On
September 15, 2006, I began a four-day inpatient journey due to a gut
problem which became a somewhat complicated appendicitis. I've always
prided myself on having a breadth of relationships with all of
integrated care's stakeholders, but
until now, I hadn't had a
significant, personal experience of the central stakeholder in the zone
where Western medicine spends most of its attention and money - as an
inpatient consumer of hospital services.
This first piece recounts some experience and reflections on the care,
food, "excellence", "process issues", and the role of complementary
therapies ...
In which the
author pays out on the crap shoot of a $5000 deductible, confesses
stubbornness and possibly harmful delay of ER visit and hospital
admission. Risk to patient, length of stay and cost of care may have
been affected. The national debate over universal coverage is
transformed from policy issue to voting the pocketbook ...
The idea of a
multi-disciplinary, academic health center with a natural health
mission has evolved in the United States since the mid-1980s. This article includes a chart of the top eight such multi-disciplinary institutions in the US, and their programs. Under the
leadership of James Winterstein, DC, the 100-year-old National College
of Chiropractic was transformed into National University of Health
Sciences
and is consciously seeking to keep the disciplines out of separate
academic silos. Can this institutional model become a countervailing
influence for new paradigm health care?
This article begins a new section in which I feature your commentary. Until I have a workable Integrator comment
field, I will be publishing comments from time to time, which you send to me. Try to keep to 250
words or less (see the length of Dacher's, below). Send a one line
description of who you are, and contact info if you like. Send a photo,
jpg style. Your comments may be edited. Please send to
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September 24, 2006
An early Integrator poll (August 20) led to a call from the leaders of the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium
that the poll be offered again, to focus on an "Office of Integrated
Health Care" and on its roll in improving health care in the United
States. This article gives pros and cons. Please register your opinion
on the left side of this home page. September 25, 2006
September 24, 2006
The Sept-Oct issue of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine (ATHM) includes a report of a whole practice Ayurvedic approach to diabetes, and an exceptional interview with Tufts nutrition researcher-educator Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, in which he recalls his mentor's teaching that our work is also (and perhaps abiove all) "an agenda ...
Christine Choate, PhD, DC and Konrad Kail, ND in research awards, Rick Marinelli, ND, LAc leads national, multi-disciplinary pain group, National Acupuncture Detoxification Association shares advances in acceptance of acupuncture detoxification/addictio services, Institute for Functional Medicine gains six-year accreditation from ACCME, plus ...
A two-year long series of articles in Integrative Medicine: A Clinician's Journalby Rick Liva, RPh, ND,
on product quality issues has culminated in a four-page "Self-Audit"
which the journal is urging its 20,000 clinician-readers to ask the
manufacturers of the products they use to fill out ...
Long-time integrative medicine leader Sam Benjamin, MD, has served for six years as Corporate Medical Director for Integrative Health Strategies for Humana. He describes
the present status of new directions of integrated care as part of
Humana's wellness and consumerism strategies, along with sobering
information on the insurer's covered CAM-IM benefits.
Richard Panico, MD, contacted the Integrator in
response to a call for information on Yoga therapy in mainstream health
systems. The interview which followed, about Panico's work in Georgia's
Athens Regional Medical Center, revealed that this southern health
system is quietly including an array of complementary and integrative
approaches, including functional medicine, reaching of 2000 a quarter. This article is partly backed by an Integrator sponsorship from the International Association of Yoga Therapists on the Future of Yoga Therapy.
Chicago-based Alternative Medicine Integration Group
has distinguished itself by developing managed care strategies which
directly examine fundamental assertions of the CAM-IM communities -
such as the claim that costs of hospitalizations and pharmaceuticals
can be diminished through more of a focus, up-front, on less-invasive
strategies. The firm's evidence-based success has led to contracts in
14 states ... and an Integrator sponsorship ...
August 30, 2006
A now 31 organization Coalition for Patient Rights, organized to oppose the Scope of Practice Partnership (SOPP) of the American Medical Association,
has taken steps to firm up its governance, clarify membership, and
engage a plan to counter what appears to be a battle that will spread
out over time. The AAOM, AANP-ND, IHPC and ACCAHC join the ACA as CAM-IM organizations at the table ... Lou Sportelli, DC, reflects on an earlier guild battle as the CPR prepares to respond to AMA-SOPPs Fables ...
August 30, 2006
An effort to fund detox at Ground Zero, a chiro college/health system connection, creating CAM leaders in med schools, supplement company Integrative Medicine Inc. sets IM residency for NDs, update on a holistic certifying board, long-time ND and IM leader Michael Traub, ND honored, and more ...
Belly of the Beast #2: $5000 Deductible, ER Timing, Cost Implications and a Coda on Health Reform
Sam Benjamin, MD, on Integrated Wellness Care in 11-Million Member Humana, Inc.
