Innovations in Group Medical Visits Improve Access and Advance Equity in Integrative Health

Group medical visits are exceptional methods providing essential components of integrative health care to treat and reduce the risk of a wide variety of chronic diseases, especially among underserved populations. A special issue on innovation in services provided by the group is published in JACM (Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine), a peer-edited publication by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., devoted to the paradigm, practice, and policies to advance integrative health.

The special issue was developed in partnership with integrative medicine for undeserved people (IM4US) and the Centering Healthcare Institute. The issue was led by guest eds Paula Gardiner, MD, MPH, University of Mbadachusetts Medical School (Worcester), Maria Chao, DrPH, MPA, University of California at San Francisco and Marena Burnett, Centering Healthcare Institute (Boston, MA).

The special issue on innovation in the services provided by the group includes two editorials, four commentaries, a systematic review and eight original research articles. The wide range of contexts for revision is addressed, ranging from applications in federally qualified health centers to integrative oncology, to topics ranging from the growing movement for community acupuncture to a commentary exploring the realm of special ingredient brought by the group.

Gardiner and his colleagues at the University of Mbadachusetts Medical School and the Boston Medical Center have conducted an extensive badysis that includes detailed data from 55 published studies on the characteristics of medical group visits for multiple chronic diseases . Integration modalities are well represented components, with mindfulness, meditation and yoga being the most common. The detailed results are published in the article entitled "Characteristics and Components of Medical Group Visits for Chronic Conditions: Systematic Scoping Review".

Inger researchers Burnett-Zeigler et al., From the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL), co-wrote the article "A Mindfulness-Minded Intervention for Low-Income African-American Women" suffering from depressive symptoms, provided by an experienced instructor compared to a novice Instructor. " They describe a simplified protocol for training staff at federally registered health centers to educate patients and compare results in groups led by an experienced instructor or instructor with streamlined training. They reported comparable positive results on measures of depressive symptoms, stress, functioning and well-being.

Can teaching kitchens be used to provide an effective living program for shared medical appointments? The feasibility of this approach has been the subject of an article by Theresa Stone, MD, et al. entitled "Fresh and Salty: Integrating Educational Kitchens into Shared Medical Appointments". In this study, instructional cooking supplemented other modalities, including physician consultations and mind-body exercises. Their findings led researchers to suggest what a weekly program of this type could do to improve patient health and the risk of chronic disease.

Chao, guest editor, said: "Our editorial team has been struck by the heterogeneity of integrative group visits in various health issues, which address various patients throughout life and are being implemented in a variety of health care settings to address the unmet needs of under-served and vulnerable patients In many ways, group visits serve as a critical model for integrative health equity. "

JACM Editor-in-Chief John Weeks, johnweeks-integrator.com, Seattle, WA, said: "The adequacy of the group delivery model with the resolution of what bothers us as a people and how the Adults learn and change arouses wonder – as I do in My editorial – whether a reformed health system will be characterized by bringing group services closer to the center rather than the periphery of care planning. "