More Stealth Attacks on Integrative Doctors May Be Coming

Customer Service surveyWe have to watch both the AMA and the Federation of State Medical Boards. They have a new strategy to limit your health freedom.

The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) has recently created a model policy that would overhaul how state medical boards renew licenses for physicians. The FSMB represents the 70 state medical and osteopathic boards in the US and is part of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), which sets and enforces standards in physician education in the country.
Over the years, we have suspected that the American Medical Association is trying to use the FSMB and the accreditations process as a way of stamping out what it perceives to be the competitive threat of integrative medicine. The AMA has to be careful about taking overt anti-competitive actions because of the chiropractors’ successful anti-trust lawsuit some decades ago.
Currently, in all jurisdictions, medical licensees are required to complete a renewal form and pay a fee. Most states also require physicians to obtain a specific number of Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits. Currently there are CME credits available for Complementary and Alternative Medicine practitioners, and it is in this environment that doctors are teaching one another cutting-edge integrative medical practices.
The FSMB model policy recommends changing the license renewal process, though the details are not yet available. A worst-case scenario would curtail IM-related CME credits. States will decide individually whether they want to adopt any new policies.
We will be keeping a close eye on the issue.

17 comments

  1. Our government gives huge advantage to Allopathic mainstream sick-care providers even more so in THEIR Health Care Reform. Yes, it has been AMA that has actively repressed and attacked Homeopathy (which is much older). The fact that our society is so self-centered and money oriented…. doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc., is disappointing to say the least. I used to expect ‘Professionals’ to be objective and open. When someone spends a lot of time and money training for something, they are not open to alternatives… and if it proves a better alternative most do their best to kill it.
    Sounds pessimistic but it’s really not. On reflection it’s what the public is, and what the public is asking for. We are them and they are us. Those who would object are Fringe citizens, continually discriminated on. But, that’s ok too because we on the fringes are not innocent of this bigotry and conditioning and violence that seems to be driving the human race. To see reality and accept the way it really is! That is beginning of sanity, no?

  2. It is up to individuals to take responsibility for our own health. I joined one of the first food co-ops in 1977. My friends laughed at me for drinking soy milk in 1985. Consumers will prevail. Use capitalism to influence health choices and if we each take care of ourselves and our own families, the mighty dollar will dictate where the influence should be. Besides that, we who choose a healthier path will outlive everyone else and that is the ultimate victory. Time to plant an organic garden.

    1. Jennifer, soybeans are 91% genetically engineered in this country or GMO, they are not natural or normal but like the laboratory created corn sugar the new name for HFCS, they are not good for you. Asians have almost never used the soy products we use but use fermented soy. Almond milk would be better for you, and water is the best drink of all next to hot tea which helps digest a meal. If you would like to subscribe to the best FREE health and nutrition web-site on the planet (1.4 million people do, including 100,000 health professionals) may I suggest Dr. Joseph Mercola of Chicago. (Mercola dot com) Don’t be turned off by the fact that he sells about 30 products. They are only things he or his family use themselves. Some of them are essential for optimum health and he does this to raise money to keep four lawyers on retainer because agri-business and Big Pharma are frequently suing him for revealing how crappy our foods and medicines really are. I avoid soybean products, oil, etc. like MSG and Aspartame, and tomatoes in cans. I’m sure you will agree with me that you can’t eat what average Americans eat and not get the diseases that average Americans get. I’ve never written a book on nutrition but in both my books I talk about it because it is so important. When I was a child we were 5th in the world in longevity and now we have slipped to between 41st and 49th depending on what parameters are used to measure it. I believe the declining nutritional value of what we eat has a lot to do with it.

  3. I have searched for years for a real doctor person. I found one. Been seeing him once a year for 4 years. i began to feel comfortable until I read this article. Why must we always have constant battles with the greedy, selfish, mean people of the world? I guess the old saying “Freedom is not free.” is always real. RL

  4. I have searched for years for a real doctor person. I found one. Been seeing him once a year for 4 years. i began to feel comfortable until I read this article. Why must we always have constant battles with the greedy, selfish, mean people of the world? I guess the old saying “Freedom is not free.” is always real. RL

  5. I have searched for years for a real doctor person. I found one. Been seeing him once a year for 4 years. i began to feel comfortable until I read this article. Why must we always have constant battles with the greedy, selfish, mean people of the world? I guess the old saying “Freedom is not free.” is always real. RL

  6. I have searched for years for a real doctor person. I found one. Been seeing him once a year for 4 years. i began to feel comfortable until I read this article. Why must we always have constant battles with the greedy, selfish, mean people of the world? I guess the old saying “Freedom is not free.” is always real. RL

  7. I have searched for years for a real doctor person. I found one. Been seeing him once a year for 4 years. i began to feel comfortable until I read this article. Why must we always have constant battles with the greedy, selfish, mean people of the world? I guess the old saying “Freedom is not free.” is always real. RL

  8. I have searched for years for a real doctor person. I found one. Been seeing him once a year for 4 years. i began to feel comfortable until I read this article. Why must we always have constant battles with the greedy, selfish, mean people of the world? I guess the old saying “Freedom is not free.” is always real. RL

  9. I have searched for years for a real doctor person. I found one. Been seeing him once a year for 4 years. i began to feel comfortable until I read this article. Why must we always have constant battles with the greedy, selfish, mean people of the world? I guess the old saying “Freedom is not free.” is always real. RL

  10. it’s more “stealthy” than that. those who use integrative medicine can be accused of practicing “non scientific ” medicine, science, of course, being defined by drug company research of multicenter clinical double blind trials which has a faulty logic underpinning.
    the faulty logic / underpinning is that all humans are the same, not accounting for genetic pleomorphism. genetic pleomorphism is why custom tailored treatment plans based on pulse (ayur veda, chinese medicine) , symptom constellation (homeopathy) and metabolic testing (functional medicine) work. of course it’s difficult to create a drug empire if one tailors healing to the individual.

  11. Thank you for telling us of the newest nonsense from traditional doctors’ associations. I work in a health food store. Our customers come in with tales of some of the nonsense these doctors pull.
    One of our customers told us of one of his trips to his doctor: When he mentioned that he was trying to eat better, the doctor exploded: ‘Oh don’t tell me about that broccoli/good-food stuff!’
    Our customer then made a good point to the doctor: ‘What was he supposed to eat? Cardboard?!’

  12. I hope Integrative Medicine will continue to be a viable option for Americans. However, I would go a step further than just freeing IM doctors from unconstitutional restrictions. We need to move toward making IM insurable alongside conventional medicine. Because I cannot get insurance for integrative medical treatments of any kind, I cannot afford them. I have the choice of going to a “regular” doctor or not seeing a doctor at all–which is really no choice at all.
    Unfortunately, I do not know of any way of getting this to happen. I can only wait–and hope.

  13. I go to an alternative MD. He has patients from all over the country because he is very good at what he does.
    If he could not get his license renewed due to new rulings, I would still go to him. I value my health.
    My insurance company fails to see his value. They will pay for surgery..but nothing to prevent the need for surgery. Welcome to US/AMA healthcare.
    If doctors are so threatened by alternative medicine, they too could learn some things. Instead, let’s just change the rules to eliminate ” competitive” treatments.

  14. I encourage you to visit RevolutionaryAct.com. They are boldly stating the impact that big business has on health, and why they want to keep us all silk, and suggest that taking control of your health is a revolutionary act. Together, we can create a new medical model for ourselves.

  15. I read all your comments and to add: I am a Nurse and when someone had come to me with a problem I research medical and holistic and give them both choices. There has been an extremely high success rate of healing from holistic methods. Most times doing the medical I have found is a band-aid for the moment. Long term healing most times has been from natural holistic methods. I can only say it is through my experience I can applaud the natural or alternative medicine for prevention and health from issues. I also find that listening to the whole body, mind, and beliefs goes a long way. Thank you

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