Barriers & Enablers to Accessible Integrative Medicine Services

There is an increasing need for the integration of Western conventional medicine with Eastern medicine and other healing approaches due to the limitation of drug therapy, side effects of medications, and other Western medicine tools which do not address prevention or chronic conditions, such as insomnia or fatigue, very effectively.  Patients’ and practitioners’ direct experiences with the limitations of Western medicine result in the increase of patient demand for complementary/alternative therapies, and practitioners seeking more effective tools beyond their original training.

Integrative medicine clinics are increasing in their presence across the nation, but it is not clear if integrative medicine clinics are successful in their fiscal, clinical, or operational sustainability.  Through comparative observational studies of a variety of integrative medicine practices, direct clinical and administrative experience in setting up and working in long-standing integrative medicine center practices, barriers and enablers are identified. 

Challenges to setting up and sustaining a successful integrative medicine practice require attention to structural, fiscal, and personal barriers and enablers for practitioners, patients, and administrators.  In addition, the words “integrative medicine” are ill-defined and are confusing to both patients and practitioners alike, leading to the growth of many types of integrative medicine practices - some successful, some large, some collaborative, some integrative only in name.