Summary: The Integrator Special Report on the decision of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine to promote a board specialty in integrative medicine has proved the most widely read Integrator piece in 2 years. Opinions are all over the map. Most are strongly held. None doubt the significance of the moment. Here are Bill Manahan, MD, Lou Sportelli, DC, Marc Micozzi, MD, PhD, Pamela Weeks, MA, Taylor Walsh, Jim Winterstein, DC, Kevin Wilson, ND, Richard "Buz" Cooper, MD, DSc, Bill Reddy, LAc, DiplAc, Chris Foley, MD, Nancy Gahles, DC, CCH, RSHom, Patrick Massey, MD, PhD, Andrew Rubman, ND, Stephen Marini, MS, PhD, DC, actuary Heather McLeod, plus an anonymous MD, anonymous chiropractor academic, anonymous journalist, anonymous integrative medicine academic; plus, links to a couple of the prominent anti-quackademic bloggers writing on the topic. I hope this exchange will be constructively utilized. Most of these comments beg this question: What are the optimal standards for this emerging guild of Board Certified Integrative Medical Doctors, especially relative to other health professionals and disciplines, if their interest is, in fact, the positive transformation of our system? I splice comments throughout..

The Integrator Special Report on the new effort to create a formal integrative medicine specialty that is recognized by organized medicine ("Strategic Change in Direction" as Weil's Arizona Center Commits to Creation of American Board of Integrative Medicine) generated significant reader response. Some readers are excited and supportive. Others express deep concern and even fear that this step represents the ultimate take-over of "CAM" and related disciplines by medical doctors. Here is the Integrator Forum.

Bill Manahan, MD

1. Bill Manahan, MD: "This is timely, appropriate and wonderful"

Integrator adviser Bill Manahan, MD was an early member of the American Holistic Medical Association. He was also a co-founder and president of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine (ABIHM), the leaders of which are backing the new ABIM. Manahan has long served as faculty member in family medicine at the University of Minnesota and in a leadership program in integrative medicine sponsored by the American Medical Students Association.  

"Good reporting once again, John, regarding the ABIM. I am delighted that the Arizona group has decided to go forward with the American Board of Integrative Medicine.  I think their idea of 'both/and' is excellent. Yes, every physician should have available in his or her practice some of the tools of integrative medicine, and that is something that will hopefully occur over the next few decades. At the same time, some physicians will specialize and have more skills in this most holistic of all medical fields that we now call integrative medicine. 
 
"Those of us who were involved with the original testing for the ABIHM were hopeful - and quite certain - that there would eventually be enough training available in integrative holistic medicine so that applicants would have to do more than just sit for the test.  Thanks to the U of Arizona and Andrew Weil, that training is now occurring.  Therefore, it is time to eliminate the old (the ABIHM) and merge it into the new ABIM.  As one of the founders of the ABIHM, this is a transition that is timely, appropriate, and wonderful."

Lou Sportelli, DC

2.  Lou Sportelli, DC: They condemn, then they investigate, then they take over 

Lou Sportelli, DC was one of the nation's first chiropractors to be integrated into the mainstream delivery system via a series of roles in his community hospital. He is presently the president of the NCMIC Group. NCMIC is the most significant provider of malpractice insurance for the chiropractic and naturopathic medical professions. Sportelli is also a veteran of the Wilk trial that led to a successful federal lawsuit that convicted the American Medical Association of restrain of trade. In doing so, it ended the era of legal slander from organized medicine toward chiropractors and other non-conventional practices. NCMIC Group was the founding Integrator sponsor.

"I cannot believe that anyone would fall for Dr. Weil's charade of attempting to integrate anything. Look at his board (ALL MD'S). Even if he put in one DC, ND, LAc or whatever else, they would still be token. To predict future behavior, look to past behavior.

"Dr. Weil's past actions do not engender confidence that his future behavior will be any more receptive or friendly toward Chiropractic, or any of the other NON-MEDICAL flavors of care.  The absurdity of having patients ask their medical doctor if they should go to an ND, DC, LAc is supposing they know something about what folks are asking. They know nothing!! Yet people are supposed to ask these folks who know nothing about something that they are interested in. 

"Look at the Medical board of this proposed group, I care not who they are, but what they know. It will take a lot of convincing to get me to believe that this is nothing more than the old medical model at work in three stages.

1.  Condemn
2.  Investigate
3.  Take over

"The AMA was notorious for doing this to any thing that was not allopathic. This is their modus operandi and they had been successful with it until folks got wise.

"Dr. Weil and his new idea are not so novel, but are highly suspect. Sounds like a lot of hype and no substance."

Mark Micozzi, MD, PhD

3: Marc Micozzi, MD, PhD: Started as a reform movement, but like osteopathy ...

Rockport, Massachusetts-based Mark Micozzi, MD, PhD is a medical anthropologist who was the editor of the first textbook on the field, the Fundamentals of Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

"Should 'integrative medicine' be a movement to transform all of medicine? Or should it be an effort to create a new medical specialty?

"Very good question. Are you familiar with the work of Paul Root Wolpe, PhD, at the Center for Bioethics at Penn during the 1990's. He was selected as the bioethicist for NASA, following Nobel Laueate from Penn, Dr Barry Blumberg, who was my own faculty advisor. Wolpe published about CAM and orthodoxy in medicine.  He wrote that CAM would be tolerated, brought into the "fold" - we now know as "integrative medicine" which had it own issues. The final stage is relegating CAM to just another medical sub-speciality in our overspecialized healthcare system.

	"Should 'integrative medicine' be a movement to transform all of medicine? Or should it be an effort to create a new medical specialty? ... Very good question."

"Like Osteopathy one hundred years ago, CAM was started as a 'reform movement.' That field instead was tolerated for 50 years and then brought completely into the fold by allowing DOs the same status and specializations as MDs. This began during the Korean War by the military medical corps (see M*A*S*H), then in California during the 1960s because many state legislators had sons who were DOs but not MDs. Then this spread everywhere.

"CAM arguably started as a reform movement also. (See the Hillary Care symposia of the early 1990's and the CAM White House Commission of the late 1990's.) By becoming a sub-specialty of medicine it has completely undergone what Wolpe wrote about: the orthodoxy tolerating unorthodoxy and then bringing it into the fold to control it. An analogy is the Roman Catholic Church, 'one, holy, catholic and apostolic.' The 'catholic' literally means having different orders, 'sects', divisions under the 'one' church. As Wolpe writes this has enable the church to predominate over 2000 years in a vastly changing society and culture. If you reach Wolpe and get him to comment, it would be informative."

Pamela Weeks, MA

4. Pamela Weeks, MA: "Big news"

Pamela Weeks, MA, is a therapist by profession and a valued friend and adviser to the present writer. She typically takes a look at the Integrator when it comes out, mainly out of love of her brother, though with some professional and personal interest in the field. I rarely hear from her directly. This time she responded. I thought her comment worth passing on, as an outsider's perspective. She wrote, simply:

"Wow - This seems like BIG news!"

Taylor Walsh

5.  Taylor Walsh: "How does this affect remuneration?"

Integrator columnist Taylor Walsh has offered acute commentary and reporting on numerous themes of importance to the evolving integrative practice field. He is a writer and consultant who has worked with such entities as The Institute for Integrative Health, founded by Brian Berman, MD and the Samueli Institute, founded by Wayne Jonas, MD. His own blog is Getting to Integrative Health and Wellness.

"I can't tell if this is a major moment in the quickening acceptance and adoption of integrative practice across the land, or another incremental step within the field itself. My questions, that surely you are already creating answer for:

• How will this affect the non-MD integrative practitioner?
• How does this affect remuneration, if at all? And if it doesn't, then what? Perhaps this is a major structural step in that direction.
• How will this be viewed by the AMA?  Or other conventional medical entities?
• Does this initiative require any political support - of the US Congress or [Health and Human Services-HHS] type?
• Has the founding group had indicators from HHS or anyone else (Institute of Medicine?)that this step will advance the prospects of practitioners who comprise the field?
  

"I've always thought that given the state of US healthcare the integrative community has had a chance to drive through the gates of the healthcare enterprise and put down foundations for its own wing. Maybe this is it. Although of course I hate to use a metaphor of destruction! But then: does Schumpeter apply in health?)."

Kevin Wilson, ND

6. Kevin Wilson, ND: "This is as far from integrated as possible"

I sent notice of the Special Report to Kevin Wilson, ND, a long-time leader of the naturopathic medical profession in Oregon, and asked him to comment. Wilson has served in various capacities including president of the Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physicians and chair of the state's naturopathic licensing board. He maintains a busy practice of 30 years in Beaverton, Oregon.

"Well, this is an interesting development in that it oddly plays right into the AMA's strategy of impeding the licensing o,f and any increases in scope of practice of, alternative practitioners. If you can't beat them, you steal their thunder.

"Andrew Weil has marketed himself very well. Claiming to be integrative and alternative, Weil, as many MD's, simply started practicing similarly to a naturopathic physician without any discernible paper trail that I have ever seen. If he had been in another state or another era, he, like many medical doctors, might have been disciplined by his licensing board for practicing quackery for unapproved therapies. For years, naturopathic doctors were ridiculed and impeded from practicing because they were doing the very modalities of which Dr. Weil now claims to be expert. Naturopathic physicians and other like-minded doctors fought for the incorporation and implementation of clinical nutrition and botanical medicine into general medical practice for decades before Dr. Weil saw the light, so to speak.

	"Naturopathic physicians and other like-minded doctors fought for the incorporation and implementation of clinical nutrition and botanical medicine into general medical practice for decades before Dr. Weil saw the light, so to speak."

"Frankly, as a naturopathic physician, licensed for nearly 30 years, I find that the wholesale adoption of 'holistic' or integrative therapies by MD's, DO's or other non-naturopathic physicians offensive. Naturopathic medicine has been clearly defined and licensed in some states for more than 100 years. If you look at the principles that Dr. Weil MD espouses,they are ours and always have been.

"Furthermore, the list of board members of the American Board of Integrative Medicine is as far from integrated as is possible. It is all MD's coming from their MD schools doing MD things, unless they are really practicing naturopathic medicine without a license.

"Many MD's, some of whom I admire tremendously, have acknowledged the historical validity and unique qualities of a real and rigorous naturopathic education. They have chosen to do the right thing and to go to an accredited naturopathic medical school and get a naturopathic degree. These may be the truly integrative practitioners, at least as far as our medicolegal system has evolved.

"It has always been odd to me that Dr. Weil refuses to use the term naturopathic medicine. This is especially odd in that he comes from a state with such a vibrant naturopathic profession. Other doctors who espouse our medicine, such as Dr. Oz, give us credit for adding a different, cogent and effective paradigm to the practice of medicine in the US. If Dr. Weil wants to be truly integrative, rather than usurping the ideas of those who came before him, he would embrace naturopathic medicine and include us in his board and simply go to a naturopathic medical school."

Patrick Massey, MD, PhD

7.  Patrick Massey, MD, PhD: "Certification is long-overdue"

Elk Grove Village, Illinois-based Patrick Massey, MD, PhD is the medical director for complementary and alternative  medicine for the Alexian Brothers Hospital Network. He also serves as president of the ALT-MED Medical and Physical Therapy Program.

"Certification is a topic that is long overdue.

"Integrative medicine is a complex area of medicine that incorporates many aspects of traditional and nontraditional medicine: formal education is important. Considering how many people are blending medicine on their own, it is important for them to have qualified physicians to make sure they are not doing anything dangerous.

"It cannot be done by primary care physicians. They are barely able to keep abreast of the recommendations for diabetes, HTN and CAD. Integrative medicine is not remotely in their sphere of expertise, nor the expertise of PAs and NPs, unless specifically trained in integrative medicine."

Richard Cooper, MD

8. Richard "Buz" Cooper, MD: "One more example of Weil's entrepreneurial reach"

Richard "Buz" Cooper, MD is known as a workforce policy leader. In 1996, Cooper was among the first conventional academic to publish a view that licensed chiropractors, naturopathic physicians and acupuncturists should be included in the nation's workforce planning. (See his Health Affairs article here.) Cooper is a former medical school dean with the University of Wisconsin who also taught medicine and policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

"This is just one more of example of Weil's entrepreneurial reach. It will enhance his 1,000 hour costly and profitable training program. He is pursuing it through a rump group, the American Board of PHYSICIAN Specialties [ABPS], which "certifies" a few marginal specialties (e.g., urgent care), rather than through the American Board of MEDICAL Specialties [ABMS], the recognized authority, which certifies legitimate specialties and which apparently has turned down the idea of certifying Weil's Integrative Medicine. Tainting the emerging discipline of Integrative Medicine with 'Weil's Entrepreneurism' will push it in the wrong direction and be a disservice to generations of patients."

Comment: Cooper and others personalize their commentary around the persona of University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine (ACIM) founder Andrew Weil, MD. This is not appropriate. There are now 800 graduates of the University of Arizona fellowship. In ACIM executive director Maizes' reasonable telling, many of these were calling for this direction long before ACIM engaged it. Personalizing this as a move by Weil diminishes it. This is a classic step of an emerging discipline.

Cooper's focus on how "lucrative" this is also strikes me as off target. Weil does not financially benefit from the Center. In fact, he donates roughly a quarter of a million a year to the program. He is investing in something that may swell the historic importance of his work. Big egos are often associated with good things. Who isn't seeking to have more rather than less positive impact?

Bill Reddy, LAc, DiplAc

9.  Bill Reddy, LAc: "Patients will benefit"

"Integrative medicine is a complex, multi-dimensional issue. I firmly agree that using the title without any formal certification can mislead the average patient entering an 'integrative' practice. A conscientious MD could possibly read a myriad of books, take seminars on homeopathic medications and essential oil therapy, be well-versed in Cranio-Sacral Therapy, Zero Balancing, BodyTalk, EFT, TAT, etc. with no 'formal' certification and be a tremendous help to his or her patients.

"In the field of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AOM), three specialties have emerged in the past two decades:  Facial Rejuvenation, Orthopedics and Infertility/Reproduction.  Are these 'certifications' backed by the National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), our profession's certifying body? No. They are marketed by self-proclaimed experts in that field of study. I'm not suggesting that the practitioners teaching these specializations do not have rigorous standards or are not respected in the field of AOM. They're just not working through our profession's certifying agency. 

	Having a specialty of IM supported by one or more of the Physician boards  is a good start - a foot in the door so to speak to get the ball rolling ...

"In a recent discussion with Dr. Kory Ward-Cook, Chief Executive Officer of the NCCAOM, regarding her interpretation of the type of credential offered by the National Board of Acupuncture Orthopedics (NBAO) and the American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine (ABORM) and she stated: 'These qualifications are different than a nationally accredited certification program. I can tell you that based on the National Commission on Certifying Agencies (NCCA) and the American National Institute Standards (ANSI) national standards for accredited of certification programs these two credentials would not meet the standards for an accredited  professional certification. They are more closely aligned with assessment-based certificate programs (NBAO) or qualification programs (ABORM). Actually, both NCCA and ANSI offer separate accreditation for assessment-based certificate programs that have different standards than those for accreditation of certification programs" noted Dr. Ward-Cook.

"Obviously the MDs are also going through some growing pains of their own. They actually have three organizations involved with physician Board Certification:  The American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS), the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), and the American Osteopathic Association's Bureau of Specialists (AOABOS), each with their own standards and requirements. 

"Integrative medicine is the model of the future of healthcare in America. I strongly agree with Dr.'s Weil and Maize's conceptual framework that IM should be taught in medical schools and adopted by every practicing physician. Having a specialty of IM supported by one or more of the Physician boards is a good start - a foot in the door so to speak to get the ball rolling, and to limit the doctors who attended a weekend course in foot reflexology from marketing themselves as integrative medicine practitioners. 

"In discussing the integrated medicine specialty certification that is being created through the efforts of one of the three national physician organizations, Dr. Ward-Cook stated that 'it appears that the physician groups developing the proposed IM certification are planning for this credential to be another recognized national board specialty certification that is supported by standards agreed upon by at least one of the recognized physician national organizations. If their IM specialty certification is set up like the other national medical specialty certifications, it will most likely meet the standards of NCCA accreditation.'

"The bottom line is that patients will benefit from this change in paradigm in healthcare delivery and the sooner it happens, the better. The question for the complementary and alternative healthcare organizations and practitioners would be "Is there a need for the development of an integrated medicine credential for CAM practitioners?" noted Ward-Cook.

Jim Winterstein, DC

10. James Winterstein, DC: "Deep down, I fear it is more of the same ..."

"Thanks for this most recent information. At this point, I don't know anything about what the educational process will be for those who choose to become certified by the American Board of Integrative Medicine. The intention is for a 1,000 hour fellowship. But in what? Is this going to be a fellowship in which allopaths teach allopaths about subjects in which they are not expert? Will this lead to another subset of patient care that somehow fails to consider the whole patient, or will this 'specialist' be a person who actually practices 'conservative primary care?' Will these specialists actually care for patients personally as chiropractic and naturopathic physicians do today, or as acupuncturists and Oriental medicine practitioners do? Or will the intent be for these allopathic specialists to 'oversee' the work of those who are currently engaged in alternative medicine? For me, at least, the picture remains pretty cloudy."

"[This is] an interesting move on their part. Down deep, I fear it is more of the same - dominance at all costs - in a circumstance over which they have had little control (the interest by the public in alternative medicine). Now, they form a specialty and take it [over]. I hate to say it, but I think that is a likely probability. We have already seen them work toward usurping our 'tools.' I don't like the sound of this, John."

"The Center defines integrative medicine (IM) as healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative."

"Integrative Medicine is the practice of medicine that reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing." (bold added)

Actuary Heather McLeod

11. Actuary Heather McLeod: Resonances with German issues with naturopaths a century ago

"(This is a) paper on the early history of Naturopathy and licensing in Germany. I found it fascinating and have a sense to send it to you. It resonates with the issues you raise in "Strategic Shift: Weil's Arizona Center Leads Push for MD Board Certification in Integrative Medicine".

Steve Marini, MS, PhD, DC

12.  Stephen Marini, MS, PhD, DC: "The concept of an integrative medical specialty is inherently contradictory"

Stephen C. Marini, PhD, DC received an MS in microbiology and immunology in 1976 from

"The concept of a medical specialty in integrative medicine is inherently contradictory. The paradigm of conventional medicine is reductionistic, hierarchical, & mutually exclusive to other paradigms of health and healing. So to ponder the concept of such a medical doctor would require drastic changes on a medical, anthropologic, sociologic, political levels etc.....

"What is needed within a complementary system is a new species of health care provider that can appropriately triage a patient with regard to Era 1, Era 2 & Era 3 health care components."

• Era I Medicine: Allopathic Therapies. Paradigm: CHEMISTRY - STRUCTURE - FUNCTION
• ERA II Medicine: Holistic/Holoenergetic Therapies. Paradigm:  ENERGY - CHEMISTRY - STRUCTURE - FUNCTION
• ERA III Medicine: Intercessory Therapies. Paradigm: UNIFIED - ENERGY - CHEMISTRY - STRUCTURE - FUNCTION FIELDS

Chris Foley, MD

13. Chris Foley, MD: "I think this is a mistake"

Chris Foley, MD is an integrative and functional medicine doctor who developed one of the earliest health system based integrative medicine programs in the mid-1990s. He presently practices out of his clinic Minnesota Natural Medicine. He was last seen in the Integrator in this July 2011 Readers Forum.

"So they will be competing with the (Institute for Functional Medicine) Inst Fcnl Med which has just established boards. I think this is a mistake. (This will be): 'I am more integrative than you are because I went to Andy Weil's fellowship program.' It would be better to establish integrative arms across the medical sub specialties so we have more integrative orthos, cardiologists, neurologists, etc."

Andy Rubman, ND

14. Andrew Rubman, ND: "Horizontally-integrated system needed"

Andrew Rubman, ND has practiced naturopathic medicine in Connecticut for three decades. He also teaches at the University of Bridgeport and has served as an adviser to the National Institutes of Health. He is a contributing editor for Bottom Line's Daily Health News.

"The new Board Certification is welcomed news. While encouraging MD/DO and DDS aspirants to establish a uniform higher standard of practice for those claiming this area of practice, I strongly encourage a statement regarding recognition of naturopathic physicians and their place within the emerging paradigm.

"It is important to look forward towards a horizontally integrated delivery system that includes all licensed providers, works towards full scopes of practice for all licensed physicians, and encourages providers to practice as formal education and clinical experience dictates. If we are to transition from disease management to healthcare, all emerging efforts need to be clear and transparent in adopting language and practice which fosters an inclusive position. The time is certainly right for all involved entities to embrace these goals if we are to indeed to reform our systems in the US."

• Scienceblogs.com A board certification woo is born
• Sciencebasedmedicine.org Andrew Weil and "integrative medicine": The ultimate triumph of quackery
  

Quoting the Integrator: "This strategic decision by ACIM has many dimensions. There are clear public health implications. The ACIM-ABIHM alliance represents a significant new alignment. Grassroots access to the 'integrative medical doctor' title or at least board certification may disappear. There are guild dimensions here, ground claiming, and not just for IM doctors. Many naturopathic doctors and acupuncturists and chiropractors use the term. The brand 'integrative medicine' may become even more closely associated with, and effectively owned by, medical doctors. New clarities will emerge, new boundaries will be drawn, new possibilities empowered."

David Gorski, MD in Science-Based Medicine: "Indeed. I rather suspect that this is a blatant effort of the "MD wing" of the alternative medicine world to claim the specialty for itself and push out all the "riff raff," like naturopaths, homeopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and the like by preventing them from using the term 'integrative medicine' to describe what they do. One potential result, if Weil and his merry band of woo-meisters are successful, is to marginalize non-MD practitioners, which might not be a bad thing from the point of view of science-based medicine. What would be a bad thing is that it would simultaneously allow MDs like Weil to lay claim to the woo inherent in IM in order to give it the patina of legitimacy that, despite 20 years of the best efforts of doctors like Weil, IM or CAM or whatever the pseudorespectable nom du jour is still doesn't have and doesn't deserve because much of it consists either of Trojan horses or pseudoscience."

Nancy Gahles, DC, CCH, RSHom

17.  Nancy Gahles, DC, CCH, RSHom: "This is co-opting integrative healthcare"

New Jersey-based clinician and homepathy leader Nancy Gahles, DC, CCH, RSHom has been the modern leader in pushing the field of homeopathy into the nation's health policy dialogue. Gahles is president of the National Center for Homeopathy. She is on the board of the

"Knee deep in integrative healthcare policy stuff et al. That brings me to my comment on the Board Specialty for Integrative MEDICAL DOCTORS.  What will happen to integrative HEALTHCARE?

"The stakeholders at the IOM summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public clearly called for language change away from MEDICINE toward creating a culture of prevention and wellness. Sen. Harkin even said that he would change the name of NCCAM to National Center for Complementary and Alternative HEALTHCARE to reflect the desires of the community and the new direction.

"Integrative care is inclusive of practitioners other than medical doctors. The non-discrimination amendment in the [Affordable Care Act] defines the new national HEALTHCARE workforce to include 'licensed CAM providers and INTEGRATIVE HEALTHCARE practitioners.' So, the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium is planning Congressional briefings, for the first of which I am working with others to write the template, to define who these players are in the workforce, etc. Clearly, our aim is to define the breadth of the practice and the breadth of providers. How confusing can we make this for them? 'Oh, yes, and now there will also be Board Certified Integrative Medical Doctors.' You KNOW [the MDs] will get the juice because they are the REAL doctors. The ones you can trust. What do they even study to make them 'integrative'? Homeopathy? NO. Functional medicine...betcha! Little nutraceutical is now the new Big Pharma. Please tell me I am dead off base here, please!

"My comment is that this looks like a duck, walks like a duck and acts like a duck: co-opting integrative healthcare, calling it integrative MEDICINE and creating a Board Specialty will identify integrative healthcare with medical doctors and they will own it, be reimbursed for it and thereby drive consumers to use them only as they will get insurance for it.

"As it stands now, I recently returned from Sen. Hatch's office discussing his amendment to the [Health Savings Act] bill. I will send you a copy of that. Basically, it calls nutritional supplements MEDICAL care and restricts payment for nutritional supplements, herbs, homeopathic remedies etc to be paid for only by primary care physicians, nurse practitioners and physicians assistants. Oh, yes and you have to go to your primary care doc, pay your co-pay, pay the AMA their fee for the CPT code, to get a prescription if you want to deduct your homeopathic remedy or herbs or any over the counter drug from your HSA.

"Can you say MONOPOLY???? No, Virginia, I'm afraid there is no Santa Claus. All blessings for change you can believe in...one day."

"So, at the IOM Summit, the stakeholders were loud and clear on the fact that our current system of medicine is broken. They called for an integrative system that reflected the person at the center and the individualizing of case taking. They asked for the ability to work with other disciplines outside of conventional medicine and to share records electronically. Sen. Harkin spoke about his support for integrative healthcare and the need to move from a disease-oriented system to one of prevention and wellness. One woman came to the microphone and suggested that we change the wording of integrative medicine to integrative healthcare to more clearly define the inclusive nature and to move past "medicine" as the only form of treatment. Sen. Harkin agreed heartily and said that he would change the name of NCCAM to National Center for Complementary and Alternative HEALTHCARE."

"Yes. I saw it. Likely MD centric since they are all MDs.

"Whence cometh patient-centered care?

"Sigh."

"Just what we need - another medical specialty that justifies a higher cost for its services plus another way to 'medically' own the concept of 'integrative.' Don't get me wrong, I understand their motivations and I'm all for standards, but there will be unintended consequences. Will it get to the point that an integrative medicine specialist only takes patients on referral from a primary care provider? Would that sound like an advance in health care?

"Sorry, but I'm in a cynical kind of mood today."

"Nice job John, well done."

Comment: That reassurance would be good through not merely words but some form of action of inclusion. Otherwise I fear the words will sound like the adolescent drama: Trust me, I am not like all the others.

"WOW!!!"