Brian Hutcheson, DC
A chiropractic physician helped his brother with the pain of scoliosis after many other medical specialties failed. That’s why Brian Hutcheson (DC ’13) ultimately chose a career in chiropractic medicine.
As Hutcheson was completing his economics degree at the University of Arizona, he began taking pre-requisite science courses at NUHS before enrolling in the DC program. “I even had Dr. Stiefel as my physics instructor!” he recalls.
“What I liked best about NUHS was it’s integrative approach. Having ND, DC, AOM and MT programs all at the same university, supports the concept of integrative medicine. This environment encourages various disciplines to work together, aiming for the best possible patient care,” he says.
His training in integrative medicine from NUHS has served him well. Dr. Hutcheson recently joined the staff of Hope Health, a medical provider with nine community health centers in South Carolina. He will help develop their integrative medicine section.
Dr. Hutcheson will be Hope Health’s first chiropractic physician. He is already on their board for the integrative management of diabetics, and also on their integrative pain management board. “Being the only DC with a base of 32,000 patients, I will be very busy.”
Attaining his new position wasn’t just a matter of luck. “I had been trying to land a position with a hospital since I arrived in South Carolina. It was my goal,” says Dr. Hutcheson. “I joined the local country club, and made myself known in the community, so that I could purposely meet movers and shakers in the medical profession here.” That approach allowed him to meet the CEO of Hope Health, one of the more progressive and fastest growing health networks in the region.
“I know the way health care is going: if we don’t get in with the large players, we’ll be left behind,” believes Dr. Hutcheson. “Integrative medicine is not only the best thing for our patients, but also the best thing for our profession.”
Always working toward a vision, Dr. Hutcheson’s next goal is to change Medicaid policy in South Carolina. “Medicaid in our state currently does not cover chiropractic services. We want to change that. We are planning on performing a pilot study in 2015 to show that by using an integrative model, we are able to reduce our patients’ pain and enhance clinical outcomes for chronic pain management. Currently, Medicaid pain patients are very limited in treatment options.”
His advice to current and future students is, “Never lose sight of your vision and goals and do something every day to help set them into action. I tried every day for 18 months to get this job and was told no 8 months ago by a different hospital. Being consistent and never losing faith will get you a long way.”
And how did his education help him? “National is the only school that could have prepared me for this opportunity,” he says.