The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Policy: Final Report
The final report of the White House Commission on
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, published in October 2003, contains
29 Recommendations, 104 specific action steps and several hundred pages of
supporting text. It addressed six key areas: Research, Education and Training,
Information Development and Dissemination, Access and Delivery, Coverage and
Reimbursement, and Wellness and Health Promotion. Included in these are many
important recommendations to, for example:
- Increase
financial support for CAM research
- Fund
research infrastructure at CAM and conventional institutions
- Provide
education on CAM practices and professions, but not training to practice
CAM, to conventional practitioners
- Increase
the teaching of biomedical sciences at CAM institutions
- Improve
the accuracy of information on CAM provided to the public
- Improve
the safety and efficacy of natural health products
- License
CAM practitioners consistent with their education, training and scope of
practice
- Incorporate
CAM concepts and practices into federal and corporate health promotion
- Provide
assistance to states to develop more consistent licensing standards
- Implement
demonstration projects to evaluate the appropriateness of federal support
for residencies for CAM practitioners and inclusion in loan forgiveness
programs.
- Create
a special Office to facilitate implementation of the Commission’s
recommendations
Upon full
implementation, the Commission’s recommendations will fundamentally change the
US federal legislative and regulatory environment to appropriately integrate
CAM into the healthcare system.
The report of the Commission is available on-line at http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov/finalreport.html
and the printed form should now be available.