| Talk of reform of the medical system is in the air. There is good reason. The US spends over twice as much per capita as other nations on health care yet ranks 47th in outcomes, according to a leading study. An Institute of Medicine team estimates that up to half of current healthcare expenditures are waste. Some kind of action is expected with either new administration.
Meantime, the Institute of Medicine joined with the Bravewell Collaborative to host a National Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public which will be held in Washington, D.C. a week after the Integrative Healthcare Symposium. The new director of the influential NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) will have clarified NCCAM's emerging agenda. The Department of Defense is increasingly exploring integrative practices. Polls of citizens in Iowa and Washington say they think integrative practices of licensed practitioners should be in basic benefits plans. One hears talk of a new focus on prevention. There are some signs of pro-activity from the integrative practice community. These intersecting lines will serve as a basis of a ranging discussion of roadmaps for the future of integrative practice.
Moderator John Weeks and panelists, Josephine Briggs, MD, Wayne Jonas, MD and Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN are each significantly involved in the national scene and efforts to transform US medicine. Will policy-makers go deep in their reform thinking and take on the disease focus of the current system? Are we asking the right questions in the research arena? Is the integrative practice community prepared to contribute? What will it take? |