Alternative medicine therapy through MDs requires patient communication -- physician .
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
CONVENTIONAL/ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE INTEGRATION REQUIRES "SHARED DECISION-MAKING" between conventional medical providers and patients, David Eisenberg, MD, director of the Center for Alternative Medicine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, stresses in an article in the July 1 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. The "national trend" toward third-party coverage of alternative therapies, including dietary supplements, "poses a predicament for physicians: how to responsibly advise patients who seek alternative therapies in the face of inconclusive evidence about the safety and effectiveness of these therapies," Eisenberg states.