December 2014 John Weeks Integrator Round-Up: Costs

John Weeks

December 9, 2014

by John Weeks, Publisher Editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports   Website on Cost Studies Offered via ACCAHC’s Project for Integrative Health and the Triple Aim  Those seeking information on cost savings via integrative health and medicine now have one

by John Weeks, Publisher/Editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports

Website on Cost Studies Offered via ACCAHC’s Project for Integrative Health and the Triple Aim

Those seeking information on cost savings via integrative health and medicine now have one-stop shopping. The Project for Integrative Health and the Triple Aim (PIHTA) has developed a website, Reduce Per Capita Cost - a Triple Aim goal - that houses links and abstracts to over 30 studies. These are organized via the stakeholder setting in which the outcomes were gathered (e.g. insurers, employers, health systems and government agencies). PIHTA, managed by Jennifer Olejownik, PhD, MS, is housed at the Center for Optimal Integration: Creating Health of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (ACCAHC).

According to the site, PIHTA “centers on assisting participants and decision-makers in the optimal use of the values, disciplines and practices of integrative health and medicine in meeting the goals of the Triple Aim.” The site managers welcome additional data and studies. Development of the site was made possible through founding grants from Visual Outcomes, an e-health integrated platform, and The CHP Group, an integrative health management company. (Alignment of interest note: I am part of the team developing the site.)

Comment: The bottom line is the bottom line. Even though the Triple Aim is a three-legged stool, one leg means more than the others when it comes to non-normal practices. Show me the money. One user of the site, acupuncture leader Laura Ocker, LAc and a member of the state of Oregon’s Integrative Medicine Advisory Group (IMAG) reported in this Round-up, recently accessed the site as part of her research on a project with Oregon health reform effort:

"I had a phone meeting with PIHTA this morning, who offered to share resources to facilitate research/homework for the third [Oregon Health Authority] Integrative Medicine Advisory Group (IMAG) deliverable, creating a resource guide for practitioners that would facilitate participation in Oregon's Patient Centered Primary Care Home (PCPCH) program. I was directed to several tabs of the Project for Integrative Health and the Triple Aim (PIHTA). It's kind of astounding the caliber of the resources available on this website- not just for us as practitioners but also for our PCPCH's and for the state."
About the Author:

John Weeks

John Weeks

John Weeks is a writer, speaker, chronicler and organizer with 32 years of experience in the movement for integrative health and medicine. the long-time founder/editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports, a primary connective terrain for the diverse stakeholders and professions in the field and was invited in May 2016 to serve as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Besides his Integrative Practitioner column, he presently writes for Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, the Huffington Post and elsewhere.

He increasingly enjoys teaching and mentoring. He has keynoted, led plenary sessions, breakouts, and offered guest lectures for dozens of organizations ranging from the Bastyr University to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the UCLA School of Medicine to the Institute for Health and Productivity Management, the AANP and AIHM to the American Hospital Association. He has consulted with insurers, employers, professional organizations, universities and government agencies at all levels.

As an organizer, Weeks convened the Integrative Medicine Industry Leadership Summits (2000-2002), directed the National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Care (2004-2006), fund-raised the start-up of the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (2002), and co-founded the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health, which he directed 2007-2015. In 2014, three consortia and others combined to grant him a Lifetime Achievement Living Tribute Award. Four academic institutions have granted Weeks honorary doctorates for his work. Seattle-based, he considers himself a particularly lucky soul to have worked remotely while living with his spouse Jeana Kimball, ND, MPH, and their children in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico for 6 of the last 15 years.

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