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Integrated healthcare is not a "new" idea in the medical community -

In the western world we have been provided a unique opportunity to enjoy the technological advances of conventional western medicine. The practice is based upon the “Theory of Diseases,” which believes that a person becomes sick because he or she contracts a disease. Within this model, the disease is seen as an independent entity which can be fully understood without giving thought to the person it afflicts or the environment in which it occurs. Traditional treatments in western medicine are the treatments of diseases, not the treatment of the person or people involved. It is in essence a “one size fits all” philosophy of conventional medical practice.

Alternative systems of healing, methods which are much older than conventional western medicine, work to offer a perspective which reverses the “one size fits all” philosophy of conventional medical practice. All alternative theories of healing share the common characteristic of viewing illness as a dynamic event in the life of a single person, and not a “one size fits all entity.” They approach the understanding of the illness through a “biographical” methodology, looking to the life and balance of the person with the illness to better understand potential methods of treatment for a positive outcome.

When conventional western medicine is practiced in conjunction with alternative systems of healing, it is commonly referred to as “integrated healthcare” or “integrative healthcare.” Integrated healthcare embraces the desire of both the public and the medical profession for compassionate, patient-centered medicine. It is a healing oriented medicine that takes into account the body, the mind and the spirit to create an integrated healthcare plan. The overall plan is one emphasizing therapeutic relationships, and makes use of both conventional western medicine and alternative systems of healing to provide one integrated healthcare plan.

This “mind, body and spirit” movement has been growing in popularity for decades, and has now begun to take root even in ancillary medical fields like telemedicine. It is only a matter of time to see what integrated healthcare will look like in the next twenty-five years.