Acupuncture & the VHA

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New Rochelle, NY, October 16, 2018—Acupuncture is an increasingly important and effective component of chronic pain management and other areas of care in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Over the past 7 years, the number of VHA facilities offering acupuncture has increased from 42% to 88%, according to an article published in a special issue on the use of acupuncture in the Veterans Health Administration in Medical Acupuncture, a peer-reviewed journal from by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 

Medical AcupunctureVol. 30, No. 5

Richard C. Niemtzow, MD, PhD, MPH

Editorial

In this special issue of the Medical Acupuncture journal, we are pleased to have innovative acupuncture articles from the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). Acupuncture is becoming well-established in the DVA. full editorial

Michael Freedman, MD, Greenville VA Health Care Center–Specialty Clinics

Objective: The goal of this article is to lay out the reasoning for integrating acupuncture within the VA as well as in general practice so as to be able to relieve patients' pain quickly.

Conclusions: Among the medical specialties, neurology is particularly suited to lead the way in incorporating acupuncture into daily practice. Aggressive training of physicians of at least basic acupuncture skills should be encouraged. The use of acupuncture as part of pain-control planning should be considered with more of a sense of urgency. full article

Kavitha Reddy, MD, ABoIM, VA St. Louis Healthcare System

David Drake &  Benjamin Kligler

Guest Editorial

One of the most promising nonpharmacologic approaches to pain management is acupuncture. Although this approach has been used for centuries in many countries in the world, this modality has gained support in the United States more recently due to the increasing amount of published evidence in support of acupuncture use. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published revised guidelines for the management of chronic pain, calling for use of nonpharmacologic approaches for chronic pain and cautious use of opioids in acute pain.1 A review of literature that the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Health Services Research and Development conducted showed good-quality evidence supporting the use of acupuncture for treating low-back pain, migraines, and osteoarthritis.2 The American College of Physicians published new guidelines in February of 2017 for treatment of low-back pain, including acupuncture as a first-line treatment for chronic and subacute low-back pain.3  full editorial

Cathaleen Madsen, PhD, The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc.

Tracey Koehlmoos, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.

Abstract

This research brief describes the use of acupuncture as a mechanism for the development of crossagency knowledge translation and evidence-based practices in order to ensure the best possible care for the nation's veterans. full article

Stephanie L. Taylor, PhD, VA, Los Angeles

Marleen Giannitrapani & Jesse Holliday, Center for Innovation to Implementation, Palo Alto Veterans Administration Healthcare System

Princess E. Ackland, Center for Chronic Disease and Outcomes Research, Minneapolis Veterans Administration Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN

...

Objective: Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA) is an auricular needling protocol for pain. More than 1300 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) clinicians have been trained in BFA delivery. However, little is known about how well BFA has been implemented at the VHA. The aim of this research was to identify the challenges providers experience in implementing BFA and to look for any successful strategies used to overcome these challenges. full article

A National Academy of Medicine Dialogue with the Veterans Administration's Leader for Cultural Transformation. An Interview with Tracy Gaudet, MD

Through my prior work directing the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health (ACIH), I was, from 2012 to the Spring of 2018, involved at the U.S. National Academy of Medicine with the most significant, ongoing interprofessional initiative internationally: the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education. Through the urging of the Collaborative's Board of Directors, the core charge to my ACIH colleague, Elizabeth A. Goldblatt, PhD, MPA/HA, and myself was to promote exploration of any innovation that would move the medical industry toward a delivery-and-payment model that could earn the title of “healthcare system.” Our interest in a health model met the interests of others who were rattled by a wave of burnout, depression, and suicide among medical students, residents, practicing doctors, and other practitioners. This led to a Global Forum workshop on April 26–27, 2018 entitled “A Systems Approach to Alleviating Work-Induced Stress and Improving Health, Well-Being, and Resilience of Health Professionals Within and Beyond Education.” full article

This research brief describes the use of acupuncture as a mechanism for the development of crossagency knowledge translation and evidence-based practices in order to ensure the best possible care for the nation's veterans. full article