The REACH Center has a number of funded projects ongoing that aim to improve symptom management and whole person health using complementary and integrative health interventions. These projects are funded by external funders and by the Center itself through seed money for pilot grants.
The principal objective of this project is to assess the impact of the new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) decision to cover acupuncture for chronic low back pain (cLBP) upon patient outcomes. Thus, the first aim of the project will be to compare safety, efficiency of care, and costs of care for Medicare beneficiaries receiving acupuncture as compared to pharmacotherapy for management of cLBP. Because the CMS decision came with restrictions on coverage that could impact equitable access to care, important project objectives will also include measuring the availability of acupuncture providers under Medicare, describing patterns and trends in utilization of acupuncture by Medicare beneficiaries, and determining facilitators and barriers to the use of acupuncture for both providers and patients.
Principal Investigators: Jim Whedon and Todd MacKenzie; Southern California University of Health Sciences and Dartmouth
The aim of this project is to study provider adherence to the VA/DoD Low Back Pain Clinical Practice Guidelines across all provider types within the VA North Texas Health Care System Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department (PM&R) at the Fort Worth VA Clinic. Additionally, the study will determine to what extent veteran sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors influence provider adherence with VA guidelines.
Principal Investigators: Michael Moore and Gary Tam; Parker University
The aim of this project is to deliver a traumatic brain injury (TBI)-focused, mentored, evidence-synthesis training program. The successful execution of this program will provide the preliminary data and proof-of-concept needed to apply for a NINDS R25 research education grant.
Principal Investigator: Joshua Goldenberg; National University of Medicine
The aim of this project is to develop, and pilot test a collection process for capturing diet data and an approach for calculating diet cost to be used when comparing the cost implications of following different diet patterns. This process will be used in calculating the cost of a diet consumed by study participants prior to and during a subsequent dietary counselling intervention study.
Principal Investigator: Monique Aucoin; Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine
Employ a user-centered design methodology, incorporating feedback from active clinicians, in order to design and create a web-based clinical decision support tool tailored for back pain.
Principal Investigator: Robert Vining, D.C., D.H.Sc., Palmer College of Chiropractic
Compare the effectiveness of spinal manipulative therapy versus prescription drug therapy in providing care for neck pain among elderly Medicare beneficiaries.
Principal Investigator: James Whedon, D.C., M.S., Southern California University of Health Sciences
Combine a team of experts in homeopathy and experts in research methodology to examine the literature that has formed the basis of recent systematic reviews and draft a report of the state-of-the-science.
Principal Investigator: Patricia M Herman, N.D., Ph.D., RAND
Inform the design and conduct of an adverse event (AE) reporting system to systematically gather data on AE following chiropractic care.
Principal Investigator: Katie Pohlman, D.C., M.S., Ph.D., Parker University
Examine to what degree CIH providers in the U.S. are exposed to healthy and unhealthy working conditions and how their exposure compares to that of mainstream healthcare professionals.
Principal Investigator: Margaret Whitley, Ph.D., M.P.H., RAND
Complementary and integrative health (CIH) providers, such as chiropractors and naturopathic doctors, were an underutilized public health asset in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Center researchers convened an expert panel of ten CIH and public health practitioners and researchers for a daylong discussion of how the CIH workforce could be better mobilized during future crises.
The project team developed and published a RAND Perspective, providing expert insight to policy makers on the timely issue of opioid settlement fund distribution. It argues that portions of the funds should be dedicated to increasing awareness of and access to evidence-based, non-pharmacologic pain interventions. Importantly, it also recommends, where appropriate, research funding to investigate the potential for the use of non-pharmacologic interventions to offset opioid use and as co-treatment for those with opioid use disorder (OUD).
The project team developed and published a toolkit for use by complementary and integrative healthcare stakeholders that provides instruction and materials to use when advocating for the allocation of opioid settlement funds to support non-pharmacological treatment options at the local, state, and national level. This toolkit was published by Northwestern Health Sciences University, Center for Healthcare Innovation and Policy.
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