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background resources in PDF |
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some CAM/IM publication links |
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Written by John Weeks
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Sunday, 14 December 2008 |
February 3, 2010
Allina Hospitals
initiative finds $2000 savings per patient stay with integrative care
... JAMA column from Ralph Snyderman, MD reports that Duke Prospective
Health created $2200 per employee per year in savings associated with
personalized, integrative approach ... NIH workshop to explore cost
effectiveness of dietary supplement interventions ... MD academics urge
NCCAM to support non-MD CAM investigators in 2011-2015 strategic plan
... "Licensed integrative practitioners" included in Senate reform
language on comparative effectiveness research ... U.S. Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality recognizes naturopathic doctors as
primary care .... US Senator Mikulski pitches "integrative health care"
as key health reform principle in constituent letter ... AMA News
reports trends in AMA campaign to restrict the scopes of NDs, DCs, AOM
practitioners, midwives and others ... AANP and ACA send letters to
members relative to the AMA campaign to restrict their practices ...
Widely reported survey led by UCLA's Michael Goldstein, PhD shows
strong support for CAM among 75% of medical school student respondents
... New York Chiropractic College offers online nutrition Masters
degree ... Mayo Clinic integrative medicine educates team about
aromatherapy, Qi Gong and other certificate programs via local
community college ... Tai Sophia gains state approval for 5 new
certificate programs to help create a wellness workforce ... Update on
massage educator not-for-profit start-up ... Acupuncturists Without
Borders and Natural Doctors International respond to Haiti disaster ...
Standard Process sales hit $100-million mark; a look at its corporate
citizenship ... Yale integrative medicine conference to feature NCCAM's
Briggs plus CAM-basher Novella ... Conference notes ... plus more
January 29, 2010
Responses of readers from the acupuncture and Oriental medicine
(AOM) profession challenged a statement in the most recent Integrator round-up. They argue that there is no "emerging consensus"
on the proposal of the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and
Oriental Medicine (ACAOM) to establish a "first professional doctorate"
(FPD) for the profession. Here are responses and links to the heated
debate. Included
are statements from the Community Acupuncture Network (opposed) and the
American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (in favor). CAN will formally take their protest to the US Department of
Education should ACAOM go forward. I follow with some altogether non-conclusive comments. More
January 28, 2010
This article continues an Integrator series on stakeholder perspectives on NCCAM's 2011-2015 strategic plan. Included are the positions of three significant organizations: the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine (CAHCIM) representing 44 medical schools,
Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) representing large dietary
supplement interests, and the American Massage Therapy Association
(AMTA), the largest 501c6 professional association for that field of
some 250,000 practitioners. These positions add to the set of 8
stakeholder responses previously published. One question posed: What
would a "balanced" NCCAM portfolio include? Also noted are two other
influential stakeholders: the NIH and the NCCAM's blogging detractors. More
January 26, 2010
An
additional significant place where integrative practitioners gained an
explicit foothold in Congressional action relative to health reform is
in the comparative effectiveness research (CER) language in SB 3590.
Gretchen DuBeau, executive director of the Alliance for Natural
Health-USA shared with the Integrator that her association
worked closely with US Senators Kent Conrad and Barbara Mikuski to
secure the inclusion. Interestingly, ANH-USA, despite its work, is
deeply concerned about the outcomes of the CER movement, and in fact
opposes the reform legislation. The relevant sections are printed here. More
January 20, 2010
As 2009 ended and 2010 dawned, some Top 10 lists for the 2000-2009 decade began to show up in newspapers and magazines. What a time this decade has been for integrative medicine
and integrative health care! Despite having written not one but two Top 10s for the year of 2009, I couldn't resist reflecting on the decade
that was. I developed this for a media outlet which is not inside the integrative practice
fields as a short history, in the form of a Top 10. I hope regular Integrator
readers will find this reflection of interest. As usual, I look forward
to any of your comments, corrections, or views about any oversights. More
January 12, 2010
The annual publication of an Integrator
Top 10 list always leaves room for reader submissions of their
recommendations. This year brought some excellent suggestions, for both
Top 10 Actions and Events and the first time, Top 10 People. From the responses, we have proved
that we are well integrated into popular culture: the People list
stimulated more responses. Here are the Integrator reader nominations from 2009. More
Issue #71 January 5, 2009
January 5, 2010
Two Integrator Top 10 lists for integrative care from 2009 ... LA Times article on licensed CAM practices and non-discrimination provision in Harkin's Senate health legislation ...
George DeVries' transformation of American Specialty Health into a
health and wellness firm ... Academy of Oriental Medicine of Austin
becomes first AOM school to gain regional accreditation ... Adam
Perlman, MD, MPH and Ben Kligler, MD, MPH take over as chair, vice
chair for CAHCIM ... AOM accrediting agency still seeks comments on
"First Professional Doctorate" standard for the field ... Frank
Nicchi, DC, MS honored for strengthening chiropractic-public health
ties ... Bravewell, the IOM and the AARP join to found Healthy Nation
Partnership; inputs solicited ... American Association for Health
Freedom becomes Alliance for Natural Health-USA ... New York Beth
Israel creates no-cost, online Prepare for Surgery program ...
Seattle-based Alternative Health Access Campaign seeks to meet growing
demand among the homeless ... Oregon's largest natural health clinic
opened by National College of Natural Medicine ... Chiropractors in
campaign to regain recognition as providers by Boy Scouts of America
... Integrative Healthcare Symposium sponsors major conference in New
York, February 25-27, 2010 ... North American Research Conference on
Complementary and Integrative Medicine set for May 15-18, 2012 in
Portland, Oregon ... New American Holistic Medicine Research Institute
formed with led venerable Robert Anderson, MD in lead; sets sights on
first multicenter project ... Massage accrediting agency seeks public
member ... H1N1 lifts dietary supplement sales ... Michael Cohen re-frames his legal services More
December 31, 2009
One of the
rarely sung, significant influencers of our field is entrepreneur Jim
Strohecker. Some 18 years ago he was executive editor of the 1100 page text, Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide
which involved nearly 400 practitioners and organizations. In the
mid-1990s, Strohecker co-founded HealthWorld Online, the first
aggregator of wellness and alternative medicine-oriented content,
services and professionals on the emerging web. More recently, he has
not only re-purposed that site as Healthy.net, he also brought forward
the work of wellness pioneer John Travis, MD, MPH. He promotes Travis' visionary Wellness Inventory through an
online program for integrative medicine centers, hospitals,
corporations, spas and individuals, together with a related coach
certification training. In this Integrator interview,
Strohecker's comments say much about the history of the integrative
practice movement of the last 20 years, and its relationship with the
broader wellness effort. Enjoy the learning, and for some of you, the
recollections! More
December 30, 2009
The
Healthy Nation Partnership is conceived as "a network of public and
private organizations working together to improve the health of all
Americans by transforming the way we understand, value, and practice
health and wellbeing." The potent founding partners - the Bravewell
Collaborative of philanthropists, the IOM and the AARP - envision this
as a "national movement for health and wellbeing." The first two
organizations first united to promote the role of integrative medicine
in the health of the public. This stage is larger. Here is the trio's
short concept paper. Is this the network through which integrative ideas and practices will be promoted and flourish? Is this a movement you and your organization wish to support? This entity is a hopeful portent for coming year(s). More
December 28, 2009
While reviewing recent issues of the Integrator to
draft the Top 10 actions and event from 2009, I found myself creating a second list. This was of names of individuals who had
been or were about to be significant contributors to the integrative practice field. Of course there is
some overlap between key events and influential individuals. Yet a second list seemed to be in order.
As is the Integrator custom, this Top 10 only counts 9, leaving
space for your nomination of others who have distinguished themselves,
or are about to. Who would you suggest? Who is the obvious or less obvious omission?
Happy reflections on the year that was, and on the year to come. More
December 21, 2009
On or about the winter solstice, the Integrator announces a Top 10 from the previous year which will support the coming of the
light for integrative practice in the New Year. Here is the 2009 Integrator Top
10 for integrative policy, practice, research and professional
activity. Not surprisingly in this year of healthcare reform debate, policy dominates. Just 9 are listed. What are your suggestions
for #10? Thanks to the individuals behind the good work. Happy reading, and reflecting, on the year that was as we look ahead. More
December 15, 2009
Implementing healthy practices seems straightforward, not "rocket science." But
then why are we having such difficulties? A public-private Healthy
Nation Partnership and a section of proposed federal health reform
legislation each suggest the dimensions of brilliance we must draw upon
to lay a foundation for a healthy society. The former initiative,
recently announced, is led by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the AARP
and the Bravewell Collaborative; the latter by US Senator Tom Harkin,
the Samueli Institute and others. Wellness entrepreneur James Strohecker, CEO of HealthWorld Online suggests the nation needs another "Manhattan Project" such as was created to develop the bomb.
But might not the key to establishing Harkin's "wellness society" be
nothing less than encountering the damaging dimensions of what was sown by that earlier project?
[This article was developed as a column for Integrative Practitioner.] More
Issue #70 December 4, 2009December 3, 2009
Examination
of Congress' mandate to NCCAM shows gross misalignment ... Synopses of
submissions on NCCAM strategic plan from 8 organizations: IHPC, AHMA,
AANP, MTF, IAFT, ACCAHC, AANMC and NCH ... New information (and rumors)
on inclusion of CAM and integrative practices in US Senate and House
versions of health reform legislation ... Nurses urge Harkin against
changing NCCAM to "National Center for Integrative Medicine" ... IOM's Summary Report on the February Summit the perfect holiday gift for an integrative practice wonk ... Family Medicine article
shows clarity emerging on integrative medicine in residencies ... Joint
meeting of two academic consortia celebrated as key moment ... Umbrella
specialty Board of Comprehensive Medicine under exploration jointly by
AHMA, ACAM, AANP, ICIM, ABIHM, AAEM and IFM ... National acupuncture
groups announce 5-year strategic plan ... Holistic medical group AHMA
back from the brink ... Rick Rosen, MA, LMT provides excellent overview
of the evolving massage "field" ... Nurses add 5-point acupuncture
detox to inpatient treatment at Longmont United Hospital ... IAF and
Samueli explore whole person "total fitness" for the military ...
Information on the $1-million real world research project with Obama stimulus money
going to Marino Center and University of Arizona ... Samueli Institute
publishes white paper on cost-savings from a sampling of integrative,
wellness and public health interventions ... Kolata's New York Times integrative
cancer article draws rejoinder from the Society for Integrative
Oncologists' Abrams ... Anti-CAM/IM crusader Novella co-founds new
institute dedicated to the same mission ... Gazella expands Community
Partners group of the Natural Medicine Journal to 11
professional associations, 8 educational institutions and 3 industry
associations ... UCSF-Osher has opening for new fellow ... Info on
cost-effective integrative MD practices sought ... More
December 1, 2009
That
NCCAM's 2011-2015 strategic plan is critically important to the future
of the integrative practice field is clear from this set of stakeholder
responses. Together, these organizations represent over 360,000
licensed practitioners: Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium, Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care, American Holistic Medical Association, Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges, International Association of Yoga Therapists, Massage Therapy Foundation, National Center for Homeopathy
and American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. (The two consortia
represent 22 separate partner or member organizations.) Notably, their
comments are almost entirely supportive of the direction Congress
mandated but in which NCCAM poorly invested under its first director.
If this input is valued, NCCAM has significant stakeholder backing for
complying with Congress' real pragmatic research mandate. More
November 30, 2009
The issue of insurers incentivizing good
behavior, and particularly the relationship of such policies with the
growing epidemic of obesity, calls integrative practitioners to the
challenging balancing act of finances, health, behavior change and of
compassion. Here, Integrator reader Charlie Priester, a
self-employed, informed consumer of integrative, natural health
practices - particularly of the self-care variety, wades into the
debate. He offers ideas about how such policies can be good for
naturopaths, acupuncturists and Yoga therapists, and for self-employed
individuals like himself. Priester is a former colleague in publishing
the hard-copy Integrator (1998-2002) and in developing the Integrative Medicine Industry Leadership Summits (2000, 2001, 2002). More
November 25, 2009
The Summary Report
from the Institute of Medicine on the February 2009 Summit on
Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public is an expansive and
stimulating conversation for anyone close to the integrative practice
movement. The more than 60 sections in 164 pages are inviting in
length, style and substance. An appendix with bios let's you know
something about the sterling group of professionals who were invited to
do the talking. Here are 10 short reflections including: integrative
"medicine" versus "health"; Senator Harkin's warning about opposing
vested interests; Don Berwick's 8 principles, and his holy
grail for integrators; Ed Wagner's chronic care model and a 1989
definition of naturopathic medicine; notes
on NCCAM's priorities, as shared; an opportunities for accessing
$75-million a year for evaluating models, such as the Penny George
Institute-Allina initiative; apparent exclusion of multiple suggestions
that licensed CAM providers can might help meet primary care needs; and
deep thanks to the Bravewell sponsors for providing the funding that
made this happen. If you are at all wonkish about this field, buy the
book. Gift yourself. It's a great little reader. More
November 23, 2009
In his most recent book, Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future, author and integrative medicine leader Andrew Weil, MD calls for a “radical change” in US health care. Weil shifts his focus from the two passions that have shaped his
work: transforming personal health practices and changing US medical
education. Here Weil’s ambitious eye is trained on the gold ring of
transforming healthcare itself. Weil presents his “argument that
integrative medicine is the key to solving the healthcare crisis.” He
enjoins “leaders of this new medicine to make people aware of the facts
presented (in the book) and motivate them to join us in working for
real reform." Unfortunately, Weil’s success in engaging the leaders on whom such a
grassroots movement rests may be limited by the MD-centrism and
protectionism in the otherwise compelling vision in Why Our Health Matters. More
November 21, 2009
This
is an auspicious moment for evaluating integrative practices. The
Obama-empowered comparative effectiveness research (CER) movement
focuses attention on practical evaluations “to
assist consumers, clinicians, purchasers, and policy makers to make
informed decisions that will improve health care at both the individual
and population levels.” Meantime, the new NCCAM strategic plan, if it
follows Congress' mandate, will march to a similar drummer. Into this
vortex steps the Institute for Integrative Health (IIH) and the Center for Medical
Technology Policy (CMTP),
led by leading NCCAM-funded researcher Brian Berman, MD and former CMS
medical director Sean Tunis, MD, respectively. They convened top
scientists in CAM/IM, CER researchers and government agencies to
explore the common ground of effectiveness. Berman calls the gathering the beginning of a process "to make evidence much more relevant, and getting to the
essence of the clinical encounter.” The group will create an "Effectiveness Guidance Document" to aid IM/CAM researchers in CER study design.
Taylor Walsh, a participant, files this report on the November 9, 2009 symposium. More
November 16, 2009
I split my professional life between the Integrator and related writing and the organization featured here, the
Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care
(ACCAHC) which, as a multidisciplinary entity, lives and breaths the integration-related issues reported here. This article is ACCAHC's November 2009 Quarterly Report.
Featured are: ACCAHC's newly published Clinicans' and Educators' Desk Reference on the Licensed Complementary and Alternative Healthcare Professions;
a focal project on determining the competencies of CAM professionals
for integration in conventional delivery facilities; two collaborations
with recipients of the "reverse R-25" NIH NCCAM grants to help with
dissemination of the programs and materials they piloted (including a
conference planned for the spring of 2011); and news that NBCE and
NCCAOM have joined ACCAHC as full members. More
November 12, 2009
This
article aims to help you respond, as a stakeholder, to the next
NCCAM strategic plan. Responses are due November 30. I first analyze the 1998 Congressional mandate relative to this
most important issue that will face the integrative practice community
in the coming 5 years; namely, the prioritization of $600-million the NIH NCCAM will spend. The mandate will surprise you: prioritized were outcomes research, exploration of "prevention modalities,
disciplines and systems" and evaluation of "integration ... into delivery systems" rather than the basic research and RCTs that
dominated NCCAM under its first director. Now, as NCCAM seeks your input, even as it is being reasonably challenged
for having created limited value to date, might NCCAM be served to
embrace what Congress originally mandated? I offer 14 trends in the
healthcare and policy worlds and inside the integrative healthcare
community that make the direction Congress' mandated 11 years ago even
more auspicious at this time. This article is background for submitting
your own stakeholder inputs on the NCCAM strategic plan. Get your
comments in by November 30! More
Issue #69 November 5, 2009November 5, 2009
Respond
now! NCCAM seeks stakeholder comments on 5 year plan ... IOM publishes
report on February 2009 Summit ... FTC/FDA cracks down on dietary
supplement sites, including DrWeil.com, for "fraudulent" H1N1 claims
such as are made in many kitchens every morning ... Update on action
relative to LAc, certified professional midwives, "non-discrimination"
and ABC Codes in federal health reform ... 2009 consumer use data on
massage (more each year for medical purposes) ... Council for
Responsible Nutrition survey info on use of dietary supplements ...
MSNBC stirs antagonism to integrative medicine programs in medical and
nursing schools ... School yoga champion creates new not-for-profit
organization to support advance of programs ... AMTA responds to Integrator comments
the termination of its Council of Schools ... International CAM: Brief
reports on recent developments in Switzerland, Italy, England and South
Africa ... Harvard professor, key employer leader find chiropractic
cost effective for low back and neck pain in new review study ...
Congressional amendment stimulates debate over financial incentives for
healthy behaviors ... November is a time for giving of thanks to the Integrator sponsors
... Kokolulu Farm and Cancer Retreat shifts to donations-based business
model ... Integrative Medicine Alliance announces new website ... JACM in deal with Natural Standard more
October 27, 2009
[From John Weeks' October 2009 IntegrativePractitioner.com column] There was a time not long ago that licensed medical doctors, a.k.a. the kings
(and queens) of the hill in U.S. medicine owned the term "physician." Much common and professional usage of the term still connotes MDs. Yet legal
realities are shifting. Recently promulgated US Department of Labor definitions note that naturopathic doctors and chiropractors may use this term. In Florida, licensed practitioners of acupuncture and Oriental medicine can legally call themselves Acupuncture Physicians. The legislature in New Mexico just set up a category of "certified advanced practice chiropractic physicians." The AMA is warring against the perceived erosion of authority. But trends suggest that one endpoint of
the movement toward integrative medicine is that “physician” will
increasingly umbrella a rainbow of disciplines. This column reviews these trends and how they reflect jockeying for economic as well as cultural authority. More
October 26, 2009
Passage of a bipartisan amendment from US Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Tom Carper (D-DE) has elevated a debate Integrator
columnist Michael Levin has repeated brought to these pages. To change
behavior, in Levin's view, "education rarely works, economics usually
does." The Ensign-Carper amendment allow health plan costs to be cut by
as much as 50% for those who engage healthy behaviors. Some unions and
major disease-based organizations are opposed. Employers tend to
support the direction, as Kenneth R. Pelletier, PhD, MD(hc) and Sean
Sullivan, JD, each share. A tremendous discussion has been kindled on
the Washington Post site. Levin lays out what he believes are
significant opportunities for the integrative medicine community. Where
are you on this issue of patient engagement, habit change, healthcare
economics and public policy? More
October 23, 2009
Harvard's
Niteesh Choudhry, MD, PhD and Pacific Business Group on Health medical
director Arnold Milstein, MD, MPH take on the most hard-fought "CAM"
versus conventional question: Are the covered services of
chiropractic physicians (as they are called by these researchers) in
health plans for effective and cost-effective than those of medical
physicians? The answers are mixed but with a very strong tilt in
the direction of chiropractic, especially if the cost of drugs are
factored in. There are implications here for how we belly up to the
cost-effectiveness bar in other integrative practices. A leading researcher offers a blunt comment
that suggests comparative cost-effectiveness research should be at the
top of our research agenda. More
October 18, 2009
This is a
catch-up on some comments sent recently from Drisko, Quinn, Foley,
Korn, Sportelli, Whedon, Zabik, Hoagland, Clay, Matteson, Bark,
Pannozzi and Patel. The themes are the IOM coverage, NCCAM on use,
research focus and NCCAM defensiveness, advance of certified
homeopaths, Gawande's influential New Yorker article on how
economic structure's create use patterns, the practitioner-industry
relationship in integrative medicine, the value of a DC lobby-day
experience, and more. Enjoy these voices of 2 researchers, 3 DCs, 2
RNs, a community LAc, 2 MDs, 3 organization leaders, a student and a
lobbyist. More
October 15, 2009
Welcome to this Integrator
travelogue, linking you to international policy developments in
traditional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine
practices ... A citizen's referendum in Switzerland forces inclusion of
CAM practices in healthcare planning ... In England, a report from the
King's Fund concludes that we need both new methodologies and new
attitudes, thank you, to optimally research complementary medicine and
health ... A report on non-conventional medicine (the preferred term)
in Italy calls for an end to 20 years of procrastination, and shares
what's already covered in Tuscany and parts north ... Actuary Heather
McLeod, a CAM leader in the International Association of Actuaries, is
setting up a similar group in a new African health economics
organization ... More
_________________________
In May 2008, the Integrator began publishing a "newsletter-inside-the-newsletter" to subscribers and
others as a mean of providing a quick scan of action related to
integrative practice. Three significant organizations in the field now
routinely send these out to their members, recognizing their value -
and reaching over 150,000! Assembling them all here will give anyone a
decent overview of what's what since we began publishing these in May
2008. Here's hoping these prove useful to you! It's fascinating to take
a quick scan, particularly recalling that when I began writing a
newsletter on the "CAM" field in 1997, the publisher asked me if there
was enough going on to fill 8 pages each month. Please join me in
thanking Integrator sponsors NCMIC Group, Alternative
Medicine Integration Group, Inner Harmony Group, Institute
for Health and Productivity Management and Integrative
Practitioner/Integrative Healthcare Symposium for making this service
possible. -- John Weeks, Publisher-Editor. More
For earlier articles:
Issues #67 & #68 - Sept-Oct 2009
Issues #65-#66 - July-Aug 2009
Issues #63-#64 - May-June 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
Or go to Archive, lower right column, on the home page.
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Coming of the Light: Integrator Top 10 Events and Action from 2009 for Integrative Medicine/Integrated Health Care 
Quarterly Report from the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care: November 2009
