Post-Congress Workshops
The International Congress on Integrative Medicine & Health is pleased to offer the following Post-Congress Workshop sessions on April 13, 2024, for those attendees seeking more in-depth discussions and hands-on training after the main Congress concludes. A separate registration fee applies for these sessions.
Saturday, April 13, 2024 | 12:30 pm - 3:00 pm
PC03: How to Use Economic Evidence to Drive Transformation Toward Whole Health
Research
Healthcare that follows a whole health approach can be threatening to uninformed policy makers. The concept of a practitioner considering a patient’s whole health can imply that many things would need to be done—leading to a fear that a whole health approach would cost more.
The techniques of economic evaluation can help create the evidence needed to allay these fears where possible. Therefore, in addition to efforts to demonstrate the safety, efficacy and effectiveness of whole health approaches, we must also provide information on costs and net benefits to each of the groups involved.
The overall goals of this workshop are threefold:
- to introduce participants to the basics of economic evaluation with an emphasis on identifying the appropriate perspectives of the analysis and capturing longer term cost offsets;
- to enable participants to better interpret the economic evaluation literature to use it as evidence; and
- to prepare those interested in performing an economic evaluation.
This workshop will use a combination of lecture and individual and whole and small group exercises to give participants a strong foundation in economic evaluation in general, and the cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, and cost-benefit analysis of collaborative health care specifically. Participants will also benefit from a list of resources offering additional information on the topics covered.
Presenter:
- Patricia M Herman, RAND Corporation, Sonoma, CA, United States
PC04: Implementing Integrative Medical Groups Visits using a Whole Health Perspective
Clinical
Integrative medical group visits, using a whole health perspective, consider a combination of conventional and complementary modalities delivered in a billable medical group setting. Rigorous studies using techniques, such as mindfulness and acupuncture delivered in group settings, have demonstrated significant health improvements. Additionally, safe and effective integrative techniques and activities like mind-body practices, movement, cooking demonstrations, acupressure, and meditation can be used to guide patients.
Offering these treatments in a group setting in a local clinic or community health center can make them accessible and affordable. For clinicians, groups allow for increased time and opportunity to provide care and connect with patients.
This workshop focuses on delivering an implementation toolkit, including how to develop a business plan, getting buy in from upper leadership, understanding compliance and billing models for Integrative Medical Group Visits. Each participant will assess the best types of groups and business models suited for their sites and outline their own implementation plan throughout the workshop.
Presenters:
- Paula Gardiner, Cambridge Health Alliance, Lexington, MA, United States
- Jeff Geller, Integrated Center for Group Medical Visits, Lawrence, MA, United States
PC05: Navigating Early Career Stage Transitions and Finding Funding for Career Development in Complementary and Integrative Health Research
Education
This workshop will focus on skill development for navigating early research career transitions and pursuing funding opportunities. The workshop will begin with an interactive Grantee Experience Panel focused on early career transitions. Panelists will provide an overview of key skills for transitioning from post-doc to faculty positions and from early mentored projects to leading independent research programs. They will discuss different funding options they pursued during their early career.
Dr. Dusek, Dr. Cramer, and Dr. Mudd will provide specific remarks on how to search for funding options from different sources, including private foundation support, international funding sources, and NIH funding opportunities. In-depth breakout groups specific to different career stages (i.e., post-doc or early career) will be co-led by the panelists and NCCIH staff to further discuss skills for planning career transitions and grant submissions.
Presenters:
- Lanay Mudd, NCCIH, Gaithersburg, MD, United States
- Holger Cramer, University of Tübingen, Stuttgart, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
- Jeffery A Dusek, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States
- Jenn Felder, University of California San Francisco, San Franciso, CA, United States
- Nora Gray, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, United States
- Inna Belfer, NCCIH, Bethesda, MD, United States
- Jennifer Baumgartner, NCCIH, Bethesda, MD, United States
PC06: Orientation to Dissemination and Implementation Science for Complementary and Integrative Health and Whole Person Health
Research
The effectiveness for some complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches has increased in the last decade, particularly for anxiety, depression, and pain, with many being recommended as interventions in clinical practice guidelines. Yet, there are often significant delays before effective approaches are accessible to people who may need them the most.
Dissemination and implementation (D&I) science is an emerging field dedicated to testing strategies to decrease this delay. A top scientific priority for the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is to support D&I studies that test innovative strategies to overcoming barriers to the adoption, integration, and sustainability of evidence-based CIH interventions in diverse settings to promote Whole Person Health. However, the number of D&I studies that involve CIH interventions has increased marginally, limiting our ability to reach all populations that would benefit equitably from these interventions and to continue moving the field forward.
The purpose of this 90-minute workshop is to provide an orientation to D&I science for CIH and Whole Person Health. The overarching goal is to accelerate the research to practice pipeline of evidence-based CIH approaches via rigorously conducted D&I studies. Faculty will provide attendees with an overview of commonly used methods, theories, and frameworks in D&I science that are relevant to CIH (Dr. Amanda Midbow). Dr. Stephanie Taylor will share examples of studies that have applied D&I theories and frameworks to implement CIH approaches in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to promote Whole Health. Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner (NCCIH Program Director) will describe NCCIH strategic priorities for implementation science, funding opportunities, and provide resources. Finally, NCCIH grantees (Drs. Stephanie Taylor, Eric Roseen, and Isabel Roth) will engage attendees in a discussion of their experiences moving their CIH-related research from studies of efficacy and effectiveness to dissemination and implementation.
Presenters:
- Jennifer Baumgartner, NCCIH, Bethesda, MD, United States
- Amanda Midboe, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, United States
- Stephanie Taylor, Department of Veterans Affairs, HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Eric Roseen, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States
- Isabel Roth, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, United States