The Integrative Health Learning Collaborative sought to better manage chronic disease by addressing social and behavioral determinants of health to:

• Improve the delivery of whole-person care
• Make integrative health routine and regular in primary care

Seventeen clinics participated in the learning collaborative. They received training in integrative health, the support of expert faculty and access to integrative health tools and resources as they worked to make integrative health routine and regular in primary care.

The clinics were mostly family medicine residencies, federally-qualified health centers and other clinics and health systems. Participating clinics targeted different patient populations for their integrative health work, including patients with specific diagnoses (e.g., chronic pain, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, anxiety/depression or multiple chronic conditions), patients new to or interested in integrative health and all patients.

The Family Medicine Education Consortium and Samueli Integrative Health Programs sponsored the learning collaborative from October 2020 to September 2021, with a grant from The Samueli Foundation.

How the Integrative Health Learning Collaborative Worked

Participating clinics received training in integrative health and exchanged pioneering practices from across the nation through monthly virtual meetings. Faculty supported the clinics in non-pharmacological approaches for pain and evidence-based complementary treatments and self-care for chronic diseases. Training included the use of the HOPE Note and other integrative health tools.

Along with the full-group meetings, each clinic was part of one of four faculty-led small groups. The faculty members led small group meetings and provided one-on-one assistance to their clinics on implementation and evaluation.

Clinics learned from each other through monthly full-group and small-group meetings. They presented reports on their work to the full group using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle and the McKinsey 7S model of change management and shared problems and solutions during full group and small-group meetings.

Also, they also shared their integrative health resources on the learning collaborative’s Google drive. The Google drive housed all learning collaborative content, including meeting content, related articles and resources and clinic reports and resources.

The Family Medicine Education Consortium

The Family Medicine Education Consortium is a catalyst, convener and incubator that connects those interested in improving the health of the community by strengthening family medicine, primary care services and medical education.

The consortium’s goal is to improve the health of the nation by strengthening family medicine and primary care to meet its full potential.

Samueli Foundation, Integrative Health Programs

Samueli Foundation’s Integrative Health Programs work to empower patients and doctors by providing solutions that enhance health, prevent disease and relieve chronic pain. Henry & Susan Samueli, leaders in support of integrative health, are supporting this work through the Samueli Foundation. Wayne Jonas, MD, a family physician, researcher, and author of hundreds of articles on health and healing, leads the effort.

• BronxCare Health System Department of Family Medicine, Bronx, N.Y.
• Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Mich.
• Cleveland Clinic Family Medicine Residency, Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Read about Cleveland Clinic’s participation in the Integrative Health Learning Collaborative.
• Codman Square Health Center, Dorchester, Mass.
• Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and Residency, Lawrence, Mass.
• Hunterdon Family Medicine, Flemington, N.J.
• Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Queens, N.Y.
  • Read about Jamaica Hospital Medical Center’s participation in the Integrative Health Learning Collaborative.
• MetroHealth Medical Center Department of Family Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio.
• Middlesex Family Medicine Residency, Middletown, Conn.
• Oak Street Health, Philadelphia, Pa.
• Phelps Family Medicine Residency Program, Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
• People’s Community Clinic, Austin, Texas.
• St. Louis VA Hospital, St. Louis, Mo.
• Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute at UC Irvine, Irvine, Calif.
  • Read about Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute’s participation in the Integrative Health Learning Collaborative.
• University of Cincinnati Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Cincinnati, Ohio.
  • Read about the University of Cincinnati’s participation in the Integrative Health Learning Collaborative.
• University of New Mexico Family Medicine, Albuquerque, N.M.
• William Jenkins Medical Center and Family
• Medicine Residency, Berkeley, Calif

Wayne Jonas, MD

• Lead faculty, Integrative Health Learning Collaborative.
• Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, Georgetown University.
• Executive Director, Samueli Foundation.
• Author, How Healing Works.

Laurence C. Bauer, MSW, Med

• Independent consultant.
• Former Chief Executive Officer, Family Medical
  Education Consortium.

Connie Earl, DO

• Family Physician, Sonoma County, Calif.
• Leader in integrative health for underserved and FQHCs.

Andrea Gordon, MD

• Associate Professor of Family Medicine, Tufts
• University Family Medicine Residency at Cambridge Health Alliance.

Elena Rosenbaum, MD

• Medical Director, Alliance for Better Health.
• Director of Integrative Medicine, Albany Family Medicine.
• Associate Professor, AMC Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Allen F. Shaughnessy, PharmD, MedEd

• Director, Master Teacher Fellowship.
• Professor and Vice Chair of Family Medicine for Research at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Photo by eberhard 🖐 grossgasteiger on Unsplash