Second Edition Acclaimed Text to Support Interprofessional Teams Via Integrative Medicine and Health Published

[The following was sent as an April 10, 2014 press release from the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC).]

2nd edition, in multiple formats

Nationwide, hospitals, health systems, medical homes, employers and insurers are increasingly opening their minds and work environments to the important contributions of complementary and integrative health and medicine practitioners in enhancing patient experience, improving population health and lowering costs.

The second edition of an acclaimed resource guide for these explorations is now available. The Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC - www.accahc.org) has released and updated an improved edition of its acclaimed Clinicians' and Educators' Desk Reference on the Licensed Complementary and Alternative Health Professions. The book:

"... thoughtfully and concisely describes each of the major complementary and alternative healthcare professions."

- David Eisenberg, MD, Harvard University

"... creates a common ground in which patient-centered care is core and in which respect for others with professional skills and perspectives different from our own is encouraged."

- Victor Sierpina, MD, Adam Perlman, MD, MPH and Mary Jo Kreitzer, RN, PhD, leaders of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine

The book distinguishes itself from other resources in that the individual chapters are written by authors vetted by national academic organizations for their respective fields. "Our goal is to guarantee that the content - written to a template - represents the field and not just a single voice," explains Beth Rosenthal, PhD, MPH, MBA, ACCAHC assistant director and project lead for the second edition.

The chapters in the 264-page book are each written to a 20-subject template with such critically important content as: accreditation standards, licensing, scope of practice, research base, philosophy, integration activities, referral practices, involvement in insurance and third-party payment, and the fields' priorities over the coming half-decade.

Goldblatt: an interprofessional resource

A tool for interprofessional practice and education

"Quality team care rests on quality information," notes Elizabeth Goldblatt, PhD, MPA/HA, the book's lead author, a member of the Institute of Medicine's Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education, and ACCAHC's chair: "We undertook this project with our partner organizations to provide this platform to expand the kinds of integrative, team-based practice that increasing numbers of patients are not only choosing, but demanding."

John Weeks, ACCAHC executive director, and a co-author of the text, notes that this Clinicians' and Educators' Desk Reference is particularly timely following the extensive inclusion of integrative health and medicine practitioners in the Affordable Care Act and an Institute of Medicine report promoting integrated care for pain treatment. In particular, Section 2706, Non-Discrimination in Health Care, strongly urges medical doctors and nurses, and all medical directors and CEOs for insurers, hospitals and health systems to be well versed in the potential value of these practitioners, according to this video interview with former Washington State Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn, JD.

Available in book, e-book, PDF and electronic formats

The 2nd edition CEDR is available in multiple formats -  a paperback, as a free downloadable pdf, as an iBook (in the iTunes Store), for the Kindle, and as an ePub file. Read a recent review of the CEDR here.  For comments from educators from nearly a dozen disciplines on the CEDR, please click here.

Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC) ACCAHC is a 501c3 organization, funded in large measure through philanthropic investment, the mission of which is to enhance patient care through fostering mutual respect and understanding among diverse healthcare professionals and disciplines. ACCAHC does so through education, convening and advocacy. ACCAHC is a leadership organization focused on advancing the whole person, team-based, health-focused values of integrative health and medicine as a means of shifting our medical industry toward a system focused on health creation. Core membership consists of the national educational institutions linked to the 5 licensed integrative healthcare professions with a US DoE-recognized accrediting body: chiropractic, naturopathic medicine, acupuncture and Oriental medicine, massage therapy, direct-entry midwifery. Together these fields represent over 370,000 licensed practitioners.

ACCAHC's current projects include: development of the Center for Optimal Integration: Creating Health; participation in Institute of Medicine Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education; assisting educators and clinicians in developing and enhancing Competencies for Optimal Practice in Integrated Environments; participation in the movement for interprofessional care (CAB III, IV, ATBH, NCIPE, IPEC); promoting integrative pain treatment, including a leadership role in the Pain Action Alliance to Implement a National Strategy; expanding evidence-informed education in ACCAHC schools via a Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation grant; promoting prioritization of a real world, patient-centered outcomes approach to research; creating collaboratively-developed perspectives on key policy issues; representing patient interest in whole person care in key national health dialogues; and educating leaders in health-focused care. See Accomplishments at a Glance on the website: www.accahc.org; and www.optimalintegration.org