The National Acupuncture Foundation has just released Legal Issues in Integrative Medicine: A Guide for Clinicians, Hospitals, and Patients.


Legal Issues features a foreword by Sherman Cohn, JD, Professor of Law at Georgetown University, and devotes individual sections to three main audiences and users of CAM – clinicians, health care institutions (especially hospital executives and administrators) and patients and their families, addressing legal concerns specific to each. liam-cover.bmp
Legal Issues in Integrative Medicine is written in plain, no-nonsense language. This book is intended to help you:
 – Understand the legal environment for CAM therapies.
 – Craft institutional policies governing CAM providers.
 – Address credentialing, liability, and dietary supplements.
 – Learn about your legal rights relating to these therapies.
 – Empower yourself to make better decisions concerning the health care services that you use or recommend, whether you are a healthcare professional, a healthcare facility administrator, or a patient.
Order.
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From the Foreword by Sherman L. Cohn, JD
This book presents a road map of issues and approaches. It raises questions and points to the answers where answers exist. In that sense, it is a primer. In a new field, a primer is needed. This truly is a new field–not only of healthcare, but also of law and legal practice. As more and more alternative healthcare offices open, as there is more and more integration, clients–practitioners, administrators, and patients — approach their attorneys for guidance. But, as very few law schools even introduce the subject (as of this writing, this author knows of only three: Georgetown, Syracuse, and Seton Hall, with one now proposed at Houston), and established health law organizations (e.g., the American Bar Association’s Health Law Section) have not yet begun to offer continuing education courses in this field, very few lawyers have the background to deal with these issues. This book will help those lawyers. And, it will help clients educate their lawyers on the issues they face.
As we see the world of healthcare evolving, we see alternative care increasingly in the picture. To a great extent, the movement is led by those consumers who are demanding more and are not willing to accept the paternalistic answers of old. But, it is the practitioner, the administrator, the clinic, the hospital, and their lawyers, who must struggle with the legal issues. This book is a place to start.
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Tierney Tully, M.S.O.M., Dipl.Ac. (NCCAOM), Executive Director of the National Acupuncture Foundation, was responsible for editing and publishing the book. Kudos and my thanks for Tierney for a wonderful job.
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The National Acupuncture Foundation is dedicated to the advancement of acupuncture and Oriental medicine, and the promotion of integrative therapies into the American healthcare system. The NAF can be reached at:
6405 43rd Avenue Ct NW, Ste B
Gig Harbor, WA 98335
253.851.6538
Other publications by the National Acupuncture Foundation include a new edition of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine: State Laws & Regulations. The 2005 Edition features a brand new section of articles on current topics such as:
– Reciprocity and endorsement between states
– Integrative medicine legal issues
– Professional ethics
– OSHA and HIPAA regulations
– Credentialing of medical doctors, chiropractors, acupuncture detoxification specialists, and other allied healthcare professionals.
The NAF also publishes the Legislative Handbook for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. The purpose of this Handbook is to provide information to assist individuals and organizations who wish to pass initial acupuncture and Oriental medicine legislation or are considering changes in current legislation and wish to understand the ramifications of different statutory language. This Handbook provides a Model Bill, an explanation of its provisions, and a discussion of options and additional language that individuals and states may wish to consider.