Clinic on wheels brings acupuncture, pain relief to opioid overdose hot spots

Fulcrum Health is bringing a clinic on wheels to hot spots for opioid overdose activity in the Twin Cities and offering chiropractic care and other pain relief alternatives to taking addictive prescription drugs.

Starting Monday, patients can seek free care by appointment or walk-up visits at the mobile clinic, which is debuting at Zion Lutheran Church in Anoka and will spend the next year in Anoka County. Data analysis found elevated rates in the county of opioid and chronic musculoskeletal disorders.

The type of treatment will vary day by day but will include acupuncture, massage and physical therapy, said Vivi-Ann Fischer, chief clinical officer for Fulcrum, which maintains a network of physical medicine providers in Minnesota. The goal is to reverse a health care trend of trying painkillers first and physical medicine alternatives second, if at all, she said.

Physical medicine services are considered “first-line therapies to manage pain” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others, she said. “And their guidelines note physicians should consider opioids as the last option for treatment and only in patients who have failed [trying] other therapies.”

The $318,000 in funding for the clinic, called Care Connections, is coming from the Minnesota Department of Human Services and will last three years.

UCare, a Minneapolis-based health insurance company, supported the clinic by using claims data to identify areas where patients suffer high rates of neck and back pain, as well as chronic headaches. The clinic, as a result, will spend its first year in Anoka County before moving to Hennepin and Ramsey counties.

“These counties also correspond to higher volumes of non-fatal opioid overdose and deaths,” Fischer said.

Fischer said that is unfortunate timing, because the mobile clinic will be increasing interest in chiropractic care right when benefits are stripped. On the other hand, the mobile clinic will be a free resource for people who still need chiropractic care but can no longer afford it.

Widespread use of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone has been linked to an increase in overdose deaths — from fewer than 400 deaths per year in Minnesota a decade ago to more than 1,000. Most deaths now involve potent, illicit fentanyl narcotics, but health officials warn that overuse of common prescription painkillers can lead to illicit use and contribute to overdoses.