Patient-centered care, a cornerstone of Integrative Medicine & Health (IM&H), is collaborative, compassionate, and individualized. There is a focus on respecting and empowering the patient to be active in their care. IM&H partners with the patient to fully understand and support their health journey and well-being. Instead of focusing on disease, it considers all aspects that influence health by centering on the patient’s individual goals, needs, and abilities. It may include integrative, conventional, and complementary modalities, genomics and epigenetics, to provide personalized care. It especially recognizes the therapeutic value of the relationship between patient and practitioner. Through an emphasis on listening, motivational interviewing, and compassionate communication, the focus is on long-term results. IM&H is Relationship-Centered.

Many IM&H clinicians will spend 60–90 minutes in an initial appointment and at least 30 in follow-ups, as needed to address the needs of the patient.

A fundamental principle of Integrative Medicine & Health (IM&H) is the innate healing capacity of the human body—an intrinsic force for health that perpetually operates within each of us. When disease or injury strains this response, an IM&H approach bolsters the body's natural ability to rebound from the insult. The multifaceted approach of IM&H, inclusive of lifestyle modifications, whole-system therapies, dietary supplements, botanicals, etc. serve a dual purpose: strengthening the innate healing capacity and removing the obstacles to health. IM&H has long emphasized preventive approaches and addressing root causes of health issues. Strategic support of the body's innate healing mechanisms is a key cornerstone of this approach.

An equally important aspect of IM&H is the identification and removal of healing obstacles. These impediments include poor dietary habits, sedentary lifestyle, chronic stress, and a lack of structural integrity. By addressing these factors, integrative practitioners can unblock the body's innate healing processes to restore optimal function. In many cases, the mere removal of these impediments is sufficient to initiate substantial improvements in a patient's health status.

This approach underscores the holistic nature of integrative medicine, emphasizing the body's inherent ability to heal itself when provided with the right conditions and support. By recognizing and harnessing the power of innate healing, integrative medicine offers a comprehensive and personalized path to wellness, addressing not just symptoms, but the root causes of health issues.

An important element to Integrative Medicine & Health (IM&H) is bringing the skills, experience, and professional guidelines from a practitioner’s scope of practice into the integrative approach. Clinicians trained in conventional medicine, or “Western medicine” receive deep training in diagnostics, history taking, examination skills, lab testing, and radiologic evaluation. These skills can be used along with the integrative tools to reach a diagnosis and then consider all available interventions. In conventional medicine, the primary tools are often pharmaceuticals, procedures, or surgeries. Many of these skills and approaches are still a critical part of an IM&H approach to care and an IM&H practitioner will use the best evidence from their conventional medicine scope along with that from their expanded toolkit of integrative approaches to offer the most patient-focused and personalized care with least potential for harm.

IM&H supports rather than opposes conventional medicine. This synergistic approach can enhance therapeutic outcomes when used with standard treatments such as pharmaceuticals, surgery, and chemotherapy. The ultimate aim is to optimize patient care and improve overall health outcomes through the intelligent combination of both evidence-based conventional and non-conventional practices.

IM&H is deeply committed to looking at lifestyle approaches to improve health and wellbeing, lower disease risk, as well as support the management of disease. Guiding patients to healthy behavior changes and helping them reduce barriers to these changes can both empower the individual as well as make a significant impact on health outcomes. 

Some aspects of lifestyle are within an individual’s control and others are not. Looking for the behaviors that can be changed versus the circumstances that an individual does not have control over is important when considering supporting lifestyle recommendations. Additionally, working with an integrative health coach is another tool that can be utilized to support these types of changes. 

IM&H considers each of the 7 Core Areas of Health when addressing lifestyle approaches. Improvements in each of these areas can have a significant impact on health and wellbeing.

The 7 Core Areas of IM&H are:

Complementary (vs Alternative) is an umbrella term used to indicate non-conventional approaches to health and wellbeing that are used in conjunction with conventional treatment approaches. IM&H looks carefully at the many complementary practices that can improve a patient’s health—evaluating potential risks along with the evidence supporting the complementary approach before offering it in a patient’s treatment plan.

Key areas that fall within “Complementary” are below:

• Botanicals, Herbal Medicine
• Dietary Supplements
• Mind-Body Modalities (Guided Imagery, Progressive Muscle Relaxation)
• Manual Medicine (Massage, Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment, Chiropractic)
• Traditional Medicine (TCM, Ayurveda)/Whole Systems (Naturopathy)
• Energy Medicine (Reiki, Healing Touch)

An individual’s health is significantly impacted by their physical environment and the community in which they live. This aspect of Integrative Medicine & Health incorporates the major components of social determinants of health into the patient's care. Social determinants of health include economic stability, education access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, health care access and quality, and the greater social and community context. Each of these components of the environment and community significantly impact the health and wellbeing of the individual. These areas of health need to be assessed and addressed as a part of a thorough integrative approach to health.

Learn more about the social determinants of health from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Evidence-based means Integrative Medicine & Health takes into consideration the relevant scientific evidence, the patient’s preferences, and the practitioner's clinical judgment. The practitioner’s guidance highlights therapies that provide the greatest benefit and least harm. This benefit:risk approach honors low-risk interventions found in traditional medicine and cultural healing practices and research supported complementary therapies, as well as more invasive and higher-risk interventions found in conventional medicine.

Assessing is on a continuum:

• Higher-risk interventions (includes both conventional and complementary) require higher levels of evidence to recommend.
• Lower-risk interventions (Traditional healing practices, nutrition, exercise, mindfulness, etc.) may require less evidence to recommend.

A cornerstone of Integrative Medicine & Health (IM&H) is the importance placed on recognizing the interrelated roles of Body-Mind-Spirit on the individual’s health and wellbeing. Focus and value are placed across these interconnected elements—considering one’s physical symptoms, mental health, and connection to what is sacred or vital.

An IM clinician intake is more robust than a typical conventional medicine intake, exploring all these aspects of a person’s health and wellbeing. Addressing the body-mind-spirit connection may occur through the teaching of mindfulness exercises, guided imagery, breathwork, and practices around gratitude and meaning/purpose into their patient care. The strong evidence for these modalities with certain chronic conditions has an important role in IM&H for many patients.