5-30-07 RAND Monograph Released

New RAND Monograph Released on Barriers and Factors Facilitating the Creation of a Hospital-Based Integrative Medicine Center

Ian Coulter, Ph.D., Vice President of Integrative Medicine for the Samueli Institute, released with colleagues a new RAND monograph that details a rigorous, in-depth analysis of the factors that both facilitate and block implementation of a hospital-based integrative medicine center. The report, "Hospital-Based Integrative Medicine: A Case Study of the Barriers and Factors Facilitating the Creation of a Center," is published by the RAND corporation. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health’s Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) who called for research that identifies barriers and facilitators to the integration of complementary and alternative (CAM) with conventional health care practices.

The authors found that current integrative medicine practices in hospital settings involve a partnership between complementary and alternative medicine and biomedicine. Using extensive qualitative interview data, the project staff conducted a stakeholder analysis of all participants involved in the establishment and continuation of an Integrative Medicine Center and collected data from hospital documents, patient files, patient questionnaires and provider questionnaires. Although some factors clearly worked in favor of the center, the hospital had few models to guide it and no experience in creating the clinic. Decisions in the areas of administration, finance, and legal issues created major barriers to the center’s success. For those contemplating creating a center of integrative medicine in a hospital setting, the report suggests some facilitators of and barriers to survival that merit close scrutiny.

RAND makes an electronic version of this document available for free as a public service. The full report and summary is available online:

Summary (.pdf)
Full Report (.pdf)

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world.

Under the leadership of Ian Coulter, Ph.D., the Samueli Institute Integrative Medicine Program is conducting clinical and health services research that explores healing and wellness with a commitment to translating that knowledge into a successful integrative clinical practice model.