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Leveraging the Science

Most integrative medicine clinics and centers do a poor job communicating to their patients and prospective patients about the evidence supporting their clinical recommendations and interventions. While it’s accurate to say that the science base for integrative medicine is a mere fraction of that for conventional interventions and pharmaceuticals, the amount of quality research and positive outcomes is growing steadily. Now is the time for integrative centers to leverage these

Integrative Oncology Featured at ASCO Annual 2011 Meeting

Integrative oncology research and discussions will be featured prominently during the ASCO 2011 Annual Meeting this weekend in Chicago, with several presenters among Society for Integrative Oncology leadership. After many years advocating for integrative oncology research to be presented at the meeting, I am pleased to note that evidence-based complementary interventions are becoming part of the vanguard for oncology care, driven be consumer demand and a growing science base. The

H.R. 3590 & Executive Order 13544–Integrative Medicine Game Changers?

House Resolution 3590, aka the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), and House Resolution 4872, aka the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, combined to create the monumental healthcare reform law of 2010. Executive Order 13544, a requirement under H.R. 3590, established the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health. Over time this executive order may profoundly change our healthcare delivery model. In fact, it

Integrative Medicine is Personalized Medicine

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 in the pipeline.

The Economic Potential of Integrative Medicine

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

CAM is Dead

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 a full-fledged

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

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 of the Affordable Care Act. More

Go Deep, Then Wide: Building Integrative Health Practices

Contrary to this article’s title, entrepreneurs and business managers naturally 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

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