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background resources in PDF |
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some CAM/IM publication links |
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Welcome! Alternative Medicine Integration Group Chooses Integrator Sponsorship |
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Written by John Weeks
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Welcome! Alternative Medicine Integration Group Chooses Integrator Sponsorship
 Summary:
Chicago-based Alternative Medicine Integration Group has quietly carved
a niche for itself as an integrated care company which pushes the
envelope in the kinds of care delivery programs which it is promoting.
Elevated roles of such providers as chiropractors, massage therapists
and nurse managers have attracted the interest of employers, plans and
government agencies. The firm has just chosen to become the 4th of the
planned 6 sponsors of the Integrator Blog News and Reports. Thanks!
The idea seemed preposterous to many: develop a patient care plan in
which primary care is provided through a specially credentialed group
of broad-scope chiropractors, under teh supervision of a holistic
medical doctor and backed up by a network of conventional medical
doctors. Yet somehow it attracted the interest of Blue Cross and Blue Shield's HMO Illinois and has grown to serve a number of large employers.
Or how about suggesting that massage therapists may play the central
role in improving care to the health system's most expensive and
demanding, chronically-ill clientele. This idea captured the interest
of a significant government agency.
 James Zechman, AMI Group co-founder
"Our emphasis has been to educate the payer community," states
Zechman: "We are trying to bridge the gap between the provider and the
payer." A key tool is "our research orientation," states Zechman. The firm's website notes its 7-year outcomes from its unusual integrative IPA contracted with BCBS's HMO-Illinois in Chicago:
- Hospital admissions decreased by 60%
- Hospital days decreased by 59%
- Outpatient procedures decreased by 62%
- Pharmaceutical costs decreased by 56%
The
complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies and providers
favored by the AMI Group, and which support these outcomes include what
they call "natural medicine" MDs and DOs, "broad-scope, primary care
oriented" chiropractic, massage, homeopathy, herbal medicine,
nutrition, Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, mind-body
work and cranial-sacral therapy. These therapies and providers are
integrated into a context which, says Zechman, "ensures compliance with good
conventional protocols" such as HEDIS. According to Zechman, the results at 7 years, which includes 70,000 member months, "are just getting better."
 Richard Sarnat, MD, AMI Group co-founder
Zechman explains the Integrator sponsorship this way: "We
missed your work when you were in Costa Rica and are pleased to sponsor
the wonderful efforts on your part in getting this going again." AMI
has played active roles in collaborative work among employer and
managed care interests involved with integrated care, including
sponsorship of the Integrative Medicine Industry Leadership Summit.
Comment: I am particularly
pleased to have the AMI Group as a sponsor due to their a-typical
business strategies. AMI is developing models which test fundamental
integrated care assertions. How many times have some CAM or IM
practitioners and businesses spoken of how they can
show improved clinical and cost outcomes compared to outcomes of
conventional care? One hears assertions of diminished costs of
hospitalizations and pharmaceuticals, due to investing more
appropriately up-front in a person's care. Yet it has always surprised and, in truth, disappointed that so few CAM-IM businesses of any sort have reached for this gold ring.
AMI has, to its credit, routinely
gathered this type of comparative information and typically shared this
data with others in the field, through forums, through my old hard-copy
Integrator as well as in the June 2004 edition of the peer-reviewed and indexed Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. (I must add that I am looking forward to sharing with you AMI outcomes from a separate project when AMI makes them public.)
I
recall the skepticism with which the AMI outcomes in Chicago were
received, by many, when shared after just two years of AMI experience. Will these apparent savings hold up over time?
Some of the skepticism may be said by some to have been justified. At
the seven year mark the findings on the decrease in hospital
days went down (compared to the two year mark) from 69% to 59%, and the
decrease in outpatient procedures from 85%
to 62%. (The other two categories remained steady.) Yet, given the
70,000 member months presently analyzed, one would have to agree with
Zechman that the data" are just getting better."
Finally, AMI's focus on creating relationships with employers gains the alignment of interest which is often not there with insurers, and managed care organizations. Not surprisingly, AMI promotes looking at the global outcomes of their interventions. (Search under "employer" for related Integrator
stories.) "Attendance", "Attitude" and "Ability to Perform" are the way
these are pitched to self-funded employers on the AMI site.
So, a sincere thanks to Sarnat, Zechman and the AMI Group, for choosing to spend some of their hard-earned dollars on this Integrator sponsorship. I look forward to having their input on the evolution of the Integrator work.
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