We live at an exciting crossroads in the world of health care. Ancient medical systems like Ayurveda and traditional chinese medicine are as accessible as modern medical treatments like pharmaceuticals and surgery.

Present action and policy are laying infrastructure that will inform and embolden participants into the future. Here are the Top 10 for policy and action in integrative medicine and health for 2012.

The big money in complementary and integrative medicine fields and their preventive and health-promoting focus that CFO Magazine's McCann notes is not in churning services. It is in saving money by limiting services.

by guest blogger Mark A. Moyad, MD, MPH I have a word for you: S-adenosylmethionine. A mouthful, I know. But maybe you've heard of it by its nicknam...

Any self-respecting, institution-building director of a federally-backed center with a title as encompassing as the National Coordinating Center for Integrative Medicine would be a fool to let that mantle slip when HRSA's $800,000 is spent down in two years.

In my work with patients, I have seen how the 12-step approach can be very effective. But I have also seen that without dietary change an individual attempting abstinence and recovery is needlessly more vulnerable to relapse.

For those scores of millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of individuals world-wide who suffer the consequences of unchecked compulsive behaviors, there is hope; there are alternatives.

Once established, addictions are tough to overcome, so it makes sense to learn about preventive measures as well as complementary treatments to improve the odds of quitting.

Acupuncture provides a foundation for recovery and psycho-social rehabilitation. It is a supportive component of a substance abuse treatment as well as in enabling job readiness.

A bit of integrative medicine history was made last month when the U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) quietly announced that licensed naturopathic doctors, acupuncturists and chiropractors would be included in 2012 in the IHS' student loan repayment programs.

When students elect to spend a month learning about integrative medicine at the University of Maryland, they study by working with the toughest, most ...

I wouldn't say that the cumulative effect of this experience has been to make me an evangelist for alternative medicine, but it has certainly moved me closer in that direction.

In spite of recent cuts to publicly funded advertising campaigns, the UK has led the charge in effective public health campaigns aimed at promoting pr...

So while I suppose I am indulging in some self-defense, I am far more concerned with defending science. Because the self-proclaimed guardians of science are denigrating it, every day.

Numerous surveys have confirmed that people seeking homeopathic treatment tend to be more educated than those who don't. What isn't known is that it's the leading alternative treatment used by Europeans.

I hadn't planned on going, but then another doctor as young as I was then called me up, desperate for help. That's how I found myself on a plane to Bethel, N.Y. with Joan Baez.

It's time to move past the debate of alternative medicine versus traditional medicine, and to focus on what works, what doesn't, for whom, and under which circumstances.