11.01.02
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and 16 federal cosponsors have launched an Institute of Medicine (IOM) study of the scientific and policy implications of the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by the American public. The $1 million, nearly two-year study, will be conducted by the IOM, a component of the National Academies. The IOM will assemble a panel of approximately 16 experts from a broad range of CAM and conventional disciplines, such as behavioral medicine, internal medicine, nursing, epidemiology, pharmacology, healthcare research and administration and education. During the course of the study the IOM panel will assess research findings, hold workshops and invite speakers to address the panel, among other activities, in order to provide a comprehensive overview of the use of CAM therapies by the American public; identify significant scientific and policy issues related to CAM research, regulation, integration, training and certification and develop a conceptual framework to help guide decision making on these issues and questions. The IOM study will not conduct new surveys of the public regarding CAM use, rather the IOM panel will gather and analyze existing data. In addition, the IOM study plans to address many key issues such as what the methodological difficulties are in evaluating some CAM therapies; how the different CAM professions are regulated in the U.S.; what the current situation is for coverage of CAM by insurers and other third parties and what the policy and regulatory issues are regarding licensing and certifying CAM practitioners. The answers to these questions and the information generated by the IOM panel of leading scholars drawn from both conventional medicine and CAM, and from education, should serve to complement the recommendations of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy released earlier this year.