A Brief History of the ACIH Council

From ACCACH to ACIH to ACIH Council of the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine

Initial Formation

The ACIH Council has a long history. In 2004, the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC), started as a project of the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC), an organization dedicated to promoting policies and action to advance integrated health care. ACCAHC much later changed names to the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health (ACIH) and was part of a broader IHPC educational initiative entitled the National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Health Care: Creating Common Ground (NED). The goal of both efforts was to fulfill on educational directions recommended by the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and the IHPC's National Policy Dialogue to Advance Integrated Health Care. The vision and commitment of philanthropist Lucy Gonda was critically important in the founding of both NED and ACCAHC.

Our initial action focused on getting comfortable with each other and clarifying our vision, mission and values.  This was the first time leaders of key national educational institutions and accrediting agencies within our distinct fields had made a commitment to learn to work together to better patient care.  We set about clarifying the shared educational opportunities and challenges we faced in the emerging context of integrative medicine and health care.

Collaboration with Conventional Health Professions Educators

Our members led many of the multidisciplinary, research, survey and academic projects for the National Education Dialogue, which convened in mid-2005. For example, we collaborated with leaders of the conventional Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health on a survey of all of their members and all of ACIH's accredited schools to gather baseline data on the status of inter-institutional relationships. A second project was a collaboration to examine our shared responses to a paper published by our conventional academic peers on the competencies in integrative medicine. The survey was published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine as "Response to a Proposal for an Integrative Medicine Curriculum" (Benjamin P et al. 13(9): 1021-1034). We held a joint leadership meeting in May 2009 and met with the Consortium in 2011. ACIH and CAHCIM jointly sponsored the first International Congress for Educators on Complementary and Integrative Medicine and Health in October 2012 at Georgetown University.

The work with the National Education Dialogue convinced us that there was value to the betterment of health care through ACIH remaining active as a separate organization. With IHPC’s support and blessing, we created the internal architecture which could be a platform to carry our shared vision. We chose to include our certification and testing agencies as a third organizational member category. We affirmed our early commitment to supporting the maturation of other fields as they move through the processes required to be full participants in healthcare teams. ACIH was formally incorporated in early 2008.

Development as a Distinct Organization

In 2011, ACIH's core of organizational members were twelve educational, accrediting, certification and testing organizations plus three Traditional World Medicines organizations and one Emerging Professions organizations. Our work was engaged principally through the then, Board of Directors and three Working Groups. We supported the development and enhancement of ongoing relationships between our disciplines through convening meetings.

We continue to be moved by the vision of the respectful teamwork which patients desire and which quality health care demands from professionals. We know that integration of our educational processes is the foundation for affirmative changes in clinical practices. We work on these issues between the ACIH member disciplines. We also continuously engage our colleagues in conventional medical education, research, policy and practice to forge the openness which will allow us to create the transformation that our vision requires.

Early Priorities and Projects

Once incorporated and with working groups convened, ACIH leaders focused on identifying priority projects that helped fulfill ACIH's mission for better patient care through fostering mutual respect and understanding among disciplines. Some of the key accomplishments included:

• Managing the publication and marketing of the ACIH Clinicians' and Educators' Desk Reference on the Licensed Complementary and Alternative Healthcare Professions (CEDR).

• Establishing ACIH's Competencies for Optimal Practice in Integrated Environments.

• Assisting the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine (NCCIM) to better understand the distinct challenges and opportunities in research relative to the ACIH disciplines.

• Engaging national interprofessional education/care (IPE/C) endeavor through such steps as sponsorship of the most influential North American IPE/C conference where we individually presented 640 copies of the CEDR to attendees.

• Developing the clearinghouse and organizing web-portal called the Center for Optimal Integration.

In addition, ACIH continues in dialogue and sharing with the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health (ACIMH). Leaders of the two organizations met for a half day in 2009, including a joint working group meeting and a reception and dinner.  (See photo below.) Key Consortium leaders have served on the ACIH Council of Advisers and played significant roles in other projects such as the 2011 ACIH Biennial Meeting. The Collaborative is also very involved in the Global Forum for Innovations in Health Professional Education (sponsored by the National Academies of Medicine Health and Medicine Division) and the National Center for Integrative Primary Healthcare (sponsored by the Univ. of AZ & HRSA).

2021 Merger with the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM)

In January of 2021, the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM), “the Academy” and the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health (ACIH), “the Collaborative” merged to advance holistic and integrative health globally. Bringing our two organizations together represented the maturity of the integrative community and the opportunity to enhance connections between all integrative health professionals. While AIHM became interprofessional in 2014, merging with ACIH will formally bring in the licensed integrative health professions. It signals that professional silos are truly coming down.” William Meeker, DC, MPH, AIHM Board Chair, shared that “the merger totally aligns with AIHM’s global plan to strategize and catalyze an integrative health movement.” Lucia Thornton, RN, immediate past AIHM Board Chair added, “ACIH brings to AIHM the heart of the integrative health professions and leaders that have worked for decades to advance whole-person care.” Beth Rosenthal, MPH, MBA, PhD, Past ACIH Director, added, “the Academy partnering with the Collaborative provides a major growth opportunity for both organizations, and ultimately the integrative health community.” Past ACIH Board Chair, JoAnn Yanez, ND, MPH, CAE shared, “For years, organizations have been looking to find a place to strategically address the unique challenges and opportunities the integrative health community faces, and we will be best positioned to co-create that space and support the integrative health movement on that journey.”
 
AIHM is a global membership organization for the integrative health community. Since its inception, AIHM has been a leading provider of the highest quality, evidence-based education through its conferences, e-learning, webinars and world-class interprofessional fellowship in integrative health and medicine.
 
AIHM President and co-founder, Mimi Guarneri, MD, FACC, ABOIM says, “ACIH will help us rapidly expand our educational offerings and through their research, education and clinical working groups, create the container for moving strategic projects forward.”

In May of 2022, a Council structure was created at AIHM to allow 3 Councils to do specific organizational work - those councils are the ACIH Council, the Individual Colleges Council and the Traditional World Medicines & Emerging Professions Council. As Councils within AIHM, the opportunity for growth and intentional strategic projects has been catalyzed.

Today the ACIH Council continues to work with our members to move forward strategic CIH projects and interprofessional education.
 
More information about the Academy and the work of the ACIH Council can be found on the AIHM Website.