(updated 10/21/09)
Partners for Health
IHPC's Partners for
Health program is made up of non-profit educational and advocacy organizations
across the CAM / conventional spectrum, working together toward our shared
goals.
Current Partners for Health members include:
Welcome to the
The Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) is a broad coalition of healthcare professionals and organizations driving public policy to ensure all Americans access to safe, high quality, integrated health care.
The NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has begun to develop its next 5-year strategic plan. This will be the first issued under Josephine Briggs, MD, NCCAM’s director since early 2007. On September 10, 2009, past and present members of NCCAM’s advisory council participated in an initial Strategic Planning Workshop.
Janet Kahn, PhD, executive director of IHPC, and a massage researcher who is former member of the NCCAM advisory council, participated in the planning session and was interviewed for a column on Integrative Practitioner about the opportunities within a landmark process like this.
Read the article here (this is a .pdf file)
While the media and public have been absorbed in watching the Senate debate its health care reform bill, 47 members of the US House of Representatives joined forces in writing a letter to Speaker Pelosi. These bold members asked that Pelosi ensure the final health care reform bill protects patients’ right to choose their provider and ensures health care providers, like Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) providers, are not discriminated against by health insurance plans. This action is vitally important to all of us who care about patient access to complementary and integrative health services.
Read the letter here (this is a .pdf file)
Take action on this issue here
Our ability to create change and influence policymakers is only as robust as our network. IHPC has developed a dynamic tool to make it quick and easy for you to have an impact on policy that affects integrated health care.
Check out the current action here
Join the action network here
US Senator Bernie Sanders (Ind.-VT) and the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) have placed "licensed complementary and alternative medicine providers and integrative health practitioners" in the Kennedy-HELP bill's definition of health professionals. This is not the only mention of "complementary and alternative medicine," or "integrative care" or "integrative practitioners" in the bill however. The Samueli Institute's vice president Brian Thiel guides us to other mentions in the Kennedy-HELP draft legislation. These are in sections the establish a "wellness council" and on the medical home. Small steps, maybe; but signs of prospective integration into US healthcare policy.
Read the full article here
Disparity Reducing Advances Project holds series of Foresight Briefings on the Hill, calling policymakers' attention to this important issue. Click here to learn more.
IHPC and Samueli Institute Collaborate on Wellness Initiative for the Nation (WIN)