The National Summit on Integrative Medicine
THE INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE PARTNERS WITH THE BRAVEWELL COLLABORATIVE TO EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL FOR INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE TO IMPROVE AMERICAN HEALTH CARE
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and The Bravewell Collaborative have partnered to convene a summit that will explore the science and practice of integrative medicine — health care that addresses together the mental, emotional, and physical aspects of the healing process — for improving the breadth and depth of patient-centered care and promoting the nation's health. With sponsorship from The Bravewell Collaborative, IOM will host a National Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Public Health, to be held in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 25-27, 2009.
The summit will examine ways integrative medicine seeks to address the personal and community environments that shape and empower patients’ knowledge, skills, and support to be active participants in their own care. Traditionally, health care has focused largely on healing physical ailments without as much attention to the emotional challenges that can accompany an illness or the life challenges that can hinder patients' abilities to take care of themselves. IOM recently focused on this issue in a report, Cancer Care for the Whole Patient: Meeting Psychosocial Health Needs, which proposed a new standard of care under which all oncology providers would screen cancer patients for stress, depression, and other mental and social problems and connect them with services and resources to tackle these issues. The summit on integrative medicine will also focus on how to spur changes that would lead people to maintain wellness and avoid disease.
Key senior representatives from stakeholder groups such as researchers, clinicians, patients, patient advisory groups, corporations, and public and private insurers will participate in the summit. Participants will identify and explore priorities, challenges, and barriers for integrative medicine, and will focus on models of care and clinical programs that work. The summit will cover integrative medicine research methods and ways to measure the interaction of multiple therapies.
For more information about the National Summit, please visit the project Web site: www.iom.edu/integrativemedicine/.
Click here to watch the Charlie Rose Show interview featuring Christy Mack (President, The Bravewell Collaborative), Harvey Fineberg, MD (President, Institute of Medicine at the National Academies) and Ralph Synderman, MD (Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University).
About the IOM
Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies.