Policy
-US Senator Saunders introduces
bill to expand complementary and alternative medicine services in the military
-Harkin battles the Obama
administration to protect prevention and public health funds
-Safe Chemicals Act of 2013
introduced by Lautenberg, Gillibrand with 27 co-sponsors: first overhaul
-European Union group CAMbrella publishes final report on legal status and
regulation of CAM in Europe Health
Creation
-Institute of Medicine
web-accessible workshop includes focus on health and well-being in
"transdisciplinary professionalism"
-Wisconsin's integrative medicine
leader David Rakel, MD collaborates to produce free ibook called "Project
Health" Research
-Positive whole person
naturopathic cardiovascular risk study provokes editorial in Canadian Medical Association Journal -JAMA posting on Low Back Pain suggests chiropractic, acupuncture
-May 2014 International Research
Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health Announces Keynoters -European Journal of Integrative Medicine publishes special journal on public health Integrative Care
-From Google Alerts: Links to
Integrative Medicine in Health Systems and Communities: May 2013
-Integrative Medicine for the
Underserved announces July 2013 3rd annual conference Academics
-Interprofessional Education
Collaborative (IPEC) expands to include broader allied health and CAM groups as
"supporting organizations"
-Update from the Medical Library Association has CAM
Special Interest Group
-New program in integrative
health characterized as preparing professionals for "the Great
Hand-Over" Natural
Products
-National College of Natural
Medicine adopts natural products quality program promoted by Emerson Ecologics -Integrator joins large coalition supporting ABC-AHP-NCNPR
Botanical Adulterants Program Organizations &
Professions
-Controversy erupts when TED
drops "consciousness issues" from site
-American Association of Acupuncture
and Oriental Medicine names Denise Graham as executive director, Beth Clay as
lobbyist
-Massage Therapy Foundation names
Gini Ohlson as first executive director Media
-ABC's Blumenthal challenges New
York Times on Gingko's cancer effects in lab animals -Breakthroughs with Martin Sheen to focus on alternative therapies People
-Haramati to "educate the
educators" as leader of new Georgetown Center for Innovation and
Leadership in Education
-Herbalist Cascade Anderson
(Geller) honored in her death
-David Mercier's A Beautiful
Medicine selected as a Grand Prize Winner in the 2013 Nautilus Book AwardsMore
[This column was first posted here at Huffington Post. Go there to like, forward via Facebook, or comment.] "Can naturopaths deliver complementary preventive medicine?" Thus ran the headline in a recent editorial ain the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The editorial was written in reference to the publication in the same
edition of a randomized clinical trial led by Dugald Seely, N.D entitled "Naturopathic medicine for the prevention of cardiovascular
disease: a randomized controlled trial." They found that individualized, whole person-oriented
naturopathic care produced reduced cardiovascular risk for a group of
Canadian postal workers. The study, and the editorial, illuminate both the benefits and
challenges in research on any trial of a kind of care that lives up to
either naturopathic medicine principles or integrative medicine principles.
It also points the way to the kind of research we need to create cost
savings through reformed care delivery. More
This
monthly report includes 24vsegments from Google Alerts on integrative medicine
developments in health systems plus a half-dozen from the community for April 1,
2013-May 6, 2013. These came via requests for "integrative medicine," "integrative oncology" and "complementary and alternative medicine." More
April 7, 2013
At the Integrative Healthcare Symposiumin March 2013, I interviewed 8 clinicians and asked them to step out of their clinical mindsets and talk policy. Picture the roughly 1000 clinicians from diverse disciplines gathered at the conference. What do you see as the most significant policy action the group can engage to advance integrative health and medicine in the U.S. Their responses were published as Integrative Medicine Clinicians on Policy Priorities: Bland, Gahles, Hui, Kligler, Luck, Hudson, Gorman, and Jones. Bill Manahan, MD, the Minnesota-based family physician, educator andlong-time leader in holistic medicine responded to a call for additional perspectives. Here are his additions to the dialogue. More
April7, 2013
Policy -PCORI appoints leaders from the integrative health community
-Consumer disobedience: Hyman urges "Eat-in" to change health and food practices in America -Integrative Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) offers first in series of open webinars on the campaign for nondiscrimination Clinical -From Google Alerts: links to integrative medicine in health systems and communities: April 2013 -Deadline approaches for submissions to first big clinical conference from academic integrative medicine group -FON Therapeutics' Glenn Sabin offers marketing booklet for integrative centers Academics -University of Arizona Center considers integrative health academic program for allied health
-Temple University becomes 52nd academic health center in integrative medicine consortium
-Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH) to offer online courses, degrees -Update: Kansas University Integrative Medicine adds pediatric components -Bastyr University partners in new line of teas with Choice Organic Teas
-Family physicians grant CMEs for MDs who watch Escape Fire; incorporating integrative medicine is among learning objectives Research -Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research: 2012 Report Professions
-Eligibility requirements, definition and principles for MD/DO Board Certification in Integrative Medicine
-Acupuncture accreditation body approved first professional doctorate standards
-Chiropractic association focuses on integration in new 10 year vision statement Organizations -American Pain Foundation offers NIH/NCCAM-backed pre-conference session on complementary treatments
-American College for the Advancement of Medicine (ACAM) votes to accept naturopathic physicians as full voting members -Institute for Functional Medicine conference to focus on "the energy that drives our biologic activity" People -Lou Sportelli, DC honored by chiropractic profession as Humanitaran of the Year -Jan Bruce, former Integrative Medicine Communicationsand Body & Soul now with meQuilibriumMore
This
monthly report is for just 3 weeks and includes 14 selected segments from Google Alerts on integrative medicine
developments in health systems and the community for March 8,
2013-March 30, 2013. These came via requests for"integrative medicine," "integrative oncology" and "complementary and alternative medicine." Activities in the University of California medical school integrative medicine programs are highlighted. More
Policy -Perspectives of 8 clinician leaders offer whole system view of the policy priorities for the integrative medicine and health community -Website open for muti-stakeholder campaign promoting IOM's recommendation of integrated pain care -Loan repayment: DCs, LAcs and NDs in Indian Health Servicesprogramrenewal; NDscut by CMS fromOregon rural health program Integrative Care -From Google Alerts: Links to Integrative Medicine in Health Systems and Communities: March 2013
-Academic integrative medicine leaders top list of new advisers to American Botanical Council -Integratoradviser Glenn Sabin on the branding of integrative centers -Communications primer for "CAM" professionals seeking relationships with conventional MDs Philanthropy -Bravewell to honor Tracy Gaudet, MD and Miles Spar, MD at final awards banquet -Nominations open for 2013 $250,000 Dr. Rogers Prize Academic Medicine -IOM workshop reveals that integrating interprofessional education has kindred challenges with integrative care -Naturopathic doctor selected to direct HSA-funded National Coordinating Center for Integrative Medicine -Alliance for Massage Therapy Education publishes teacher standards -Student leads naturopathic medical school (Bastyr) and conventional medical school (UCSD) to form joint integrative medicine club Industry -Forbes portrays new "patient engagement" movement as powered by big industry -The CHP Group recognized as a top place to work in Oregon Professions
-Holistic and environmental medicine associations join forces for Gateway Medical Conference in St. Louis, April 17-21 -The bull by the horns: naturopathic association engages member survey on vaccination practices Research -Nine integrative centers in BraveNet launch patient outcomes registry -Mayo study of cardiac patients shows 82.5% use "CAM" and 31% use chiropractors Media -Burn down the mission: conventional medical system torched again in Time article Natural Products Industry Awards -American Botanical Council's Blumenthal honored; ABC announces its 2013 awards -American Herbal Products Association announces herbal industry awards for 2013 People
-David Eisenberg, MD now executive vice president at the Samueli Institute -Jeffrey Bland, PhD, shifts professional center to Personalized Lifestyle Medicine InstituteMore
In February 2013, the licensed acupuncturists in the United States successfully generated 27,769+ signatures on a petition to the White House. The Integrator joined organizations such as the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and the National Certification Commission on Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in efforts to get out the vote. The goal: include their discipline as healthcare providers under the Social Security Act, thus creating access to Medicare reimbursement. In this column David Mercier, LAc, the founder of the Shoe Health Center for Integrative Medicine and author of A Beautiful Medicine: A Radical Look at the Essence of Health and Healing,questions the high concept behind the petition. I conclude with comments on the impact of inclusion. More
Clinicians
of all sorts prefer
focusing on their patients to thinking about policy or worse yet,
participating in policy change activities. At the 2013 Integrative Healthcare Symposium, I button-holed a set of eight presenter-clinicians whose lives are principally located in work with patients or thinking about clinical issues. The group included 4 women, 4 men: a PhD, 4 MDs, a chiropractor homeopath, a naturopathic doctor and a nurse coach. I asked them: If you were to give them your recommendation of the top policy or policy-related issue with which to be engaged, what would it be? There was a remarkable overlap of themes as a whole system policy agenda emerged.More March 7, 2013
This
monthly report includes 16 selected segments on integrative medicine
developments in health systems and the community for February 11,
2013-March 7, 2013. These came via Google Alerts requests for"integrative medicine," "integrative oncology" and "complementary and integrative medicine." Surprise of the month is the development reported in Kentucky hospitals.More
This report is
based on a similar report from the Academic Consortium for
Complementary
and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC) to its members and participants
following a two-day workshop of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Global
Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education held November
29-30, 2012. The Global Forum has been called the
most inclusive and diverse dialogue in Institute of Medicine (IOM)
history, in part via the active sponsorship and participation of ACCAHC
in representing the values of integrative health. This was the second
of six such workshops which will be convened as
part of the IOM Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional
Education. ACCAHC is one of over 40 academic and professional
organizations sponsoring the forum. I produced this report as one of
ACCAHC's "ambassadors" to the Global Forum and the workshop, Fascinating alignment of challenges and opportunities.
February 12, 2013
Policy
-US Senator Harkin, Champion for
Integrative Health and Medicine, to Retire in Two Years
-Integrative
Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) Announces Campaign on Section 2706,
"Non-Discrimination in Health Care"
-Acupuncturists Hit 25,000 Signature
Goal in Petition to White House for Inclusion in Social Security, Medicare
-Academic Integrative MD Organization
(CAHCIM) Promotes Licensed Acupuncturists' Petition to the White House
-Oregon Evidence Committee Includes "CAM" and Herbs in Back Pain
Guidelines Research
-"Health"
Makes the Agenda of the National Institutes of Disease Economics
-Back Surgery Incidence at a Fraction
for Those Who First Visit Chiropractors
-Money in Medicine: "Economic Impact" of Teaching Hospitals Increases
- Is This a Good Thing?
-Growth in Bucks Spent on CAM
Practitioners Flattens Integrative Practice
-"Embrace"
of Yoga Therapy at Cleveland Clinic; plus Program at Swedish Hospital, Seattle
-Samueli Institute's
Pledge to the Clinton Foundation: "Build the Optimal Healing Environments
in the Home" -From Google Alerts:
Links to Integrative Medicine in Health Systems and Communities: February 2013 Professions
-American Journal of Nursing Honors Coaching Book, Linda Bark's Wisdom
of the Whole Education
-Tai Sophia Institute Become Maryland University for Integrative Health --Have Tables, Will Travel: Palmer College of Chiropractic West's
"Portable Clinics" in the South Bay Area -Website Goes Live for Clinical Care Conference Sponsored by CAHCIM
- Bastyr University: Two
Articles on the Impacts of the Affordable Care Act on the "CAM"
Professions Miscellaneous
-IBIS Database Made Available for Free
People -In Memoriam: Rick Marinelli, ND, MAcOM (1954-2013)
-To Be Honored: Larry Dossey, MD and
Mehmet Oz, MD
-Clay MacDonald, DC, MBA, JD Selected
as President of Logan College of Chiropractic/University
This
monthly report includes 24 short segments on integrative medicine
developments in health systems and the community for January 6,
2013-February 10, 2013. These came via Google Alerts. Major players in the month's news were reports on research studies showing high use of alternative therapies by children using pediatric specialists, another that found higher use of CAM in the military than civilian populations, and aHealth Affairs piece on spending on CAMservices.
The president of the Institute of Medicine committee of the National Academy of Sciences that set the nation's "blueprint" toward a future of integrated pain care called Rick Marinelli, ND,MAcOM"one of the most engaged and
thoughtful members of our highly talented committee." A fellow IOM committee member believes Marinelli may have been the first in that top level process to articulate the need for a "cultural transformation in the way pain is perceived, judged and
treated." Rick, a close friend and colleague of 20 years, died on January 22, 2013 following a re-emergence of his throat cancer. Here are perspectives on his life and contributions from Laura Farr/Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physicians, Institute of Medicine pain committee colleagues(Phil Pizzo, MD, MyraChristopher, Adrienne Stith, MD, Charles Inturrisi, PhD), Joanna Forwell, ND, Michael Traub, ND, DHANP, Pamela Snider, ND, Elizabeth Goldblatt,PhD,MPA/HA, and John Weeks. More
A potentially huge step toward creating citizen access to integrative medicine and health was recently announced by the Integrative Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC). The lobbying organization and it multidisciplinary Partners for Health will coordinate a state-by-state campaign to assist what they call "correct implementation" of Section 2706 of the Affordable Care Act. This is the section that guarantees "non-discrimination in healthcare." It is certain to be overlooked, shrunk, and under-interpreted by antagonists. The A.M.A. already opposes. IHPC has retaining the person with most experience as an elected official in manuvering through the minefield of insurer, guild and regulatory resistance to citizen interest in broader choice: former Washington State Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn.
Molly Roberts, MD is the president of the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA). She responds here first to comments in the December 2013 Integrator Round-up on the growing collaboration between two components - town and gown - in MD-led integrative medicine. One, the "townies" is the pioneering, community based alternative/holistic/integrative medical doctors such as those in the AHMA, founded in 1978. The other is the "gownies" from the 15-20 year-old movement in academic integrative medicineled by the Consortium for Academic Health Centers in Integrative Medicine. Subsequent dialogue led Roberts to respond to comments in the January 2013 Integrator Round-upon the positioning of the AHMA amidst the array of integrative medicine organizations. She calls her second contribution, below,"How A.H.M.A. Frames It's Role in the Zeitgeist of Integrative Medicine."More
Policy - Powerhouses behind integrative health policy, Mikulski and Harkin, take key U.S. Senate Appropriations roles
- PCORI's Selby credits presentation for inclusion of CAM in funding announcement; two projects funded
- Sebelius letter is first HHS push forthe non-discrimination Section 2706 of the Affordable Care Act - AMA House of Delegates reiterates interest in continuing to foster discrimination and prejudice against certain healthcare providers - FDA approves first botanical drug for oral administration Integrative Clinical Care - Resources to support the emerging field of hospital based massage therapy - From Google Alerts: links to integrative medicine developments in hospitals, health systems and community - January 2013 Academics & Education - Exiting the Ivory Tower #1: Focus on "practice" in the interprofessional education (IPE) movement - Exiting the Ivory Tower #2: Student-faculty-practitioner combination at Oregon College of Oriental
- Medicine opens state Medicaid program to acupuncture treatment - Heal the healers: Samueli and Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences team to teach medical students good lifestyle habits - Selected Conference Links International - Special issue of journalcaptures findings of the work of the European CAMbrella - Europe-wide CAM group issues call for action following meeting in European Parliament - Canada's IN-CAM posts 2012 keynotes for member access Philanthropy - Murdock Trust in $220,000 award for NCNM's Helfgott Research Institute - Integrative medicine philanthropist Penny George delivers keynote on her integrative health and medicine work and vision People - Former US Army Surgeon General Schoomaker "coordinates his work" with Samueli Institute - Bryan McAuley, DC, PhD appointedpresident of Parker University
This monthly report includes 28 short segments on integrative medicine developments in health systems and the community for December 12, 2012-January 5, 2013. One might have expected fewer in a month in which one's audience has little capacity to receive anything new. The new initiatives at USC, Banner MD Anderson and Uniformed Services University may top the list, while the reach of Mayo's program, funded originally via a grant from Lucy Gonda, is notable in four areas. More
Happy Solstice! One of my more enjoyable practices each year since 2006 is reviewing the prior 12 months to develop a Top 10 list. Here it is for 2012, featuring numerous individuals who, typically acting in collaborative efforts,had major impacts this year in energizing the integrative health and medicine movement. Among those spotlighted are AAAOM and Jeannie Kang, LAc, Mark Hyman, MD and the Daniel Plan, CFO Magazine and Don Washkewicz, ICECIM and Adi Haramati, PhD, Ruth Westreich, Cherkin-Sherman-Bradley-Oberg and the GHRI-Bastyr nexus, Christy Mack and Bravewell's move, HRSA's newly funded IM center, ABPS and the board certification, plus more. Here it is at Huffington Post (where you can comment, like, forward via Facebook or twitter, etc.) or here on the Integrator site. It was a good year. Enjoy. Here's to more advances in 2013!
Healthcare business strategist and Integrator columnist Michael Levinwas one of the earliest players in the integrative health field who sought to focus attention on the importance of establishing the business case for integration and inclusion. With a background as an executive in both Pharma and natural products companies, Levin's early focus was on pharmacy substitution strategies. Business models were needed to require payers to explore. Here Levin speaks to another sort of business model, this time extolling a direction that is outside the box of the payment system. More
Bill Walter, ND of Golden Apple Healthcare has been on a quiet campaign for months to create a place for naturopathic doctors and other complementary and alternative healthcare services in the emerging payment and delivery model called Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs) in his home base ofLane County, Oregon. The county includes the liberal university town of Eugene and its working class sister city of Springfield. Walter's participation in care delivery as a naturopathic physician has been supported by a handful of clinic medical leaders ...More
This monthly report includes 35 short segments, with links, on developments in integrative medicine in hospitals, academic health centers and health systems from mid-November through December 9, 2012. This month's reports includes some from the non-health system community of integrative practices to provide more balance on the range of developments associated with integrative medicine. Included are centers in New Jersey, Connecticut, North Carolina, California, Texas, Colorado and much more. More
CFO Magazine would seem an unlikely source of cheerleading for more inclusion of complementary and integrative medicine practices and providers into U.S. health care delivery. Yet the magazine that targets chief financial officers (CFOs) of Fortune 500 firms has been shaking those pom poms in recent months. There is a smart economic alignment that connects these stakeholders at the economic hip. They may even be a perfect marriage, as one writer recently put it ... To read on here on the Integrator site click here or at Huffington Post, click here.
Integrator adviser and columnist Taylor Walsh was a guest at a daylong training to help leaders in integrative health disciplines become better ambassadors forintegrative health to the mainstream community. The training was developed by the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC). Walsh subsequent reflected on ACCAHC's work and published a piece entitled"Multiple Paths to Patient-Directed Health Care Transformation" in the mainstream Altarum Institute Health Policy Forum.Walsh approved my re-posting it here. More
November 8, 2012
On his FON Therapeutics site, integrative center consultant, blogger and Integrator adviser Glenn Sabin recently posted a piece on perhaps the most hopeful yet unrealized partnership that integrative health and wellness interests can forge: with self insured employers. Sabin approaches it as a match-maker, listing the value first to the employer and then to the integrative medicine community with which he consults. I add links to a half dozen articles that further explore the employer/integrative medicine relationship. More
The following 20 short segments, with links, are briefly noted developments in integrative medicine in hospitals, academic health centers and health systems from mid-October through October 6, 2012. These were selected from scores of Google Alerts postings during that time period. They are meant to serve as a quick scan of developments in the rapidly evolving medical doctor-focused areas of integrative medicine in hospitals, health systems and academic health centers.More
