IHPC policy seeks to clarify ongressional language

What is an "integrative health practitioner"? Is your discipline or field included? Is this another term for a person who practices "integrative medicine"? Does the phrase only include licensed practitioners? What about a nurse who works closely with medical doctors, physical therapists, psychologists, social workers and others in a community clinic? What about a homeopathy or a Yoga therapists? Are these "integrative health practitioners"? What makes a practitioner "integrative"?

The answers federal regulators and policy makers give to these questions may significantly influence consumer access to services, inclusion of disciplines in federal programs, the content of national plans related to prevention and health promotion, and more. The reason: members of the US Congress, in their wisdom, included these phrases in multiple places in the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. The lack of clarity on the meaning of these terms has already proved an issue in the draft National Prevention (and Health Promotion) Strategy.

On January 13, 2011, the multidisciplinary Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium took a critical step toward creating clarity. IHPC published

New Policy Statement to Aid Credentialing Of Integrative Health Practitioners  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 13, 2011

Contact: Janet Kahn, Executive Director, 802-658-8525, [email protected]




Burlington, VT - The Integrated Health Care Policy Consortium (IHPC), today issued a new Policy Statement on the National Healthcare Workforce in an Era of Integration. 

This policy statement responds, in part, to a broadened definition of the healthcare workforce that appears in the new Public Law 111-148, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

IHPC's Board Chair, Leonard Wisneski, MD (see bio below) stated: "IHPC applauds the use in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of a definition of the healthcare workforce that includes, as stated in Section 5101, "...licensed complementary and alternative medicine providers, integrative health practitioners..." (See full definition from the law below.)   

"Yet, we recognize, that while licensed complementary and alternative medicine providers can be readily identified as licensed acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, naturopathic physicians, and professional midwives, the term 'integrative health practitioners' has yet to be defined.

"While many health care providers might lay claim to that title," said Wisneski, "IHPC's board concluded that guidance on the meaning of the term would be helpful to policymakers, health administrators, insurers and others for whom the term and terrain may be new.  The definition is also the beginning point for clarification of standards, competencies, and best practices."

IHPC's newly adopted policy, "The National Healthcare Workforce in an Era of Integration," states:

Seeking a balance between strongly held values of patient access to health care therapies and professionals of their choice AND proper recourse if inappropriate or unethical care should occur, IHPC supports inclusion in the National Healthcare Workforce of:

1) All licensed conventional, complementary and alternative healthcare providers.

2) All state certified healthcare providers. 

3) All nationally certified healthcare providers when the certification agency is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE).

For healthcare professions that do not yet have state licensure/certification/registration or national certification, IHPC strongly encourages them to pursue state licensure/ certification/registration and/or national certification. 

Janet Kahn, PhD, IHPC's Executive Director emphasized that, "There are a number of sections of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that reference integrated healthcare, integrative practitioners and the like.  This may well be new terrain for people working in the many agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) who will be responsible for operationalizing the new law. IHPC and its Partners for Health stand ready to be helpful in this process.  Guidelines for credentialing the category of 'integrative health provider' are an essential beginning.  We are prepared to assist in other ways as the process unfolds."

* About IHPC:  The Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) is a broad coalition whose Partners for Health represent over 300,000 clinicians and healthcare educators committed to public policy that supports a health-oriented, integrated system, ensuring all people access to the full range of safe and regulated conventional, complementary, and alternative healthcare professionals.  Integrated Health Care describes a coordinated system in which healthcare professionals are educated about one another's work and collaborate with one another, and with their patients, to achieve optimal well-being for the patient including physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.  Visit www.ihpc.info to learn more.

**Dr. Wisneski, dually trained as an endocrinologist and an acupuncturist has practiced integrative medicine for over 25 years. He is author of the acclaimed book, "The Scientific Basis of Integrative Medicine," Clinical Professor of Medicine at George Washington University Medical Center and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University where he is a founding member of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Curriculum Planning Committee. Dr. Wiskneski holds fellowship positions in The American College of Physicians, The American College of Nutrition, and The American Institute of Stress.

About NCCA:  The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) was created in 1987 by ICE to help ensure the health, welfare, and safety of the public through the accreditation of a variety of certification programs/organizations that assess professional competence. Certification programs that receive NCCA accreditation demonstrate compliance with the NCCA's Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs, which were the first standards for professional certification programs developed by the industry.

Definition of the National Healthcare Workforce used in Section 5101 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: "The term ‘health care workforce' includes all health care providers with direct patient care and support responsibilities, such as physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, primary care providers, preventive medicine physicians, optometrists, ophthalmologists, physician assistants, pharmacists, dentists, dental hygienists, and other oral healthcare professionals, allied health professionals, doctors of chiropractic, community health workers, health care paraprofessionals, direct care workers, psychologists and other behavioral and mental health professionals (including substance abuse prevention and treatment providers), social workers, physical and occupational therapists, certified nurse midwives, podiatrists, the EMS workforce (including professional and volunteer ambulance personnel and firefighters who perform emergency medical services), licensed complementary and alternative medicine  providers, integrative health practitioners, public health professionals, and any other health professional that the Comptroller General of the United States determines appropriate. (Bold added.)