Resource Roundup: Health Equity in Integrative Medicine

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By Avery St. Onge

In a system littered with inequality, it’s essential to consider health equity while practicing medicine. Instead of assuming everyone needs the same thing, which is usually considered equality, health equity is a concept that recognizes the differences among different demographics and provides care accordingly.

While integrative medicine has a reputation of primarily serving privileged populations, integrative practices do not have to be expensive, and can be extremely beneficial for communities and healthcare systems with limited resources.

In this article, we’ve rounded up our top resources on health equity. Continue reading to learn about practicing cultural humility, incorporating shared medical appointments into your practice, and more.

Cultivating Equity in Integrative Medicine

On the final day of the 2023 Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM) Annual Conference in San Diego, Calif., members of the AIHM Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Committee discussed what health equity looks like in an integrative medicine practice. In their presentation, the committee members stressed the importance of cultural appreciation, spiritual presence, cultural humility, and embodiment to move integrative medicine toward health equity.

“The BIPOC Committee has an understanding that all of the work that we do, we feel it in our bodies,” said Yvette Miller, MD, ABIHM, Executive Medical Officer for the Donor and Client Support Center (DCSC) in Charlotte, NC, and Co-Chair of BIPOC Committee. In this country, medical providers are encouraged to get out of their bodies and think their way through treating a patient, but, Miller said, “true medicine and healing comes from the heart and the body.”

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Expanding Access to Integrative Medicine Through Shared Medical Appointments

The concept of shared medical appointments invites awareness to multiple dimensions of a person’s health, putting their health problems into context and encouraging a holistic, well-rounded treatment approach, according to Scarlet Soriano, MD, ABOIM, Executive Director of Duke Health & Well-Being and Director of the Leadership Program in Health and Well-Being at the Duke University Health System in Durham, North Carolina.

“We know that things like a healthy body mass index (BMI) and smoking cessation can support physical and mental thriving,” said Soriano at the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) Annual International Conference (AIC) in Orlando, Florida. “But we also have historical realities and present-day realities that profoundly impact people’s ability to flourish that go beyond those common health factors.”

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Q&A: How to be More Culturally Competent in Your Patient Practice

A holistic approach is essential while addressing issues of race with patients in order to give them better, more informed care, according to Anjali Ferguson, PhD.

Ferguson is a clinical psychologist with an expertise in trauma-informed care, early childhood mental health, and culturally responsive care located in Richmond, Virginia. Along with managing her website, ParentingCulture, an online resource that aims to provide an inclusive space for conversations around parenting, Ferguson provides training and workshops across Virginia on culturally competent models of care.

We spoke with Ferguson about how practitioners can incorporate more informed, culturally responsive care into their patient practice.

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Bringing Integrative Medicine to Rural Communities

Yoon Hang (John) Kim, MD, MPH, joins Integrative Practitioner content specialist, Avery St. Onge, to discuss the benefits and challenges involved in adding integrative health services to a rural critical access hospital.

Over two decades, Dr. Kim has been a pioneer in integrative medicine, creating sustainable and impactful integrative medicine programs in various settings, including healthcare systems, academic medicine, and private practice. His clinical interests include health system based integrative/functional/lifestyle implementation, integrative oncology, integrative pain management, and using food to reverse/mitigate diabetes.

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Incorporating Gender Inclusive Language into your Patient Practice

If practitioners aren’t using gender inclusive language in their practice, it may be preventing some patients from feeling comfortable enough to share their health problems, according to Efrat LaMandre, ND.

LaMandre is the founder of EG Health, a primary care practice that specializes in integrative and functional health and provides LGBTQ+ affirming care in Staten Island, New York. She said, to provide quality healthcare to LGBTQ+ patients as well as those belonging to other minority communities, inclusive, welcoming language needs to be a priority in all healthcare settings, including integrative practices.

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Improving Health Equity with Mind-Body Medicine

In this special edition of the Integrative Practitioner Podcast, Scarlet Soriano, MD, joins Integrative Practitioner Content Specialist, Avery St. Onge, to discuss how mind-body medicine can contribute to health equity.

As Executive Director of Duke Health and Well-Being, Scarlet Soriano, MD, leads a multidisciplinary team in systemwide innovation aimed at effectively addressing gaps in our healthcare delivery structures through health and well-being interventions that are grounded on health equity. Soriano is a member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM) and a founding member of its Black, Indigenous and People of Color Committee. She was Co-Chair of the AcademIn this special edition of the Integrative Practitioner Podcast, Scarlet Soriano, MD, joins Integrative Practitioner Content Specialist, Avery St. Onge, to discuss how mind-body medicine can contribute to health equity.

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Social Determinants of Health

Health disparities negatively impact the health and wellbeing of communities of color and a leading cause of health disparities is social determinants of health. These social determinants of health contribute to health inequalities for Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities.

This presentation will outline the various factors that contribute to social determinants of health and its effects on medical conditions like COVID-19, heart disease, cancer among other conditions. Implicit bias can play a role in health disparities; strategies will be discussed on how to reduce this bias. Lastly, alternative medicine practices in communities of color will be discussed as well as how wellness can help in achieving health equity.

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