Alternative Medicine Integration

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Alternative Medicine Integration, (AMI), founded in 1997, seeks to promote the incorporation of alternative medicine into mainstream health care. By fully integrating alternative medicine with conventional managed health care systems, AMI co-founders James Zechman (CEO), and Richard Sarnat, M.D. (President), hope to transform America ’s health care model from one based on treating illness, to one that focuses more on wellness and disease prevention. Zechman and Sarnat started their innovative campaign in Illinois, successfully encouraging the state ’s largest health insurance company to broaden its definition of a primary care physician (PCP). AMI ’s affiliation with HMO Illinois (a Blue Cross/Blue Shield company), allows members —for the first time ever and at no additional cost —to select a fully credentialed Doctor of Chiropractic as their PCP. While Illinois is among the states that already license chiropractors as PCPs, managed care networks have long considered payments to such doctors to be “out of network, out of pocket ” expenses. Based in Highland Park, Illinois, AMI has worked steadily for more than three years to bring its credentialed program to Blue Cross/Blue Shield. AMI ’s network of Primary Chiropractic Care Physicians (PCCP) consists of highly trained and licensed professionals, credentialed by a peer group of Blue Cross/Blue Shield physician M.D.s. In addition, AMI works with a rapidly expanding network of 2,500 specialist M.D.s and more than a dozen hospitals, several of which are university-affiliated. AMI has also developed a PPO product, which offers fully-integrated alternative and mainstream medical services as a fully-covered benefit. This new health care program for large self-insured companies and insurance carriers is the first of its kind in the country to provide a fully-integrative health care program with highly credentialed physicians from the AMI network at no additional expense to employees who opt for the PPO product. The goal of AMI's PPO product is to provide employees with a wellness program, which allows them frequent access to their physicians for a more holistic and comprehensive approach to their individual health care needs. This serves as a catalyst for the relationship between doctor and patient to grow, providing hands-on insight and increased educational opportunities to eliminate problems before they reach crisis stage.

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