Integrator Blog News & Reports

Integration, by nature, asks us to open our peripheral visions. We are served to look at the whole of the field. We need to develop new fascia, new connectivity. Opportunities crop up in new places. The Integrator Blog News and Reports is meant to provide you with information, insights and tools to enhance integrated care in the environment you serve.

- John Weeks, publisher-editor

From Research to Practice: Samueli Institute's Work on Integrative Medicine in the Military

Perhaps the best way to gauge the impact of a healthcare researcher's work is whether medical practice changed. By such a measure, the Samueli Institute's robust military research initiative relative to integrative practices, led by Joan Walter, JD, PA is showing significant success. Pilot projects in auricular acupuncture, for instance, have led to education of Air Force doctors in a novel, 5-point auricular acupuncture protocol. A Yoga Nidra trial is incorporated in a program for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. Here is a look at some Samueli Institute initiatives that are transitioning from research to practice. Will these breakthroughs one day shift civilian care?
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Zunin's Hawaii Blue Cross Pilot Shows Benefits from Integrative Outpatient Pain Program

In 2005, Hawaii's major Blue Cross Blue Shield carrier, HMSA, contracted with Manakai O Malama, the integrative clinic founded by Ira Zunin, MD, MPH, MBA on an unusual integrative, outpatient pilot for some of their most costly, pain-ridden, disabled members. The elaborate approach included diverse mind-body approaches, Feldenkrais and Yoga, and group acupuncture. Zunin, who was interested in a thorough biopsychosocial model, observes of the positive outcomes - reduced anxiety and depression, lower disability, reduced opiate use - that the ethical value in group process has both "carrot and stick" sides. Here is the pilot, with its outcomes.
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Regarding Drop-Value, Antecedents and Whether It's All About MDs: David Rakel's Integrative Medicine Textbook

Integrative Medicine, developed and edited by David Rakel, MD, makes quite an impression. The 1238 page volume, with over 100 authors, 97% either MD/DO or medical-school affiliated, marks an arrival and launching pad for that field. The text asserts a body of knowledge and is immediately a political tool for the advance of that field. I was reminded, on reviewing the book's look and feel, of a moment two decades ago when A Textbook of Natural Medicine, was published. That book allowed the re-emerging field of naturopathic medicine to claim it was modeling a new form of science-based, integrated care. What does Rakel's remarkable contribution assert about "integrative medicine" and in particular about the value of other disciplines? Here are my reflections plus Rakel's comments on the book's intent, and some next steps.
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Is "Integrative Medicine" By, For and About MDs?

[From my column at Integrative Practitioner Online] Three recent encounters with initiatives in “integrative medicine,” plus the letters received at the Integrator, strongly suggest that this field will increasingly be viewed as an MD subsidiary unless remedial action is taken to affirm a more inclusive role for non-MD integrative medicine professionals. I am not sure what to think about this. Here are my reflections for my column of this title for Integrative Practitioner Online.
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Michael Levin: Statins for 8-year-olds and Mayo Clinic's Whole Practice, Integrative Treatment

The big medical news just after Independence Day was that, following new American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations, thousands of children will soon be dependent on statins for cholesterol management. Integrator columnist Michael Levin muses on this news together with a virtually unnoticed whole system, integrative Mayo Clinic study which found that lifestyle, supplements, diet and yoga or Tai chi not only lowered cholesterol but also weight and who knows what other positive outcomes. Are statins parenting replacement therapies?
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Integrative Medicine and Integrated Health Care Round-up: July 16-31, 2008

Report shows hundreds of million in savings to states from wellness model ... Center for Disease Control director Gerberding calls for "changing the conversation" in order to make the U.S. the "healthiest nation" via new CDC campaign ... Licensed complementary healthcare practitioners still not included in healthcare workforce dialogue ... Debate at the University of Bridgeport to focus on whether chiropractors should follow the New Mexico model of primary care chiropractic with limited prescribing rights ... NCCAOM pushes to get acupuncture and Oriental medicine recognized as a profession by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ... AMA and OB/Gyn opposition to homebirth sparks debate on ABC news site ... Chiropractic lobbying may open a door for all "CAM" colleges ... Wake Forest integrative medicine's Kathy Kemper, MD, MPH shares new integrative clinical services ... True North's Bethany Hays, MD honored by the Institute for Functional Medicine with the 2008 Linus Pauling Award ...
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Articles from July AMA SOPP Escalates Campaign Against Nurses, Chiropractors, Naturopaths, Midwives and Others

In June meetings, the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association (AMA) kicked off an escalating round of attacks on the advancement of other healthcare professions. Targeted this year were all disciplines with doctoral-level training, as well as licensed midwives. Chiropractors, naturopathic physicians and nurses - who cited Wilk v AMA - are among those quick to challenge the AMA. The AMA actions are part of that guild's divisive AMA Scope of Practice Partnership (SOPP), announced in January 2006. Meantime, one action at the House of Delegates meeting suggests that the snake on the AMA's caduceus may be biting its own tail. Resolution 235 is an effort to keep the AMA's own specialty societies from legislative actions that seek to restrict each other's scope of practice.
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How the IOM-Bravewell Integrative Medicine Summit Could Make a Difference: A Proposed Action Plan

Do you think the National Summit on Integrative Medicine can make a difference? Planning for this February 25-27, 2009 gathering, sponsored by a partnership of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and the Bravewell Collaborative, is under way. I organize my recommendations around areas where exploration of integrative practice could have a significant impact on the nation's health care crisis. The high notes are a health-oriented approach, outpatient services, the patient-centered medical home, respect for multiple disciplines, researching whole practices as basis for managing chronic disease, and whole cost accounting. How do you think this Summit might create possibilities which the IOM's 2005 report didn't already open?
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Institute of Medicine Names Planning Team for Integrative Medicine Summit: Snyderman to Chair

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences has announced a 12-person planning committee which will oversee development of the February 25-27, 2009 National Summit on Integrative Medicine and Health of the Public. The IOM is sponsoring the Summit in partnership with the Bravewell Collaborative of philanthropists. Here is a look at the 12 member team, chaired by Ralph Snyderman, MD, plus some musing on the not very integrated mix. Nine are MDs, suggesting that to the IOM, "integrative medicine" is an MD franchise. The Bravewell philanthropists have made a substantial commitment to make this happen.
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IHPM/Employer Focus: Intel Explores Manual Therapies as an Onsite Musculoskeletal Pain Solution

Why would an employer want to explore a complementary therapy? How might a pilot project be established? This article describes a relationship between microprocessor giant Intel, researchers looking for onsite solutions to low-back pain at the Institute for Health and Productivity Management (IHPM), and the Dorn Companies, which hires licensed massage therapist to supply a Rolfing-based manual therapy to employees. Outcomes of this pilot project will be reported at the IHPM's fall conference in Scottsdale, October 15-17, 2008.
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Columnist Levin: $24-Billion Savings through Supplement Interventions Says Lewin Group

Integrator columnist Michael Levin recently had occasion to read a series of reports, prepared by the internationally-known health care consulting firm, The Lewin Group. The subject: possible cost impact of pro-actively using a few dietary supplement interventions for a handful of conditions. The outcomes were compelling. Levin argues that this kind of work, funded by the dietary supplement industry, exemplifies forward thinking collaborative effort needed to advance the integrative and natural health fields. The story of this strategic funding will be familiar to chiropractic.
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