Volume 5, Issue 3 , Pages 139-141, May 2009
IOM Summit Provides Models for Health Reform
Article Outline
Before one of the largest and most diverse audiences ever assembled at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public held February 25-27, 2009, brought forth emerging strategies for addressing some of the major problems inherent in our current healthcare system.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held two hearings—one on February 23 and the other on February 26, 2009—entitled, Principles of Integrative Health: A Path to Health Care Reform. The hearings were presided over by U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D, Md), a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and chairwoman of its Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging.
“My goal is for health reform to focus on improving quality of care so that people are healthier, diseases are prevented, and chronic care conditions are appropriately managed,” said Senator Mikulski, who was tapped by HELP Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D, Mass) to lead the Senate work group on improving healthcare quality as part of a comprehensive effort to strengthen America's healthcare system. “Integrative healthcare is a key component of improving health quality.”
The hearings examined the principles of integrative healthcare and discussed how best to include these principles into the design of healthcare reform proposals. The following people delivered testimony on February 23:
The hearing on February 26, 2009, was presided over by U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D, Md) and U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D, Iowa), and was also briefly attended by U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R, Wyo). Testimony was delivered by the following people on February 26:
Senator Edward Kennedy opened the hearing by stating, “Genuine health reform requires a major transformation on our national mindset on how we care for ourselves and others. It must incorporate disease prevention activities and lifestyle changes that promote long-term health and well-being. We must also adopt a more integrated approach to medicine, through healthcare that addresses the mental, emotional, and physical aspects of the healing process in order to improve the depth, breadth, and patient choice in clinical practice.”
The Senate hearings may be viewed at http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_02_23/2009_02_23.html?zbrandid=4262&zidType=CH&zid=878325&zsubscriberId=1007297768 and http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_02_26/2009_02_26.html?zbrandid=4262&zidType=CH&zid=878324&zsubscriberId=1007297768.
As Congress and the Obama Administration tackle issues related to escalating healthcare costs and the rising incidence of chronic disease, distinguished scientists, leading clinicians, top policy experts, and industry leaders articulated principles and practices from integrative medicine that could form the basis for effective healthcare reform. According to William D. Novelli, CEO of the American Association of Retired Persons, (AARP), who spoke at the Summit, health reform done correctly with a focus on prevention will provide “the biggest return on investment this nation could ever have.”
Integrative medicine is an approach to healthcare that places the patient at the center of care, focuses on prevention and wellness, and attends to the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of the person. “What we have now is a ‘sick care' system that is reactive to problems,” said Ralph Snyderman, MD, chancellor emeritus, Duke University School of Medicine, and Summit Chair. “The integrative approach flips the system on its head and puts the patient at the center, addressing not just symptoms, but the real causes of illness. It is care that is preventive, predictive and personalized.”
Harvey Fineberg, MD, PhD, president of the Institute of Medicine, welcomed participants to the Summit on Integrative Medicine, stating that it was the largest and most diverse audience ever assembled by the IOM.
The Summit, which was sponsored by the Bravewell Collaborative, also highlighted recent research results and success from clinical practices settings across the country. The 600 plus participants at the Summit discussed how advancing technology is finally allowing health professionals to identify and understand the pathways by which many integrative medicine interventions, such as mind-body medicine and nutrition, actually work. “Genomics and advanced imaging technologies such as MRI are validating the mechanisms for integrative healthcare approaches that were difficult to prove before,” said Mimi Guarneri, MD, founder and medical director of Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine. Consequently, the new evidence is compelling.
Ralph Snyderman gave the Summit's opening keynote, calling for healthcare reform that put the patient at the center of care.
Addressing the Summit on the last day, Senator Harkin (D, Iowa) stated that it was time to make a large investment in prevention. “This (integrative medicine) is the model we need to build into healthcare reform,” he said.
The Summit articulated the following important factors to be considered in upcoming healthcare reform:
“If we fail to seize this unique opportunity to adopt a pragmatic, integrative approach to healthcare, it will constitute a failure and we must not fail,” said Senator Tom Harkin (D, Iowa) when he addressed the assembly. “It is my intention to change our health system and to place integrative healthcare at the heart of the reform legislation we will pass this year.”
During a break, EXPLORE executive editor Larry Dossey, MD, talks to Summit attendees Victor Sierpina, MD, Ralph Snyderman, MD, and Sheldon Lewis.
Calling attention to the fact that the healthcare issues facing the United States are actually global issues facing the world, representatives from the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health in the United Kingdom added their voice to the call for reform. A letter from the Prince of Wales to Summit participants, which was read by Ralph Snyderman, MD, on the first day, urged both nations to support the creation of a healthcare system that places a greater emphasis on treating humans as whole beings—mind, body and spirit—and on prevention, as well as the cure, of illness and disease.
The Summit's leadership believes that the integrated approach to healthcare could provide the basis for our nation's health reform. “We intend to broadly share ideas expressed at this Summit for transforming healthcare; our key audiences are the Obama Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services,” said Judy Salerno, MD, MS, executive director of the IOM.
“The Bravewell Collaborative looks forward to receiving the formal summary report of the IOM Summit and the Health of the Public on November 4, 2009,” said Bravewell executive director Diane Neimann. “There will be a major event in Washington, DC, to mark the release of the report.”
“Immediately following the Summit, we will begin work with our Summit coalition partners in consultation with the IOM on two major points of merging consensus,” said Christy Mack, Bravewell's president. “We endorse Bill Novelli and AARP's call for a national campaign for health and wellness and will explore the potential for a public/private partnership to make it happen. We will also encourage demonstration models that will test the efficacy of the philosophy and approach to healthcare addressed through this historic summit.”
For more information on the Summit, please visit http://www.iom.edu/integrativemedicine. Complete video recordings of all Summit presentations are available at http://www.imsummitwebcast.org.
Matters of Note is written and compiled by Bonnie J. Horrigan, editorial director for EXPLORE and author of Voices in Integrative Medicine: Conversations and Encounters (Elsevier 2003).
PII: S1550-8307(09)00046-9
doi:10.1016/j.explore.2009.03.001
© 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Volume 5, Issue 3 , Pages 139-141, May 2009
