The conept of Integrative Medicine is to treat the patient as a whole. Thus, Integrative Medicine would be a measure of "Wholistic Medicine". Many of the problems in our current care model is the fact that allopathic physicians are forced to see more patients in the same amount of time; this then has had the effect of shortening patient appointment time. this care model, causes frustration for both the physician and the patients.
The plan with Integrative Medicine is to spend more time with patients. New patient appointments usually last 90 minutes. This gives the provider time to obtain an intense history with the patient including alternative therapies, spirituality, and relationship issues. Within the confines of this visit, the physician will perform an exam and then make recommendations for therapies based on many different modalities. If a woman, for instance, comes into the clinic , with complaints of menopausal symptoms, the physcian may recommend everything from no treatment, to synthetic or bioidentical hormones, to accupuncture, or meditative practices. The patient would receive a gameplan with different recommendations and modalities. The overall goal is to empower the paitent with the choice to try many different paths.
Problems with this model is that insurance companies will no reimburse providers or their patients for face to face contact with the physician. Becuase of this issue many IM providers are fee for service. This does indeed limit those individuals that can pay for this service and excludes a majority of the American population.
The purpose of this blog is to answer IM questions with regards to healthcare. It should be understood that none of the recommendations on this website are to be taken as medical care and we always recommend that you see a physician in your area prior to posting.
Please let us know if you have any questions regarding women's healthcare and IM or alternative medicine questions. We will always try to respond with recent research and studies that are being performed.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Great blog! I think that integrative medicine will become more and more common place and that more insurance companies will be willing to reimburse for alternative care. In fact some do right now, I did have an alternative plan with Aetna at one point and I was able to get acupuncture with a co-pay. I think they are the exception though.
I for one am willing to pay out of pocket to see a doctor that will consider all options for me and not just ones that are "reimbursable" I've paid for acupuncture and chiropractic procedures and also recently to see a naturopath for phyiscal problems that my traditional doctor would only treat with invasive methods. I think as time goes on that people will be willing to pay for the treatment that will best serve them in the most humane way. In the end its about the doctor/patient relationship. But its up to doctors like you and your wife to bring about change from the medical side. kudos to you both!
Thanks Cat,
This blog is a work in progress for me since this is a new arena.
Post a Comment