The Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health held its 2019 annual meeting in Edmonton, Canada, in April 2019. Highlights from the meeting included the following:
Plenary presentations: These included topics ranging from a talk on Alberta’s Provincial Health Systems focus on patient-centered care, a discussion on the history of integrative health and a presentation on the current state and future of integrative medicine. Some sessions were recorded and will be available in the members only section of the ACIMH website: imconsortium.org.
Special topics lunches and round tables gave participants the opportunity to gather around areas of interest and were a great networking feature.
Working group (education, policy, research, and clinical) meetings. Members can find out more about getting involved in a Working Group by visiting imconsortium.org, clicking on the “About” drop-down menu for the Working Groups of interest and contacting the respective working group chairs.
The meeting highlighted some important opportunities in the field to extend coverage of and access to integrative treatments for pain, including acupuncture, massage, yoga, tai chi, and mindfulness-based stress reduction. During the meeting, a bill was passed in the North Carolina legislature (the governor still has an opportunity to veto it), calling for access to non-pharmacologic treatments for pain. You can read the legislation by clicking this link: NC Senate Bill 544. The Consortium Policy Working Group is looking closely at this legislation and how the most important elements might be extended to other states.
The meeting also highlighted opportunities to expand financially viable models for integrative care using group-based visit models.