The Science Summit Debuts at AANP Show
The first naturopathic Science Summit focusing on health policy will be held on August 16, the day before the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians Annual Convention (AANP) at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. The Science Summit will bring together naturopathic clinicians, researchers, and leaders of academic and professional associations, as well as industry, to address the profession’s impact on health policy and policy-makers—public and corporate—and the role research plays in supporting policy-changing efforts. Ian Coulter, PhD, senior health policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, will provide the keynote and participate in discussions.
During the day-long event, we will explore how the AANP mission, naturopathic research, and evidence-informed health policy can be aligned for healthier patients, a more effective healthcare system, and a flourishing profession. Most importantly, we will attempt to define directions that will provide the most important data for 1) regulation for patient access and safety, 2) public and private health program inclusion, and 3) practice improvement. The importance of the Science Summit to all the whole profession calls for its broad sponsorship by the AANP, the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges, and the Naturopathic Physicians Research Institute (NPRI).
Naturopathic physicians are maturing as a profession. Their voices carry weight well beyond their numbers in complementary and alternative disciplines and research, as well as in public media. The profession is more ready than ever to reveal patient results in a way that can impact government and corporate policy, whether for licensing in additional states and provinces, greater access under public and private insurance plans, or simply greater intellectual authority in the control of its own growth and practice development. A cadre of scientists and health researchers within the profession have developed the skills and infrastructure to respond to research and assessment needs. The development of a health policy center at Bastyr University concomitant to its initiation of web-based data collection and outcomes systems is reflective of both understanding and capacity for sophisticated work. The series of studies of whole-practice naturopathic care from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, including cost assessment, in the last few years are the progenitors of the kinds of studies that should be supported.
The policy environment is also ready to be influenced by the real-world results of naturopathic physicians, making careful and conscious professional activity in outcomes and cost assessment more opportune than ever. The health crisis has every federal and state agency seeking answers to restraining costs while responding to epidemics of chronic disease and an aging population. Health reform is bringing with it mandates for reporting as a condition of participation.