Welcome to the
The Integrative Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) is a broad coalition of healthcare professionals,
patients and organizations driving public policy to ensure all Americans access to safe, high quality,
integrated health care - and to the building blocks of health, including whole foods, and clean air and water.
IHPC was initiated at the request of legislators who support integrated health care and need an organization
that represents the consensus voice of the integrated healthcare communities. IHPC is that trusted voice on The Hill.
Mission
The mission of the IHPC is to direct the national healthcare agenda toward a health-oriented, integrated system, ensuring all people access to the full range of safe and regulated conventional, complementary, and alternative healthcare professionals, therapies and products, and to the building blocks of health, including clean air and water as well as a healthy food supply.
The Disruptive, Productive Paths of Patient Choice
An article examining the potential real-world impact -- on back pain and primary care -- if the "Non-discrimination in healthcare" provision of the ACA is implemented correctly.
The Integrative Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) is launching a strategic state-by-state campaign to support the correct implementation of Section 2706 of the Affordable Care Act in 2013.
Section 2706 prohibits insurance companies from discriminating against health care providers relative to their participation and coverage in health plans, thereby encouraging the full utilization of healthcare providers and reduction in costs for patient care.
The Honorable Deborah Senn, JD (former State of Washington Insurance Commissioner) is representing IHPC’s regulated CAM and IHC practitioner constituency and by extension patients and consumers of healthcare in a strategically constructed state-by-state plan of action.
Section 2706 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 promises "non-discrimination in health care." The provision was lobbied by the American Chiropractic Association and the Integrative Healthcare Policy
Consortium (IHPC) and championed by U.S. Senators Tom Harkin and Barbara Mikulski, MD. The intention was to honor citizen choice by broadening access to non-MD providers. Of greatest interest to Harkin and the duo lobbying organizations are those classified as licensed complementary and alternative medicine practitioners.
But what will 2706 actually mean for patient access and coverage of these licensed disciplines?
Follow this link http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/83460 to hear about IHPC’s accomplishments and ongoing action plan regarding implementation of integrative healthcare in key areas including access and non-discrimination, PCORI, healthcare work force, integration in practice, CPT codes and prevention and wellness. Topics of discussion include single-payer plans, the shift toward a wellness and prevention paradigm, the Congressional leadership that supported inclusion of integrative healthcare in the ACA and an overview of the three IHPC Congressional Briefings to date. (Please note there are about six minutes of world news that precede the broadcast of the interview with Dr. Michael Traub).
IHPC's Partners for Health program is made up of non-profit educational and advocacy organizations across the CAM / conventional spectrum, working together toward our shared goals.
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Integrated Healthcare Supported by Supreme Court Decision
The recent Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act is great news for the American people and for the integrated healthcare community. The Affordable Care Act has within it some sections that are distinctly supportive of bringing integrative healthcare professionals into public health and healthcare delivery systems, and IHPC and our friends fought hard for those. More than that, however, it is chock full of language that speaks the values of most CAM/IHC professionals – values of primary prevention through helping people establish and maintain good health and balance – a worldview that acknowledges that health and/or disease is established by how we live, including how we are able to live in a country riddled by economic and geographic disparities.
This understanding is acknowledged in the creation of the National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council which charges cabinet level departments and agencies with joint responsibility for wellness and health promotion. There is much work to be done, and the Supreme Court’s decision has given IHPC the momentum to get into the trenches and implement!
Join us as a Partner for Health, be part of our Online Action Network, or donate now to support IHPC in the critical work of directing the national healthcare agenda for the cause of integrated healthcare in the US.
Please sign up now to be a part of our Online Action Network.
DONATE NOW
View the bill, as signed (this is a .pdf file)
View IHPC highlights (this is a .doc file)
View the folks on our Federal Policy Committee
IHPC
C O N G R E S S I O N A L B R I E F I N G
Where Health Care is Headed:
Patient-Centered Medical Homes and Integrated Healthcare
June 8th, 2012, panelists presented on the following topics:
Speakers included:
Janet Kahn PhD, LMT – Senior Advisor to the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC); Presidential appointee to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative and Public Health; Res. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Craig Jones, MD – Director of the Vermont Blueprint for Health, a program guiding transformation of the way healthcare and health services are delivered in Vermont. Dr. Jones also serves on the Institute of Medicine's Consensus Committee on the Learning Healthcare System in America.
Thomas Trompeter, MPA – CEO of HealthPoint, a Community Health Center with seven medical clinics, four dental clinics and one school based clinic located throughout suburban King County and providing services to over 50,000 people each year.
Elizabeth Sommers, LAc, MPH, PhD – Director of Research at Pathways to Wellness, serving patients with HIV/AIDS as well as providing community-based acupuncture care since 1989; and Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Public Health.
4/9/12 New Leader of Integrative Health Care Policy Group Brings Business Acumen and Industry Knowledge
Read the full press release.
A Message From
Dr. Leonard Wisneski
Dear Colleagues and Friends of IHPC,
On behalf of the Integrative Healthcare Policy Consortium, The Institute for Integrative Health, and the Palmer College of Chiropractic, it is my pleasure to submit the final report of the Affordable Care Act and Beyond: A Stakeholder Conference on Integrated Health Care.
As many of you know, this conference was held in September 2010. The report documents discussions that occurred within the six conference workgroups, and outlines recommendations proposed by each workgroup. It also provides an update of activities that have occurred since the conference (see p.28). The interactive PDF of the report contains hyperlinks and bookmarks that allow readers to easily navigate the report and associated references. A printed version also will be produced for congressional meetings.
We have many opportunities and challenges to further promote integrative health care to legislators, health providers, patients, and to the public. The recommendations outlined at the conference are our roadmap to achieving this goal. I welcome your comments regarding the report, as well as any information regarding your activities in supporting integrative health care.
On behalf of our community, I extend my sincere thanks to our conference sponsors, hosts, IHPC Partners for Health, speakers, participants, and all other stakeholders who have contributed to this collaborative effort. I would like to also thank Dan Redwood DC, Janet Kahn PhD, LMT, Michael Traub ND, Pamela Snider ND ,and Amy Neil MS, MAP for their wonderful efforts to write and edit this document.
Len Wisneski, MD |
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President Barack Obama Appoints Dr. Janet R. Kahn; an important step towards a fully integrative approach to prevention, health promotion and wellness in health care
(Nov. 1, 2011. Washington DC) Janet R. Kahn, PhD, is an expert and long time advocate for a healthcare system that offers all Americans prevention-oriented, cost-effective and health promoting care through the integration of the full range of safe and regulated conventional, complementary, and alternative approaches. During her years on the founding Steering Committee and for six years as Executive Director of the Integrated Health Policy Consortium (IHPC), her focused efforts helped create the unprecedented opportunities for integrated healthcare written into the Affordable Care Act.
Read the full press release.
