Do We Need a Federal Office for Integrated Health Care?
Written by John Weeks
Do We Need a Federal Office for Integrated Health Care?
Take 2 Minutes for a New Vote on a Key Issue:
Do We Need a Federal Office for Integrated Health Care?
1. Find the poll, upper left side.
2. Click on your level of agreement or disgreement with this statement:
Creating a federal office for integrated health care is critical for improving health care in the United States.
Strong opinion pro or con? Write to
for a follow-up article.
Thank-you for participating. Background
Following the August 20 announcement of the differently-worded Integrator poll on this topic, Sheila Quinn, board chair for the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium
(IHPC) shared with me her serious concern over the language I chose.
Quinn wished that I had formulated the question in a way that more
closely reflects the evolved thinking of many leaders. I have since
worked with her and IHPC executive director Janet Kahn, PhD, on the language.
Please take a moment to register your opinion.
____________________
Discussion
For
the past half dozen years, the idea of establishing a federal office to
oversee the integration of complementary, alternative and integrative
medicine into the nation's healthcare system has been discussed in many
venues.
Some Arguments in Favor
The idea of establishing such an office was recommended by the White House Commission on CAM Policy (2002) and the National Policy Dialogue to Advance Integrated Health Care
(2001). The logic was that we needed to have a high-level office with
the authority and visibility necessary to set policy and funding
priorities in a way that would bring consistency across diverse federal
agencies. Such an approach would help to assure the efficient and
coordinated use of all healthcare funding, including funds designated
for education and patient services, and perhaps some forms of research, .
Janet Kahn, PhD, IHPC Executive Director
Those in favor view the establishment of such an office as a rallying
point, bringing together all those who want to see better collaboration
among healthcare practitioners and greater equality of funding for
various research and education initiatives. Without such an office, the
argument goes, patients will forever be forced to integrate their own
care, one by one, and CAM/IM disciplines will always be fighting for a
very small piece of the action. Supporters ask: Don't we want more for our nation's health care than that?
Many note that the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is sometimes pushed toward such a role even though its charge is only a subset of the research agenda. Some Arguments Opposed
One argument of those not taken with the idea of a federal office for
integrated health care is that the labor involved in lobbying for an
such an office could be substantial, and the time needed to develop
administrative rules and get it established would be significant. How
long will it be until such an office is actually of any use to anyone?
Aren't all of our resources scarce? Wouldn't it be better to just go
our own ways with what resources we have and push for changes we want now?
And by the way, who would control this office? Don't such federal
initiatives usually end up being run by the very powerful, influential
and well-lobbied interests which they are often set up to change?
So What is Your View?
Pleaseparticipate in the poll, upper left side of the home page:
Creating a federal office for integrated health care is critical for improving health care in the United States.
Disclosure note: I serve as a member
of the IHPC steering committee. I will report outcomes of this poll
together with that of the differently-languaged original poll. To learn
more about the IHPC, click here.
Following the August 20 announcement of the differently-worded Integrator poll on this topic, Sheila Quinn, board chair for the 
