Integration of complementary and alternative medicine therapies (CAM) with conventional medicine is occurring in hospitals and physicians offices, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are covering CAM therapies, insurance coverage for CAM is increasing, and integrative medicine centers and clinics are being established, many with close ties to medical schools and teaching hospitals. In determining what care to provide, the goal should be comprehensive care that uses the best scientific evidence available regarding benefits and harm, encourages a focus on healing, recognizes the importance of compassion and caring, emphasizes the centrality of relationship-based care, encourages patients to share in decision making about therapeutic options, and promotes choices in care that can include complementary therapies where appropriate. Numerous approaches to delivering integrative medicine have evolved. Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States identifies an urgent need for health systems research that focuses on identifying the elements of these models, the outcomes of care delivered in these models, and whether these models are cost-effective when compared to conventional practice settings. It outlines areas of research in convention and CAM therapies, ways of integrating these therapies, development of curriculum that provides further education to health professionals, and an amendment of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act to improve quality, accurate labeling, research into use of supplements, incentives for privately funded research into their efficacy, and consumer protection against all potential hazards.

Finding the right criteria to use when judging Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is essential if it is to stand up to criticism from those concerned about the importance of evidence-based medicine. This edited volume highlights how CAM requires different research tools and techniques from conventional medicine, and examines effective methodologies for accurately assessing CAM. Addressing a problem which is often cited as the reason for a failure to appreciate the potential in CAM approaches to patient care, experts from a wide array of CAM modalities suggest the most effective research methodology for each particular therapy and illustrate how a lack of adherence to that methodology produces a less effective assessment. Disciplines covered include Traditional Chinese Medicine, homeopathy, herbal medicine, craniosacral therapy, qigong and yoga. Providing direction in research and the best criteria to appropriately assess each discipline, this book highlights and responds to the issues underlying research in CAM. It will be of interest to anyone involved in CAM research, in addition to CAM practitioners and students, western medical practitioners looking to include CAM in their treatments, and anyone studying research design and methodology.

Based on careful analysis of burden of disease and the costs ofinterventions, this second edition of 'Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd edition' highlights achievable priorities; measures progresstoward providing efficient, equitable care; promotes cost-effectiveinterventions to targeted populations; and encourages integrated effortsto optimize health. Nearly 500 experts - scientists, epidemiologists, health economists,academicians, and public health practitioners - from around the worldcontributed to the data sources and methodologies, and identifiedchallenges and priorities, resulting in this integrated, comprehensivereference volume on the state of health in developing countries.

Explores the legal issues that health care providers, institutions, and regulators confront as they contemplate integrating complementary and alternative medicine into mainstream U.S. health care. A third of all Americans use complementary and alternative medicine—including chiropractic, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, nutritional and herbal treatments, and massage therapy—even when their insurance does not cover it and they have to pay for such treatments themselves. Nearly a third of U.S. medical schools offer courses on complementary and alternative therapies. Congress has created an Office of Alternative Medicine within the National Institutes of Health, and federal and state lawmakers have introduced legislation authorizing widespread use of such therapies. These institutional and legislative developments, argues Michael H. Cohen, express a paradigm shift to a broader, more inclusive vision of health care than conventional medicine admits. Cohen explores the legal issues that health care providers (both conventional and alternative), institutions, and regulators confront as they contemplate integrating complementary and alternative medicine into mainstream U.S. health care. Challenging traditional ways of thinking about health, disease, and the role of law in regulating health, Cohen begins by defining complementary and alternative medicine and then places the regulation of orthodox and alternative health care in historical context. He next examines the legal ramifications of complementary and alternative medicine, including state medical licensing laws, legislative limitations on authorized practice, malpractice liability, food and drug laws, professional disciplinary issues, and third-party reimbursement. The final chapter provides a framework for thinking about the possible evolution of the regulatory structure. This book is the first to set forth the emerging moral and legal authority on which the safe and effective practice of alternative health care can rest. It further suggests how regulatory structures might develop to support a comprehensive, holistic, and balanced approach to health, one that permits integration of orthodox medicine with complementary and alternative medicine, while continuing to protect patients from fraudulent and dangerous treatments.

This volume is the proceedings of an international symposium that examined the newest parameters in alternative and complementary medicine, thus covering a rapidly growing field of medicine that has strong advocates as well as strong opponents. Topics include both basic research and clinical applications, allowing the text to present high quality, peer reviewed, chapter style contributions that dispel some of the pseudoscience and myth surrounding alternative and complimentary medicine.

This comprehensive textbook provides a detailed, practical and thorough basis for the understanding and application of the homeopathic process. Drawing on the experience and knowledge of a wealth of contributors, the book offers the foundations for the safe and broadest practice of modern homeopathy. Divided into 6 sections, this book takes the understanding of homeopathy from basic principles to the treatment of acute and chronic illnesses, the first prescription, and difficult, confused and hidden cases. Each section progresses through five themes broadly divided into philosophy, material medica, case taking, case analyses and case management. Each theme is woven together through the text and, section by section, builds into an essential study guide for the homeopathic student. It provides opportunities for reflection, and invites all practitioners to engage in their own personal and professional development.