Not exactly on topic but I must pass this
on.
paul
tradingpost@lobo.net~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"the
definition of the health care workforce was amended so that it now
officially includes, "licensed complementary and alternative medicine
providers and integrative health care
practitioners."
Health Reform 2.0: Help With the Work We
Have to Do Next!
March 26, 2010 09:20 AM Mark Hyman,
MD
Practicing physician and pioneer in functional medicine
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/health-reform-20-help-wit_b_513751.htmlThe
health care reform bill has passed and many people will be celebrating
that, finally, the United States will work to assure every citizen
health insurance that cannot be canceled because you change your job,
because you get sick, or for any other reason.
Remember this is
just a start to the transformation of health care. While all of the
things I worked for with my colleagues, Drs. Dean Ornish and Michael
Roizen, on Capitol Hill the last year did not make it into the final
bill, a few important things did and we can build on that. In fact, in
my last meeting with Senator Harkin in December, he assured me that
the passage of this bill would be just the beginning of reform and
that after it passed we could move on to health care reform 2.0 that
addresses more of the underlying issues about not only who is covered
but what
is covered.
Those of us who believe in preventive
health care, integrated health care, functional medicine, and
complementary and alternative medicine have special reasons to
celebrate. This bill has provisions that explicitly support these
approaches to health care. One of these is the creation of a National
Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council, which I
testified about before the Senate last February.
Today I want
to introduce you to your new best friend, a friend who has been
working on your behalf for years without your knowing it, a friend who
had a huge role in seeing to it that this health care reform bill
addresses preventive and integrative care.
The Integrated
Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) was created in 2002 and has been
quietly working on Capitol Hill to bring about the kinds of changes in
health care that we all want. Last month, I was in New York presenting
at the Integrative Healthcare Symposium and I was on a panel with
IHPC's executive director, Dr. Janet Kahn. When I heard her describe
what IHPC has been doing about health care reform and the things that
are lying quietly in this bill, I got very excited about their work
and what is to come in 2010.
Dr. Kahn explained 3 major aspects
of this bill that IHPC helped shape:
1. Due to Kahn's work with
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the definition of the health care
workforce was amended so that it now officially includes, "licensed
complementary and alternative medicine providers and integrative
health care practitioners."
2. IHPC was a collaborator on the
creation of the Wellness Initiative for the Nation (WIN), a document
that prompted the inclusion of the National Prevention, Health
Promotion and Public Health Council that I mentioned above. Truly
remarkable.
3. And third, IHPC worked hard to have the Council
on Comparative Effectiveness Research in the bill. This will allow
functional medicine approaches to be evaluated toe to toe with
conventional medicine.
I often say that I practice functional
medicine because it tackles and fixes the underlying causes of health
problems and doesn't paper over the symptoms as so much of
conventional medicine does. That is exactly IHPC's approach to health
care reform. IHPC is about reforming the very architecture of American
health care.
I encourage you to join the IHPC Online Action
Network as I have done. Help move this work forward. By joining the
Network you will receive updates and insider information about how
IHPC is continuing this commitment to true health care reform; you
will receive opportunities to communicate directly with Congress and
the Obama administration; and you will be able to provide critical
feedback on strategy, priorities, and the direction of this work. And
most importantly, IHPC will be working every day on behalf of you, me,
and all of us who believe in functional medicine, preventive medicine,
and integrated health care.
Take action now and join the
Network.
_______________________________________________
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