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background resources in PDF |
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some CAM/IM publication links |
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Issues #63-#64 - May-June 2009 |
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Written by John Weeks
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Issues #63 & #64 - May-June 2009
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Issue #64 - June 23, 2009
June 23, 2009
The good news is
that, if you missed the 2009 North American Research Conference on
Complementary and Integrative Medicine, May 12-15, you can still access
much of the wonderful cornucopia of what it offered. Innovision Health
Media created an internet-available, searchable database of the 300+
abstracts of the keynotes, workshops, diverse symposia, posters and
discussions which 810 of us from 24 countries had a chance to sample.
This article introduces you to a few of my favorite things regarding
the Conference's interdisciplinary content, educational sessions, whole
systems and health services research. Make a mental note to attend the
third in a line of these every-3rd-year gatherings, sponsored by the
Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine and 26
Participating Organizations, as tentatively planned for 2012. More
June 18, 2009
Poll
on health reform finds public favors investment in prevention over
treatment by 4 to one margin ... Obama on acupuncture and prevention
... U.S. Senator Murray goes to bat for expanding chiropractic to all
VA facilities ... Bravewell Collaborative announces "important evening"
in Washington, D.C. November 4, 2009 ... AAAOM renews push for
acupuncturists in medicare, federal employee benefits ... Chiropractors
challenge Office of Inspector General Report on over-payments ...
Massage accrediting agency names Henrioulle as executive director,
Schwartz as top volunteer ... Association of Chiropractic Colleges in
expanded role internationally, meet with Sebelius at WHO meeting ...
International organization of health services researchers in
complementary and integrative medicine meets in Brisbane, educator
meeting in England ... Society for Integrative Oncology focuses on
whole systems, interdisciplinary practices, at November 2009 meeting
... MSNBC series negative on CAM, 76% of in reader poll "skeptical"
about alternative medicine ... Oregon Public Broadcasting stimulates
online debate over prescriptive rights and primary care in naturopathic
practices ... Gawande's New Yorker article on money-making
corrupting medicine makes Obama's must-read list ... 2.5-year-old
community acupuncture clinic, Communi-chi, provides 5000th patient
visit ... Educators offered free access to online version of American
College of Physicians CAM book. More
June 17, 2009
So what does the
youthful new president of the United States of American think about
complementary and alternative medicine? Despite very positive comments
about the importance of prevention, we've seen nothing on this topic
from Barack Obama other than a campaign-era letter of support for
chiropractic. Thanks to a questioner in a public forum last month, we
now have more of an answer. Here is the transcript of those comments,
in full. The short answer: Obama wouldn't mind a massage, thinks
science has shown some value in acupuncture, and links this subject
with his administration's efforts to promote a prevention orientation
via healthcare reform. Obama is articulate about the resistance to
prevention orientation in both the political and healthcare arenas. It's a rich exchange involving science, prevention and politics, mixed in with a little humor. More
June 17, 2009
In mid-May, the
private-sector powers-that-be in US healthcare announced that they had
a plan to cut $2-trillion from US medical expenses over a 10 year
period. The much-publicized offer from the American Medical Association
plus American Hospital Association plus insurers plus pharmaceutical
industry (with a token union thrown in) was characterized as "unlikely
bedfellows" by an AMA spokesperson. Sounds like a lot of money to give
back, doesn't it? Never mind for a moment that when Obama asked them
for details, they only found $1.7-trillion. But some simple
mathematics, informed by thinking from the Institute of Medicine (IOM),
suggests that this target is not only extremely unambitious, it may be
a largely self protective gambit. The differential between what the ruling stakeholders in US medicine are willing to consider
ceding back to the public and what they ought to be ceding based on an IOM-based projection for a
rational, non-wasteful, less harmful system, is between $633-billion and $1.15 trillion per year. Rather than unlikely bedfellows, we seem to be seeing here the circling of the wagons by medicine's economic oligarchy to hold onto the profits from waste. More
June 10, 2009
In Michael Levin's controversial perspective in a recent Integrator column he wrote: "Pepsico knows the truth: taxes, not education, reduces (poor lifestyle choices)." His column provoked Integrator adviser
Sheila Quinn to this thoughtful look at the obstacles to good education
penetrating our thinking, and shifting our habits. Quinn's conclusion is
also that mere education is limited: "Health has to be FOR something."
Quinn, recently the co-author of 21st Century Medicine: A New Model for Medical Education and Practice,
urges that we as a community, together with our policy-makers, spend
more time exploring the carrots of positive incentives rather than
merely the sticks of higher taxes. Could be a key step toward U.S. Senator Harkin's new "wellness society." More
June 9, 2009
Two
recent articles underscore a key battleground in healthcare reform the
conflict between patient-centered care and any other foci, whether MD
interest, money-making, or some combination. The Institute for Health
Improvement's Donald Berwick, MD, MPP, arguably the most influential
physician of our time, offered a 10-page critique of prior health
reform efforts in Health Affairs. He declares himself an
"extremist" on behalf of a patient-centered and consumerist approach to
care. Meantime, physician-journalist Atul Gawande, MD, writing in the New Yorker,
explores the Texas town of McAllen, where healthcare costs are highest
in the nation. He concludes that the culture of medicine has been
systematically overrun by the money-making motives in McAllen's
physician and delivery community. Gawande resists arguing for it, but
makes clear that it is employed physicians, rather than for-profit
physician entrepreneurs, who are more likely to put patients and
teamwork, first. Late-breaking: The New York Times reports that Obama has made the Gawande piece mandatory reading. More
Issue #63 - May 31, 2009
May 30, 2009
Integrator writer
Daphne White, CHTP, wrote two April 2009 features on Obama's $1.1
billion comparative effectiveness research (CER) initiative which Obama's budget
director Peter Orszag believes is a key to reforming our medical system. White's
insightful piece spoke of the "Kabuki Play" in the first "listening
session" on the initiative. This article details the impact of White's
work as both journalist and an advocate for the integrative practice
community playing a role in this dialogue. Noted here are links to the
inclusion of White's testimony in a government report of the meeting, a letter to
the Coordinating Council from Integrator reader Emily Kane, ND,
LAc, and the linking to White's articles by Stanford Wellsphere, the
Association of Clinical Research Organizations and others. More
May 28, 2009
Vicki and Ron
Simms back ambitious new integrative oncology center at UCLA ... U
Virginia adds acupuncture to employee benefits ... California budget
crunch sweeps acupuncture, chiropractic, other services out of Medicaid
... Sullivan column presents employer booklet as key guide to health
reform ... Cherkin acupuncture-toothpicks study generates significant
press ... Minnesota Medical Association dedicates entire monthly
magazine to integrative medicine in its state ... NARCCIM research
conference draws over 800 from 24 countries ... Massage Research
Foundation under Diana Thompson, LMP makes strides in stimulating
research in that field ... Tai Sophia Institute: snapshot of a growing
budget ... Holistic nurses expand certification offerings ... AANP, the
naturopathic professional association, announces new journal and
website ... Natural Products Foundation publishes data on the
$60-billion that the dietary supplement industry contributes to the
economy ... American Botanical Council reports growth of the botanical
industry in 2008 to $4.8-billion ... Frank Nicchi, MS, DC elected
president of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges ... Researcher Gert Bronfort, DC, PhD honored, plus
transitions for Crites, Schwartz and Corcoran. More
May 21, 2008
Antonio
"Tino" Villani has trafficked in pain for 30 years as a managed care
executive and as a chiropractor. The two stakeholders, as he writes,
are part of a huge industry that has grown up as we moved, culturally,
from bearing pain to muting it. But Villani attributes his greatest
learning about the subject to the period when he was leaving his
practice and seeking to empower his patients to take more charge on
their own. His book, Pain is Not a Disease, is a very approachable read which is a great device for re-thinking our relationship to pain. It is laced throughout with quotes that deepen reflection and help in Villani's goal of transforming our relationship to pain. I conclude this review with some thoughts stimulated by the book regarding two recent experiences with pain prescriptions. More
For earlier articles, please click below:
Issues #60-#62 - March-April 2009
Issues #55-#56 - Nov-Dec 2008
Issues #47-#50 - July-August 2008
Issues #45 & -#46 - May-June 2008
Issues #43-#45 Mar-April 2008
Issues #41 & #42 - Feb 2008
Issues #39 & #40 - Dec-Jan '08
Issues #37 & #38 - Nov 2007
Issues #35 & #36 - Oct 2007
Issues #33 & #34 - Sept 2007
Issues #30-#32 - July-Aug 2007
Issues #28 & #29 - June 2007
Issues #26 and #27 - May 2007
Issue #25 - April 2007
Issues # 23 & #24 - March 2007
Issues #21 and #22 - Feb 2007
Issues #19 and & 20 - Jan 2007
Issues #17 and #18 - Dec 2006
Issues #15 and #16 - Nov 2006
Issues #13 and #14 - Oct 2006
Issues #11 and #12- Sept 2006
Issues #9 and #10 - Aug 2006
Issues #7 and #8 - July 2006
Issues #5 and #6 - June 2006
Issues #3 and #4 - May 2006
Issues #1 and #2 - Apr 2006
All Postings to Aug 15, by Subject Matter
IAYT-Sponsored Series on the Future of Yoga Therapy
Or go to Archive, lower right column, on the home page.
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