Integrative Medicine and Integrated Health Care Round-up: January 1-15, 2009
Written by John Weeks
Integrative Medicine and Integrated Health Care Round-up: January 1-15, 2009
Summary:Wall Street Journal column positions integrative medicine as key direction in health reform ... Religion Newswriters group advancing education of journalists on integrative practices ... Hello President-elect Obama: links to letters from the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and American Association of Naturopathic Physicians ... IOM announces full run-down of speakers and panelists for the February 25-27, 2009 Summit. Harkin to headline economics group ... Boston Foundation surprises Pathways to Health with $75,000 grant ... New integrative cancer center open in Providence system in south Puget Sound ... Do we need a new therapeutic order for the nation? Take a look at this plan for aligning resource investment ... Plus, new Osher-NCCAM award, a special something from HealthMath in these stressful times, and more ...
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Media
Alternative medicine arrives
Chopra, Ornish, Roy & Weil: Alternative' Medicine
Is Mainstream ... in the Wall Street Journal
The subhead of the January 9, 2009 column
is: "The evidence is mounting that diet and
lifestyle are the best cures for our worst afflictions." The authors
are a nationally-known trio, plus a 4th, a holistic thinker (Rustom Roy) who is well-known to them. The news-peg for the piece is national health reform and the February 25-27 National Summit on Integrative Medicine hosted by the Institute of Medicine. What's big here is the medium: the Wall Street Journal. To appeal to the WSJ audience, the focus is on cost, and reform of the costly system. There is a pitch for the multi-factorial, Ornish type, group-delivered programs: "Integrative medicine
approaches such as plant-based diets, yoga, meditation and psychosocial support
may stop or even reverse the progression of coronary heart disease, diabetes,
hypertension, prostate cancer, obesity, hypercholesterolemia and other chronic
conditions." The core point: "It's time to move past the debate of alternative medicine versus traditional
medicine, and to focus on what works, what doesn't, for whom, and under which
circumstances. It will take serious government funding to find out, but these
findings may help reduce costs and increase health." I love this pitch:
"Integrative medicine approaches bring together those in red states and blue
states, liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, because these
are human issues. They are both medically effective and, important in our current economic
climate, cost effective. These approaches emphasize both
personal responsibility and the opportunity to make affordable, quality health
care available to those who most need it. Mr. Obama should make them an
integral part of his health plan as soon as possible."
The argument in this column is worth a read, as case-statement positioning for integrative medicine. Congrats to
the Bravewell (see IOM piece below) for their PR program that I would guess is responsible for getting this piece placed.
Educating journalists on integrative practices
Organization of religion newswriters to train journalists in integrative medicine.
Ruth Portnoy, with the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA),
sends a note that the group is "doing some training for journalists in
integrative medicine." The group is actively exploring programming
ideas and is looking for appropriate speakers. RNA is a national
journalism training organization "focusing on the intersection
of religion and public affairs." Portnoy makes it clear that RNA is not
a religious organization, and that it's "clientele are secular media." Her contract information is
Policy
Straight talk to Obama
What the licensed acupuncture and naturopathic professions are saying to Obama
National organizations for two of the most significant of the licensed
complementary and alternative healthcare professions - acupuncture and Oriental medicine and naturopathic medicine - recently sent hello letters to incoming president Obama, welcoming him and
offering their insights into how more of what they have will help heal
the system. The letter from the American Association of Acupuncture and
Oriental Medicine was sent December 24, 2008 and is available here.
Among the suggestions is implementation of the the White House
Commission recommendation to set up an "office to coordinate CAM
activities," and a request that licensed acupuncturists be included in National Health Services Corp
legislation. Meantime, the American Association of Naturopathic
Physicians, in a submission to the Obama transition team, recommends
inclusion of naturopathic medical schools and ND practices in the primary
care definition and in the electronic medical record (EMR) related
activity which is shaping some of that medical home and primary care debate. The AANP recommends pilot projects in Department of Defense, underserved, and Native
American sites. See the special note, below, on their definition of the
"therapeutic order" - for the nation - which they recommend as a guiding
rule for health reform.
Summit speakers announced
IOM-Bravewell Summit announces full agenda
On January 9, 2009, the Institute of Medicine announced the full line-up for the February 25-27 National Summit on Integrative Medicine developed with
financial support and influence from the Bravewell Collaborative. A
kick-off policy speaker has not yet been named, but US Senator Tom
Harkin (D-IA) was nabbed for a keynote on economics. This is an
excellent slot, as Harkin is heading up prevention and wellness
thinking as part of Kennedy's team and is known for speaking about our
need for creating a "wellness society."
Notably, the full program does not appear to be manifesting too much
integration of practitioner types. Among the list of 35 or so presenters, none of
whom have their professional initials following their names, I spotted
one nurse (Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN) and two PhD's with primary connection to
the licensed natural health disciplines: Elizabeth Goldblatt, PhD,
MPH/PA (acupuncture and Oriental medicine) and Janet Kahn, PhD (massage
therapy). Each of these two is notably an individual with an academic
position who is in a key leadership role in a multi-disciplinary
consortium. Goldblatt chairs the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care and Kahn is executive director the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium, respectively. The gathering, said to have a waiting list, promises to be quite exciting for those who signed up early.
Integrative centers
Well deserved reward
Pathways to Wellness receives 'out-of-the'blue" $80,000 grant
Pathways to Wellness,
a significant provider of acupuncture and other holistic healthcare
services in the Boston, Massachusetts area was awarded a $75,000 grant
from the Boston Foundation. The grant was part of an "Out of the Blue" program that provides "unsolicited one-year, one-time grants to exemplary
organizations that have demonstrated a high level of achievement in terms of
strong and effective community leadership, outstanding quality of work, and an
impressive history of accomplishment," according to a January 14, 2009 release. Kristen Porter, LAc, executive director of
Pathways to Wellness, states: “To be championed by such an esteemed board of directors
provides an added surge of inspiration to our work”. Pathways has satellite clinics at major
hospitals and health centers throughout the greater Boston area to provide
integrative care to underserved populations such as veterans, refugees, and the
disabled. The Boston Foundation is one of the nation's largest community foundations.
Rosemary Spyhalsky, RN, CN, HN-BC
Providence Integrative Cancer Center, Olympia, Washington
Rosemary Spyhalsky, RN, OCN,
HN-BC, sends a note that the former Sound Cancer Connections is now operating as Providence
Integrative Cancer Care. The operation, for which Spyhalsky is the organizer, chief cook and bottle washer and administrator, was formed in March
of 2007 when Providence St. Peter Hospital, RadiantCare Radiation
Oncology and Providence Western Washington Oncology chose to create an integrative care program serving cancer patients in the Olympia,
Washington area. Five services are offered: therapeutic yoga, oncology massage, naturopathic oncology, acupuncture, and a nutrition class.
Spyhalsky notes that the program was developed with "significant input from community practitioners of various fields
from the program's inception. The medical leader of the program is Evan
H. Hirsch, MD, ABIHM. The link to the program's transitional website is here.(360) 412-8951;
Imagine this
Posing a therapeutic order for policy investment
A new therapeutic order for the nation?
Many years ago my close colleague Pamela Snider, ND and I began playing with appying the naturopathic notion of the "therapeutic order" (use the least invasive things
first) on the grand policy scale. We began talking about the need to change the
"therapeutic order for the nation." We imagined the article neither of us
got around to writing about what it would look like if US health policy
actually invested in care strategies in accordance with that order. So it was
intriguing to see, in the submission to Obama by Snider's national professional
association, the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, that a section of the document was devoted to laying out
the concept. Have fun with this.
The naturopathic medical therapeutic order, articulated below, is the basic approach taken by naturopathic physicians to guide patients to wellness, beginning with the least force and moving to more invasive means as necessary. It stands as an example of how to integrate prevention strategies into our current treatment paradigm.
1. Re-establish the basis for health, removing obstacles to cure by establishing a healthy regimen.
2. Stimulate the body’s inherent ability to maintain and restore optimal health using various modalities and systems of health-botanicals, homeopathy, nutrition, hydrotherapy, touch, counseling, and Chinese medicine.
3. Support weakened systems using modalities to strengthen the immune system, decrease inflammation, optimize metabolic functioning, balance regulatory systems, enhance regeneration, and increase vitality.
4. Correct structural integrity, correcting physical imbalances by use of exercise, manipulation, massage, and targeted nutrition.
5. Prescribe specific natural substances for pathology including vitamins, minerals,
herbs, diet, breathing techniques, hydrotherapies to target specific disease progression.
6. Prescribe pharmaceutical intervention to halt and palliate disease process.
7. Recommend surgery, suppressive measures, radiation, and chemotherapy.
The kicker to this suggestion is
that it precisely reverses the power structure in our tertiary care
focused medical system. Use natural health before pharmaceutical drugs? Go to natural health practitioners first? Invest significantly in wellness? Will what is recommended here only be seen in
the Biblical end-of-time when "the last will be first and the first
will be last?" Will the IOM throw its weight behind this at the February Summit? Here's to Big Change in the Obama era.
Miscellaneous
Lou Sportelli, DC sends a reminder that on
January 12, 2009, a new round of CAM Practitioner Research Development
Awards has been opened through the unique collaboration between the
Bernard Osher Foundation and the NIH NCCAM. See notice here.
The Institute of HeartMath has developed a De-Stress Kit for the Changing Times which it is offering for free to anyone, in English or in Spanish. The self-help 12 page booklet was written by HeartMath founder Doc Childre. It's a useful introduction to natural health, self-care principles which might move us toward Senator Tom Harkin's "wellness society," if we all were to practice what is offered.
