FON: THE BUSINESS OF INTEGRATIVE HEALTH & MEDICINE

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Integrative Medicine is Personalized Medicine

By Glenn Sabin   In conventional medicine, personalized medicine is all the buzz. Although a decade after decoding the human genome has not yet resulted in the panacea leading to game-changing cures that were once thought possible, huge strides are being made in growing the knowledge base of genomics, as well as molecular immunology and biotechnology. Over 2000 molecular diagnostic and genetic tests are available today with many novel targeted therapies

The Economic Potential of Integrative Medicine

By Glenn Sabin With a growing list of integrative medicine and integrative oncology centers and clinics in the U.S., and a recent report from Nutrition Business Journal stating that consumption of natural products and integrative medicine services is projected to reach $50B annually—those on the outside looking in would assume that it’s an exciting and lucrative time to be an integrative practitioner. Well, yes and no. A combination of consumer demand, clinical outcomes and emerging literature supportive of a

CAM is Dead

By Glenn Sabin Over the past 25 years, practitioners integrating the best of Western and Eastern medicine have endured a series of catch-all titles describing their model of care.  Until recently, all medicine not tacking closely to Western conventional allopathic care was termed “alternative”. The term complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) began to seep into mainstream medical vernacular about 1998 when NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) became

7 Chronic Website Symptoms Hurting Your Integrative Practice: Addressing Root Causes

Today, over 85 percent of patients search online before booking a doctor’s appointment. If your website isn’t fully optimized to drive patient volume, you are losing business. Do you have an established practice with lots of word-of-mouth physician and patient referrals? It’s a certainty these referred prospects will look at your website before committing to see you. Have you opted-out of Medicare and operate a direct-pay practice? All the more

HHS Shuns Congressional Intent on ACA’s Practitioner Non-Discrimination Language

Article courtesy of John Weeks/The Integrator Blog In an April 24, 2015 e-mail made available to the Integrator by Mike Jawer of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), the US. Department of Health and Human Services effectively told those following “non-discrimination in health care” (Section 2706) that HHS will not, anytime soon, abide by the law. The background, captured in this article, relates to Section 2706 Non-Discrimination in Health Care

Go Deep, Then Wide: Building Integrative Health Practices

Contrary to this article’s title, entrepreneurs and business managers often do the exact opposite: focusing widely but not deeply enough. That’s a productivity killer. Let me explain. See, when it comes to running a successful clinic we’re mindful of all the big picture details and we’re often jumping around simultaneously from task to task dutifully trying to keep all the balls in motion in order to make steady progress. We

5 Legal Issues Integrative Health Practitioners Need to Know for 2015

By Michael H. Cohen, JD With 2015 right around the corner, here are 5 legal and regulatory issues that integrative health practitioners need to know. 1. No Defined Legal Category Integrative medicine remains outside the bounds of a professional category defined by law—unlike, say, “physical therapy” or “psychology.” This means that the rest of healthcare law has to be borrowed, modified, or adapted to fit integrative health. For example, integrative medicine

Dwindling Skeptics and Rise of Integrative Health and Medicine

With the field’s steady ascent we’ve witnessed a continual decline in its nonbelievers. As a 25-year cancer patient who implemented a successful integrative oncology regimen soon after diagnosis, I have witnessed—up close and personal—the inexorable march and development of integrative medicine. Since launching FON and joining the integrative health industry full time, I have written extensively on both the business challenges and opportunities present in the field today. Thanks to

The Absurd Economics of Nutrition and Exercise

It’s fair to say that, to a large extent, America has long fostered a culture and environment conducive to physical inactivity and nutritional-based disease. With today’s prevailing science clearly showing that teaching and practicing lifestyle medicine significantly decreases the top chronic health conditions plaguing society—i.e., diabetes, obesity, heart disease and certain cancers—moving more firmly in this healthier, logical direction would subsequently trigger a vast increase in human productivity and output,