CAM looking for Town Hall panelists

Considering the public's increasing interest in non-medical approaches to health, it was no surprise that the CAM Town Hall Meeting in Seattle drew nearly 300 participants.

CAM -- the popular acronym for the Presidential Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine -- is holding a series of these open public meetings to obtain input on a variety of health issues.

Veronica Gutierrez, D.C., a board member of the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), is the only doctor of chiropractic serving on the Commission, which is charged with submitting to the President a report on the role of non-medical approaches.

In addition to citizen participation, the Town Hall meetings allow time for presentations from providers, consumers and other interested parties. The Seattle meeting included 120 speakers, divided into separate panels.

Speakers provide up to three minutes of oral testimony, with approximately 10 minutes of discussion allotted per panel. Each panel consists of four or five speakers. The WCA is working to identify chiropractic speakers for upcoming Town Hall meetings so that a full range of opinions can be represented.

The topics of interest suggested by CAM include:

Coordinated research and development to increase knowledge of complementary and alternative medicine practices and interventions. This topic can include issues such as:

	What can be done to expand the current research environment so that practices and interventions that lie outside conventional science are adequately and appropriately addressed?
	What types of incentives are needed to stimulate the research of CAM practices and interventions by the public and private sectors?
	How can we more effectively integrate the CAM and conventional research communities to stimulate and coordinate research?

Guidance for access to, delivery of, and reimbursement for complementary and alternative medicine practices and interventions. This topic will address questions like:

	Do you have ready access to CAM practices and interventions?
	How can access to safe and effective CAM practices and interventions be improved?
	What types of CAM practices and interventions should be reimbursable through federal programs or other health care coverage systems?

Training, education, certification, licensure, and accountability of health care practitioners in complementary and alternative medicine. This would involve such issues as:

	How can uniform standards of education, training, licensure and certification be applied to all CAM practitioners?
	What training and education should be required of all health care providers to assure access to safe and effective CAM practices and interventions?
	What sources of funds exist for the education and training of CAM practitioners?
	Are performance standards or practice guidelines needed to ensure the public will have access to the full range of safe and effective CAM practices and interventions?

Delivery of reliable and useful information on complementary and alternative medicine to health care professionals and the public. Among the questions to discuss are:

	How can useful, reliable, and updated information about CAM practices and interventions be made more accessible? How would you like to receive such information?
	As a consumer, what kinds of information about CAM practices and interventions are most needed and important to you?
	As a health care provider, what kinds of information about CAM practices and interventions are most needed and important to you?

CAM emphasizes that these questions are provided merely as guidance. Speakers may address any issue of interest, provided they include specific recommendations for action to be considered.

Any doctor of chiropractic or chiropractic patient may attend and/or participate in an upcoming Town Hall meeting. At this time, Town Hall Meetings have been scheduled for New York City (January 23), Minneapolis (March 16), Albuquerque (March 26), and Atlanta (June 22).

The Commission is scheduled to develop its interim draft report by July 2001, and submit its full report by the end of 2001.

Any doctor wishing to be considered for a CAM Town Hall Meeting panel should contact Dr. Gutierrez.

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