Report From the Summit on Integrative Medicine

The first day of the Summit at the Institute of Medicine was action packed with an all star lineup of thought leaders in the field of medicine. Harvey Fineberg, President of the IOM provided opening remarks followed by Ralph Snyderman, Chancellor Emeritus of Duke University and chair of the Summit Planning Committee. Dr. Snyderman provided the following framework comparing conventional care and integrative care:

Conventional Care:

• Reactive
• Sporadic
• Disease Oriented
• Find It/Fix It
• Physician Directed
• Dogmatic

Integrative Care:

• Proactive Life Care
• Continuity of Care
• Health/Prevention
• Individual Empowerment
• Enlightened

An interesting discussion involved whether to call this form of care Integrative Medicine or Integrative Health. There seemed to be more support for Integrative Health by the more than 600 attendees. More to come on the Summit in the days ahead.