteen-year collaboration demonstrate the value of the integration of chiropractic specialty services. Chronic pain affects millions of Americans and many of them received opioid prescriptions that did not relieve the pain and led to addictions. The American health care system is fragmented and confusing. It is expensive, with poor outcomes, and inequities for the uninsured and rural populations. Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) provide primary care and specialty services for the underserved population suffering with chronic neuromusculoskeletal conditions. Unfortunately, medical education in the United States has not trained primary care providers how to rigorously evaluate and manage chronic pain patients suffering with low back pain, neck pain, and headaches.