|
background resources in PDF |
|
|
|
some CAM/IM publication links |
|
|
|
|
Issues #26 and #27 - May 2007 |
|
|
|
|
Written by John Weeks
|
May 22, 2007 mailing - Issue #27May 22, 2007
If one were
to chose the single individual who has had the most significant
influence on the evolution of the complementary and integrative
medicine dialogue over the past decade, one would be hard pressed to top that of Stephen
Straus, MD. Straus, who was selected to direct the NIH National Center
for Complementary and Alternative Medicine when it was founded, had a
profound impact on how roughly $700-million of NIH funds were spent.
Straus died on May 14, 2007 following a multi-year battle with brain
cancer. The Integrator invited some who knew Straus to share
reflections on the man, and his tenure with NCCAM. Here is a sampling
from Brian Berman, MD, Susan Folkman, PhD, Carlo Calabrese, ND, MPH,
Adi Haramati, PhD, Ted Kaptchuk, OMD, Kathi Kemper, MD, MPH and, from
across the Atlantic, George Lewith, MD, PhD. More ...
May 19, 2007
Can integrative
medical practices be appropriately reflected and billed using the
American Medical Association's CPT codes and the ICD diagnostic codes?
Or is whole-person care bastardized by jamming it into that system?
This Your Comments article is a thoughtful exchange between two professionals with significant experience in 3rd party payment. Among the
commentators is Bruce Milliman, ND, a member of an advisory panel to
the AMA's CPT coding committee. Milliman
asserts that a good deal of whole person practice can fit the CPT/ICD
structure. He invited others to challenge him, saying "stump the
chump." Robert May, ND, who spent a good deal of the last decade
as an executive working in complementary medicine managed care, decided to take
Milliman up on the challenge. I sent May's comments to Milliman for his responses. Was the chump stumped? More ...
May 18, 2007
The
nation's first post-doc fellowship to place a licensed acupuncturist in
a hospital setting is starting via an arrangement between Northwestern
Health Sciences University and the Woodwinds Health Campus ...
Another multi-disciplinary advance is visible through an online CME
program offered through the New York Beth Israel Continuum Center for
Health and Healing ... The American Clinical Board of Nutrition
achieved a key step toward legitimacy of its diplomat program via
hard-won accreditation ... The American Holistic Nurses Association
and American Holistic Medical Association each hold June conventions
... And the Prince of Wales prize expands More ...
May 17, 2007
Bill George is known to many in the integrative medicine movement as the spouse of a powerful leader, Penny George.
Penny George co-founded and served as the first president of the Bravewell Collaborative
of philanthropists for integrative medicine. Bill George, as it turns
out, has a resume in his own right that had something to do with
allowing the Georges to be so generous. He had a very successful tenure
growing Medtronic from a $1.1 billion market value to $60+ billion
during the 1990s. But what's been building his resume lately are two
best-sellers on leadership which have had a high impact in the business
community. The first was Authentic Leadership (2003). His 2007 exploration of these leadership themes is entitled True North. The Integrator reached Bill George for a short interview on the book, on leadership, and on what's needed in medicine. More ...
May 15, 2007
Arizona is
one of 3 states licensing MD-homeopaths, but with an odd, broad law -
which is now under serious review following questionable behavior from some of those licensed.
The American Medical College of Homeopathy is organizing the fight to
keep the law ... The Florida Department of Health has released data
from its survey of the practitioner in that state ... ND licensing
advances in New York State, but may be stopped by a refusal of the New
York State Medical Society to meet ... Three studies out of the
California Bureau of Consumer Affairs offer a grounding in the ND scope
of practice ... Higher licensing fees to practitioners in Washington to
support access to evidence based practice resources from the University
of Washington Health Sciences ... Plus some good resources on ND and homeopathic practice. More ...
May 15, 2007
The Integrator
Special Report on the FDA's Guidance for the Industry on Complementary
and Alternative Medicine stimulated more response than any other Integrator article thus far. Response ranged from thanks to reprimand. Some blasted the Integrator for
allowing the FDA's Phillip Chao to speak. Others credited the Integrator
with bringing a modicum of reason to a hugely politicized and polarized
environment. Here is a sampling of comments. I share these with Integrator readers
in part to show the wildness of response, and also to bask briefly in
the satisfaction of having provided a service. Thanks to the Integrator sponsors and contributors who make the work possible. More ...
May 9, 2007 mailing - Issue #26May 9, 2007
Another recent Integrator post
reports outcomes of a survey of media coverage of dietary supplements
in 2006. The outcomes were not pretty for the industry. Integrator
editorial adviser Michael Levin noted two recent reports, both on chondroitin, which might
explain some of that negativity. Levin, who has held executive level
positions for both Big Pharma and supplement companies, focuses on a
Consumerlab.com quality and potency study and an efficacy study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Is there a useful pattern emerging?More ...
May 9, 2007
A presentation
on the Bravewell Clinical Network at the recent Health Forum conference
provides a window into the types of services which are offered in some
of the nation's more visible, academically-affiliated integrative
centers ... Susan G. Komen Foundation stepped out of its usual pattern
to make its maximum grant for community clinical services to a Potomac
Massage Training Institute. The focus: services to low-income women
with breast cancer ... A study published by the Midwifery Education
Accreditation Council provides
a snapshot into the education issues
of the least known of the 5 complementary healthcare disciplines with a
federally-recognized accrediting agency. Plus a note on a homebirth
registry which is capturing experience of birth as a non-invasive
process.More ...
May 8, 2007
Two months ago, a colleague in the written word, Erik Goldman, editor of Holistic Primary Care,
asked if I might write up something for his journal on the idea of
primary care services provided by chiropractors. What role does this
broad scope practice have in chiropractic, and in healthcare reform?
Goldman was particularly interested in the apparently substantial savings that
were reported from an Alternative Medicine Integration Group model in
which DC-PCPs were available to members of a Blue Cross of Illinois
subsidiary. Here is some of what I learned about the stature of the American Academy
of Chiropractic Physicians and the American Board of Chiropractic
Internists. More ...
May 8, 2007
Is there a
healing power in glamour? Donna Karan is creating a huge New York City
event which brings together cultural and integrative medicine
luminaries and will test a postulate about whether committed glitz can
rocket the integrative health movement. Who wouldn't want to be hanging
out with Susan Sarandon, Laurie Anderson, Annie Liebowitz and Uma
Thurman? But alas, while integrative medicine may be arriving as a glamour do, the distinct CAM disciplines appear to remain a glamour don't
... Meantime, in more familiar trenches, an analysis by the Dietary Supplement Education Alliance shows a negative
trend in media reports on supplements ... The high-end PR campaign of
the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress - which successfully brought
the ICA and ACA into one tent - moves forward with a little unifying
glitz of its own, former Stanford University gymnast and Ms. Fitness
USA Sara Harding. More ...
May 3, 2007
The attendance at the Health Forum/American Hospital Association's annual conference, Integrative Medicine for Healthcare Organizations, jumped 58% this year, from 160 to 260. These
attended a meeting which recognized that mission alone can only move
hospital integration of complementary and alternative services so far.
What is needed is a business case to support the integration. This year
Health Forum partnered with the Samueli Institute, which has
establishing the business case as a core goal. Here are some
perspectives on money and integration which came forward at the meeting
... including a health system CEO's perspective that we may need a
government mandate. More ...
April 23, 2007
In recent weeks, a growing crescendo of concerned queries reached the Integrator about the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) document entitled Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. Is
the FDA really trying to squelch health freedoms, stamp out dietary
supplements, put alternative therapies and natural health care under
the control of allopathic doctors and harm religious practices? Are these claims grounded? Others ask: What does the FDA Guidance really mean?
Here is an attempt through a score of interviews with concerned parties,
the FDA, flame throwers, and numerous legal and policy experts, to get
to the bottom of these claims and counter claims. More ...
April 20, 2007
The February 27,
2007 Federal Register informing the public that the Food and Drug Administration was issuing a Guidance document on complementary and alternative medicine. The
issuance has caused a furor on the internet and among the natural
health and integrative medicine community. What's up? Over 90,000
protest messages, to one account, have been received by the FDA. In the eye of the
storm is on Philip Chao, senior scientific advisor for the FDA and a
co-author of the FDA's Guidance document. I queried Chao
on three separate occasions about questions on the Guidance raised by both level-headed observers, and some who are well over into the hysterical. Here is a composite of those Integrator interviews with Chao. More ...
|
|
|
