Institute of Medicine’s Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public Summary

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, but rather the ones most responsive to change.” ~Darwin

“Integrative Health” (in theory):

• Puts “the person” (patient) at the center of healthcare
• Strives to address the health of the world and the planet, in addition to the health of the individual
• Focuses on a shift from “medicine” to “health and prevention”
• Encourages people to participate in their own health and wellbeing
• Recognizes the importance of supporting the integration of:
  • thought
  • belief
  • meaning
  • purpose
  in life.
• Addresses life style issues… we need to change our values
• Starts with less invasive procedures and moves progressively, as needed, to more invasive
• Sees the importance of not educating people in “silos”…  if we educate in “silos”, people will practice in “silos”
• Recognizes the importance of connectedness and recognizing our own beauty
• Stresses the importance and relevance of the present moment: our doorway to learn, grow, and change
• Can we live each moment as if our life really mattered?
• Challenges us to discover what is already there:
  • vitality
  • clear seeing/wisdom
  • growing/learning
• Shifts our focus from the “I” generation to the “We” generation… emphasizes collaboration
• Builds community – many of us are currently out of balance spiritually, mentally, and emotionally
• “People are unhappy when they focus on themselves.”
• Espouses universal availability of healthcare
• Stresses the importance of self-care
• Co-ordinates care across spectrum of providers and institutions
• Is open to multiple modalities of care
• Recognizes that treating the physical body and calling it “medicine”, without looking at mind, emotion, and environment, is a misnomer
• Leverages the Internet which ignores geography
• Wishes to emancipate… empower… engage
• Sees our current ($2.4 trillion) healthcare industry and recognizes it fails in its uncoordinated, disease/event orientation.  There is a “find it and fix it” mentality that is:
  • reactive
  • has little patient engagement
  • not personalized, standardized, or unsafe
  • expensive
• Understands our health is fundamental… it is a personal resource that:
  • can be enhanced
  • is more than “no disease”
• Endeavors to share responsibility between the:
  • individual
  • health care
  • supporting systems
• Sees “good health” as our most valuable resource… what planning have you done to improve and preserve your health?  We do retirement planning, why not health planning? A focus on health planning:
  • enhances health & well-being
  • minimizes risk for chronic disease
  • detects and intervenes early and coherently
• Gets people involved in own health care and thinking strategically… to that end supports the development of health assessments and personal health plans
• Emphasizes COMPASSIONATE MEDICINE
• Requires openness to information from other sources
• Sees Mind/Body/Spirit at the heart of healthcare
• Uses Integrative Healthcare to lower near-term per capita spending
• Is a system where people feel like they (really, really) matter to their primary care provider
• Assesses psychological, social, and environmental factors
• Asks: “And what else is bothering you?”  Then listens…
• Supports behavior change… understands what individuals lives are about:
  • what is a person’s meaning in life?
  • what is their passion?
  • behavior change is driven by meaning, purpose, and passion
• Recognizes “heath” should be fun… people want to feel “bouncy”

Action Steps:

• Pass legislation for health reform - shift from treatment of disease to the promotion of health
• Treat loneliness, “worklessness”, and abuse, as well as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, etc.
• Incentivize people, and organizations, to keep people well rather than practice “patch-y, fix-y, mend-y” medicine
• Need for training and education
• Stimulate inter-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration
• Educate everyone on “What is wellness?” and “What is health?”
• Educate individuals (particularly those in the healthcare professions) in self-care and in integrating balance in life
• Provide “resiliency training”
• exercise and nutrition
• mindfulness is central
• We have lots of “evidence”… we need consensus on how much evidence is “enough”
• Reimbursement system needs to shift from “piece work” (fee for service) to “outcome-based”.  Who defines outcomes?
• Resist the temptation to “point fingers” and assign blame… we want to honor all perspectives
• Can we/should we use CME (or other continuing education) to require healthcare professionals to understand “Integrative Medicine” or “Integrative Health”
• Look at ROI: one company found the healthiest employees offered the best customer service and were the source of the greatest revenue growth

Closing – challenge to ask ourselves:

• What can I do?
• What was the most important thing I learned over the past few days (at the conference)?  What did I get out of the conference?
• We recognize the generosity of spirit “in this room” (conference participants).  How do we harness this energy in a productive way?

Do you have something to add?  Please send your additions to info@emindful.com.  Please be respectful and endeavor to build on the above in a positive way.  Thank you!!

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