Issues # 21 and #22 - February 2007
February 26, 2007 mailing - Issue #22
February 26, 2007
The
coverage of the Time magazine blast against integrative medicine
doctors provoked responses from Bill Manahan, MD, Gary Sandman and an
anonymous health system leader ... Naturopathic physician Julie
Chinnock, ND questions thoroughness of the reporting in the article on
CAM network firm Complementary Healthcare Plans ... Vic Sierpina, MD
wonders if the oncologists with CTCA view the care as being as
integrated as was presented in the Integrator story ... Michael Levin
tilts the windmill of journalism integrity at the New York Times regarding
dietary supplements, again ... Chris Foley, MD, with a pithy comment
on 3rd party payment ... and Laura Ocker, LAc, presents a very
thoughtful, detailed look at payment issues in acupuncture practice provoked by the Integrator piece on Working Class Acupuncture.
February 25, 2007
Southwest College of
Naturopathic Medicine expands health clinics in public schools program
through two grants ... University of Maryland IM program chooses Will
Boggs, MD as medical director ... Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital integrating
inpatient care, seeks information on privileging complementary and
alternative providers ... New York Chiropractic College receives
$1-million HRSA grant on manipulation and exercise therapy for low back
pain ... Pali Delevitt and Karen Kawson, MD, exit Global Medicine
Education Foundation, future uncertain ... Greenwich Hospital, part of
Yale New Haven Health System, still seeks IM leader .. Bastyr
University looking for new vice president for academic affairs.
February 23, 2007
After Ping Ho, MA, MPH, quietly persevered in helping to launch and
develop the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and UCLA
Collaborative Centers for Integrative Medicine, Ho turned toward a
project even closer to her heart. Under the aegis of UCLA Pediatric
Pain Program, Ho began mounting a series of programs that demonstrate
the potency of the creative arts in healing. She most recently drew 800
to an event which featured medical intuitive Judith Orloff, MD, and
Doors drummer John Densmore, a long-time meditation practitioner. And
an earlier drumming program Ho offered led to a well-received
partnership with the LA Unified School District in which drumming
delivered by school counselors is being used as a healing tool for
students ...
February 23, 2007
Two surveys
were reported this month, one by the International Coach Federation on
the coaching industry, demographics and income, and the other, by the
Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals, on consumer use of massage. These are linked here to a study commissioned by the Yoga Journal on the growth of the Yoga industry. All three fields show substantial to explosive growth. The Integrator compares
data on coaching incomes with what we see from surveys and statements
related to massage therapists, acupuncturists and naturopathic doctors.
The numbers aren't pretty for the professions that have entrance
requirements which involve significant student loan debt ...
February 21, 2007
The article and analysis on the survey from the Association of
Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges provoked an array of
perspectives on naturopathic physician income (Income for Naturopathic Physicians: Data from AANMC Survey, February
5, 2007). Subjects range from the low response rate to the "confidence
gene" to the life-style choices of the mostly female profession to work fewer hours, especially faced with student loan debt
over $100,000. Commentators are Michael Traub, ND, past president of the
American Association of Naturopathic Physicians; Guru Sandesh Khalsa,
ND, naturopathic medicine dean at the University of Bridgeport; Robert
May, ND, a consultant and former executive with a managed complementary
medicine firm Alternare; and Erik Goldman, the co-founder and editor of Holistic Primary Care.
February 20, 2007
Matt Russell has always held a unique niche in the public affairs work
related to integrated health care. His resume includes work for Andrew Weil, MD, for former US Surgeon
General Richard Carmona, MD, lobbying with diverse practitioner organizations (DC, DO, MD, ND, mental health, plus) as
well as a role as founding executive director of the Integrated
Healthcare Policy Consortium. Russell just celebrated the fifth year of
the founding of his now international PR and ad agency, Russell Public Communications. The Integrator contacted
Russell to see what free consulting we might glean in thinking about public
relations for the movement to better integrate health care.
February 16, 2007 mailing - Issue #21
February 16, 2007
Picture these. First, a top notch study on the value of a whole foods diet for
women, looking at bone health, heart health and breast cancer. Then a
second NIH-funded study on black cohosh in limiting hot flashes in menopausal women. Now
imagine that the treasured outcomes of this research are sitting,
figuratively, at the bottom of the sea, unavailable to us. I learned
recently that this is the case with two projects run by Fredi
Kronenberg, PhD, founder of the Rosenthal Center for Complementary
Medicine at Columbia University. I decided as a Valentine's appeal to
use the Integrator as part of Kronenberg's work to cast a web to find the donors who will help us extract the value from this work ...
February 15, 2007
Two recently
published surveys on complementary and alternative medicine topics
suggest that use is stable, at 37%, and that seniors, at least, are still
not talking to their physicians about their use of alternative medicines. The
first survey was engaged by Thomson-Medstat and the latter by the AARP in
association with NIH
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Both surveys include useful breakdowns on types of therapies,
motivations for use, and other topics. Interestingly, the
Thomson-Medstat survey found that more than twice as
high a percentage of those surveyed were talking with their doctors
about their use of CAM as was found in the AARP-NCCAM survey of
seniors. Pus $100,000 families lead use - thus the battle for
recognition by well-off medical doctors shapes up as intra-class
warfare ...
February 15, 2007
After pressure from diverse sources, the New York Times
publishes a bogus "correction" on their article on the harm from
dietary supplements ... An article on Reiki featuring author and Reiki
promoter Pamela Miles draws a huge following at
ReligionAndSpirituality.com, a part of the United Press International
site, and leads to a follow-up "how to" piece ... Scott Haig, MD, a Time
magazine columnist lambastes medical doctors as money grubbers for
their exploration of "naturopathics" and a whole list of other
non-conventional approaches ...
Feb 14, 2007 -- Happy Valentine's Day
Reports from both coast show growth in revenues and operations in
primary care-driven integrative medicine clinics. Boston-based Marino
Centers for Progressive Health generated $650,000 in excess income over
costs in 2006, leading to a plan to add 3700 square feet to one of its
sites. Across the country Heartspring Wellness also announces plans for
an additional center in its service inside the Samaritan Health System.
Meantime, Boston-based Wellspace, led by a new set of venture
capitalists, sends out an oddly optimistic press release ...
February 5, 2007
The Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC)
recently released data from a 2004 survey of the roughly 2500 licensed
naturopathic physicians then practicing in North America. The AANMC
attributed the wide spectrum of net incomes to "personal choice and values/priorities." Still, 98% of respondents showed satisfaction with their career choices. Most
NDs do not have the opportunity to be employed and must develop their
practice from scratch. An increasing number are in multi-disciplinary
settings. A major short-coming of the portrait, however, is the
response rate. Only 583
(19%) took part. How many of the non-responders couldn't make the shift
from medical student to self-marketer and dropped out, despite student
loan debt frequently at $100,000+? The Integrator compares this data with those on MD income published by the Medical Group Management Association.
February 2, 2007
William (Bill) Mitchell, ND, was co-founder of Bastyr University,
author, mentor to many, thought leader for the naturopathic profession,
guitar teacher whose picture graced the cover of Time in the 1960s, and
a renown botanical educator. Mitchell died late January at age 59 in an
unusual family circumstance: Mitchell's death of a heart attack came
within hours of hearing news of the death of his son, age 27, also of a
heart attack. Here is a small selection of some of the many comments on
the influential life of an individual who Mark Blumenthal believes will
have an "indelible impact on the course of American health care" and
who Joseph Pizzorno, ND, calls "the heart and soul of the Bastyr
community ..."
February 2, 2007
The effort of Michael Levin to hold the New York Times accountable stimulates Lou Sportelli, DC to challenge Big Media biases. Then Scottish licensed homeopath Wendy Howard, LHom, DHom links the NYT (in)action to some excellent materials on the suppression of complementary medicine in Switzerland ... Candace Campbell, former executive director of the American Association for Health Freedom (AAHF) underscores the depths of the need for activity to defend unconventional practices while holistic medicine leader Bill Manahan, MD
focuses on the importance of looking at our own issues .. The
collaborative work to change the definition of integrative medicine
provokes an additional question from massage educator Cathy Ayers, LMT, NCTMB and kudos (and a comment on scatology) from holistic leader and grandfather Manahan ...
|
Academic
Health & Hospitals: Southwest College of Naturo Med, U Maryland, NY
Chiro College, Spaulding Rehab, Greenwich Hospital, and more ...
Tales of Two Surveys on CAM: Thomsen-Medstat Finds 37% Using, AARP & NCCAM Find Seniors Still Not Talking ...
Integrative
Medicine Clinic Reports: Marino Profits Rise, Heartspring Expands,
Wellspace in Odd, Retro Announcement ...
Income for Naturopathic Physicians: Data from AANMC Survey
