Why Tucson doctors recommend insurance companies to cover yoga, acupuncture

Some doctors in Tucson are working to change that.

El Rio Health is leading the region’s efforts and is recognized nationally as a model for its use of integrated medicine as an approach to chronic disease management, lifestyle changes, health problems mental and substance abuse conditions, says its website.

Integrative medicine involves collaboration between medical and behavioral health care providers, and will often combine “conventional therapies,” which are conventional treatments such as surgery or medication, and “conventional therapies.” complementary,” which are holistic and integrative therapies.

El Rio Health Buena Vida Integrated Pain Clinic, 434 E. University Blvd., tries to encourage patients to use a more integrated approach, says Director of Integrated Behavioral Health Programs Sue Dolence. He says the clinic tries not to use too many opioids for pain management, and instead tries to avoid using them altogether or help patients get off of them.

The pain clinic has been integrating medical and behavioral health care for about six years, but has been implementing more integrative approaches as part of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health’s WHITS initiative for almost two years.

“The purpose of the project is to try to overcome the policy and payment barriers to provide this type of care,” said Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health CEO Samantha Simmons. “And it’s very committed to trying to bring this type of care to underserved patients.”

Simmons said El Rio leaders and administrators met with members of Veterans Affairs and doctors and leaders from the University of Vermont, who had already tried a similar program, when they first joined the project. He says that since El Rio, a federal health care center, already has experience in working with patients who are inactive and integrative medicine, the pain clinic has been able to become one of the best integrated programs across the country.

“Now we’re continuing to expand and spread further so that more people can replicate what they’ve done,” Simmons said.

Dolence says one of the unique features of the pain clinic is that it integrates clinical and behavioral health.

“Many patients with chronic pain have some history of trauma in childhood or adulthood, which affects their experience of pain later in life,” said Dolence. “So our patients see doctors and health practitioners at the same time, so we can approach their pain not only from a medical point of view, but also help them with their trauma, with depression , anxiety, depression, or emotional problems they may have that make their pain worse.”

Dolence says that while Medicare, AHCCCS and private insurers cover all of El Rio’s services outside of acupuncture, copays can keep some people from seeking help. He says the University of Vermont, which El Rio is looking to help with the clinic, was able to partner with Blue Cross Blue Shield and their Medicaid program to create a multi-service package.

“We’ve met with several insurance companies, and we’ve been talking to them to try to find a model like that, but it hasn’t come to our attention yet,” Dolence said. But that might be the best way to do it, because then patients can get the services they need, like acupuncture or Reiki or different types of physical therapy that insurance doesn’t cover. If they could get those services, we wouldn’t have to worry about asking them for out-of-pocket expenses.”

While the stigma around mental health has decreased significantly over the years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, some doctors have found that the transfer of physical practices, such as biofeedback or yoga therapy, to have access to insurance coverage for physical conditions. more for psychological conditions.

Banner psychiatrist Dr. Noshene Ranjbar said: “It is not helpful for mental health needs.”

Ranjbar has been researching integrative medicine for 25 years. He says art and holistic medicine work as great options for those who don’t want to take prescription drugs, and it’s something he regularly recommends to his patients.

“We actually talk about ‘skills not pills’ as part of our child psychology slogan, where many parents hope to reduce the amount of medicine their children take,” Ranjbar said. .

She says her patients often see significant improvement in mental health issues, economic problems and social isolation through activities such as yoga classes, dance lessons, meetup groups and art creation.

Another study from the National Center for Biotechnology Information showed that 28 out of 259 patients reported a 0 value for pain after joint medicine sessions, while another 226 reported a decrease in a lot of pain. Another study showed that integrative medicine has a positive effect on the health of workers, reducing physical and emotional pain.

While these activities serve as good alternatives to medication, Ranjbar says the cost is what scares patients away.

“That’s one of the biggest obstacles. A lot of people who can help and a lot of people in the community don’t have insurance,” said Ranjbar. So they miss out on other things that can improve health, and because they don’t talk about those things, people end up taking five, six medications that don’t work or interact. amazing.”

Ranjbar, an immigrant from Iran, grew up surrounded by holistic medicine. His mother, who struggled with multiple autoimmune conditions, sought healing through a variety of diets and lifestyle practices until she passed away when Ranjbar was 12 years old.

Ranjbar said: “I grew up seeing medicine as holistic, multifaceted and very complex. “And so I was very disappointed when I got to medical school in the US and realized that they didn’t teach anything. of these things except a very small fraction of it in medical school.”

For more than two decades, Ranjbar has devoted himself to his research work in integrative medicine and now teaches multidisciplinary information at the University of Arizona. He serves as a local leader for several national organizations, including the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, the American Board of Integrative Medicine and the Integrative Psychiatry Program at the University of Arizona. He also works for the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, which is world-renowned for its fundamental concepts of holistic mental health treatment.

Filling the gap in health care

The Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine will partner with Integrative Touch for a conference in January 2025, says Integrative Touch founder Shay Beider. The Alumni & Associates Conference will run Jan. 17-20, and Integrative Touch will provide the clinical care portion of the event, offering acupuncture or meditation experiences.

Integrative Touch is an organization designed to “fill a void” in health care, Beider says. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in January, the organization has built a new reputation for its educational facilities and treatment rooms offering workshops, support groups and over 100 different treatments for recovery, says its website.

“I think that the health system and the insurance companies in particular are starting to realize the importance of spending money on some of these things, because there is more and more information that is coming through the National Institute of Complementary and Integrative Health shows that these things affect the need for surgical procedures,” said Beider. “For people with things like severe back pain, sometimes getting things like massage or other treatments like acupuncture actually cost less than back surgery. The Joint Commission that accredits hospitals began writing that acupuncture should be used for pain management, and some insurance companies are beginning to pay for acupuncture. “

He says that when insurance companies see evidence of lower costs of combined procedures, they may begin to cover these procedures more, but it may take more effort for the health system. of the mind.

“There’s so much stigma in the mental health field that there’s a lot of history behind it, but it’s treated very differently,” Beider said. She says the first step to better coverage for this is to reduce the stigma around mental health issues.

She says people don’t look down on those with pain or physical pain, so “why should we look down on them if they’re anxious or depressed?”

“These are just health problems. That’s the way we have to look at it,” Beider said.

Beider says those who want to get involved on a deeper level can join advocacy groups at national organizations such as NAMI Southern Arizona or the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine. He says people can also write directly to their insurance customers to advocate for a more comprehensive and integrated process.