title: Practical strategies for implementing integrative medicine in a primary care setting.
abstract: Rapid growth of the holistic healthcare and natural products fields over the last 10 years reflects strong public interest in preventive medicine and a dissatisfaction with mainstream allopathic approaches. Medical schools and hospital systems have tried to meet the public's interest by educating physicians and providing hospital-affiliated integrative clinics. While many primary care doctors have shown interest in learning about nutrition, botanical medicine, stress management, and other aspects of holistic care, implementation in practice has been challenging. In large part, this is because most holistic services are not covered by insurance plans. Physicians wishing to practice holistic/integrative medicine must develop new practice models. This article explores the pros and cons of the various emerging models for integrative/holistic healthcare.
authors.affiliation: erik@holisticprimarycare.net
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goldman
mesh_terms: D005194:Family Practice; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement; D055048:Integrative Medicine; D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States