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background resources in PDF |
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some CAM/IM publication links |
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Issues #37 & #38 - Nov 2007 |
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Written by John Weeks
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Issues #37 & #38
November 29, 2007
In 2002, the
legislature of the state of Florida created a pilot program which gave
high cost, frequently disabled, chronic pain Medicaid beneficiaries
access to the services of licensed massage therapists and
acupuncturists. As a pilot project, the state's vendor, Alternative
Medicine Integration Group (AMI), was required to annually survey their patients through an independent researcher. This article, Part #3 of the Integrator series on Florida
Medicaid Integrative Therapies Pilot, reports data and qualitative information from these mandated
patient surveys, SF-12 surveys, and findings from Integrator
patient interviews. The short story: beneficiaries speak eloquently
about an experience 93% say reduces pain levels and 84% believe boosts
their quality of life. The comments from beneficiaries on this whole
system of care are more powerful than the hard numbers. One certain conclusion is that the pilot shows us as a caring people. More ...
November 27, 2007
Chiropractic action forces United Healthcare to rescind refusal to cover pediatric chiropractic care ... Mandate to include naturopathic services
begins in Vermont, including in Medicaid ... American Specialty
Health's COO White steps into presidency ... Boeing restricts access to
naturopathic physicians among employees ... Complementary Healthcare
Plan acknowledged by Oregon Business as key player in state's health
care ... Landmark signs deal with CNCA for natural products, plus. More ...
November 27, 2007
Wellspace/SickSpace: Reflections on a Pioneering Integrative Clinic Gone Down for the Count
Wellspace, the pioneering, 10,000 square foot integrative center in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, has gone belly up. Founder Mort Rosenthal,
one of the more intriguing entrepreneurs in the field, tested a
business model and concluded that his goal of a national roll-out of
similar clinics was not possible. He sold the firm. To all accounts,
the Harvard pedigreed characters who held the reins in the
organization's death throes were a different breed. Within short months
of a January 24, 2007 press release which waxed eloquently about the
venture's future, the two shut the operation's doors. A trial of emails
from disgruntled parties reached the Integrator,
seeking information about how to get paid back on broken promises and
bad debt. Here is a short review of an immensely instructive, if
unsuccessful, venture, together with a concluding comparison with
Massage Envy, which appears to have broken the code for a successful,
national, complementary healthcare services business. More ...
November 27, 2007
Consortium of Academic Health Centers for
Integrative Medicine selects new chair and vice-chair ...
Controversial Arizona homeopathic medical board gains 2 year extension ... AMTA survey of massage therapy use documents continued
growth in respect and use ... Chiropractic initiative on state of the
research gains ACA endorsement, network into 22 states ... Acupuncture
organization brings in Michael McGuffin of the American Herbal Products
Association for industry perspective ... AAAOM announces new
acupuncture leadership and closing date for comments on accreditation
standards for "first professional doctorate" ... Kasra Pournadeli,
ND, past president of the Washington Association of Naturopathic
Physicians on the outcomes of a lengthy, rule-writing negotiation which
followed a statutory broadening of ND prescription and injection rights
... There are changes here that won't please the AMA's Scope of
Practice Partnership. More ...
November 25, 2007
The first
$250,000 Dr. Rogers' Prize to a leading integrative medicine figure in
Canada is split between two ... 3rd Bravewell event draws 600, grants
$25,000 each to 6 pioneers ... Foundation for Chiropractic Education
& Research awards $23,000 in fellowships ... Washington State names
a record 5 naturopathic physicians to participate in loan repayment
programs by serving in underserved primary care areas ... Natural
Products Association honors Block and Low Dog. More ...
November 23, 2007
University of
Colorado integrative medicine leader Lisa Corbin, MD on
participation of a chiropractor and licensed acupuncturist in the conventional academic consortium ... Nancy
Aagenes, ND, on health care's version of "pimp my ride" and the
possible value to humanity of sterilizing outspoken natural healers
... Three MDs, two anonymously, look askance at the recent American
College of Physicians' low back pain guideline ... An ND, an MD and a
DC weigh in on whether the education of naturopathic doctors should be
considered "medical schools" (and the practitioners "naturopathic
medical doctors") ... A clarifying note on the earliest integrative
activity at Yale ... and a question about whether iridologists are
welcome in the "CAM ghetto" More ...
November 14, 2007 mailing - Issue #37
November 14, 2007
Those who have followed the short history of
integrative medicine will know that the Yale name has been associated
with an integrative clinic for nearly a decade. Yet it was only two
months ago that a website at the Yale School of Medicine affirmed that
conservative institution's participation in integrative medicine. This
article describes the process over the past decade of a public health
medical doctor, a Planetree hospital, a medical student and a series of
naturopathic physicians quietly "tearing down an Iron Curtain." How?
That conservative institution discovered that forms of integrative
medicine already existed within its walls. On April 2, 2008, Yale will
sponsor an "Inaugural Scientific Symposium" which is expected to
significantly advance that academic health center's involvement with
the field. More ...
November 11, 2007
Imagine you
have the opportunity to create an integrative therapies program for a chronic pain population. Your boss is the Florida state
legislature. For the first time, thanks to a Medicaid waiver, limited
services of massage therapists and licensed acupuncturists can be
included. Your outcomes
will be measured and published. What goes into such a program? How does
one manage it? Such was the problem set and opportunity handed Alternative
Medicine Integration Group (AMI) when the firm won a contract under the
Florida MediPass program in 2003. So far so good for AMI: Florida's
legislature extended the contract in 2007 following reports of positive
clinical and cost savings. This article, Part 2 of a 5-part series, examines the management and care process. More ...
November 12, 2007
The Medicaid
integrative therapies pilot has huge variability of care. Included may
be various conventional services, mind-body CDs, massage and
acupuncture and chiropractic care from licensed practitioners,
educational materials, counsel from a holistic nurse, and more. Can
anything with this kind of variation be a "pilot" project? Richard
Sarnat, MD, AMI's co-founder, provides a perspective which begs a
second question. Given that all integrative practices show great
variation and individualization, what model which is less complex could possibly be considered a pilot? A line in the sand for the future of integrated health care research becomes more visible. More ...
November 8, 2007
Analysis of the
new "integrative" pain guideline published by the American College of
Physicians and the American Pain Society provoked questions. The
guideline notes spinal manipulation, acupuncture, massage, exercise,
yoga, cognitive-behavioral approaches. But they are mentioned last,
with an asterisk: only these were tagged as "weak recommendation." What
is the recommended therapeutic order, here? I contacted internist Roger
Chou, MD, the lead author of the guideline, at his base at Oregon
Health and Science University. Chou commented candidly on the panel's
thinking about these "non-pharmacological" approaches in the guideline's development. More ...
November 7, 2007
The American
College of Physicians (ACP) and the American Pain Society (APS)
recently issued a comprehensive joint clinical practice guideline for
the diagnosis and treatment of low back pain. Published in the October
2, 2007 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, the guideline may be
considered "integrative" as it includes self-care and
"non-pharmacologic" approaches. Chiropractic and integrative care
veteran Lou Sportelli, DC, who brought the guideline to my
attention, shares his views on the pros and cons of this guideline
iteration. What do you think? More ...
November 7, 2007
In the last Your Comments Forum, naturopathic physician and researcher Julie Chinnock, ND, MPH, questioned the choice of language for her profession in a prior Integrator article and wrote: "I
would like to clarify that NDs are medical doctors. It is a common
misconception that I often see in print and in conversation. We are
naturopathic medical doctors and MDs are allopathic medical doctors." I
asked for reader response on my appropriate editorial line.
Illinois-based Peter Green, ND, Colorado-based Jacob Schor, ND, an
anonymous practitioner-educator ND and Chinnock each responded with a
diversity of views, and, in one case, with tongue at least partly
inserted into cheek. Hot topic.
More ...
November 5, 2007
For the last
half decade a series of multi-year grants from the NIH National Centers
for Complementary and Alternative Medicine have quietly allowed
significant explorations in transforming medical education. Some have
given medical students their first mind-body medicine experience.
Others allowed ties to be forged between conventional academic health
centers and academic institutions which educate chiropractors,
acupuncturists, naturopathic physicians and massage therapists. In
October 2007, Academic Medicine, the journal of the American
Association of Medical Colleges, devoted over 50 pages to reports on
these NIH programs. Medical troglodytes across the country must have
developed hives on picking up Volume 82, Number 10. More ...
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