Battling Cost of Care in Michigan

/ Associates of Integrative Medicine/

For most folks, the biggest obstacle to getting care with us is cost. It is expensive to get natural medicine support in the state of Michigan. This has to do with laws that license natural medicine doctors or naturopaths.

In Michigan, anyone can call themselves natural, holistic, integrative, regardless of whether they have a degree or not. It doesn’t really mean anything concrete.

In fact, anyone can call themselves a “doctor” in Michigan. This term is also not regulated. This makes it challenging for vulnerable cancer patients and their families who are trying to navigate the kind of care that they need for support. 

There are a couple of problems with the fact that Michigan is an unlicensed state for naturopaths who have earned a doctoral degree:

1. Supplements are NOT regulated by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for quality, contamination safety, and efficacy. They are regulated by the US Department of Agriculture, like a banana. 

This means anyone can sell anything and it doesn’t need to demonstrate that it is what it says it is or that it works. If someone framing themselves as “holistic” is not educated on the difference between a “pharmaceutical-grade supplement”, a “doctor’s-brand”, a high quality over the counter supplement, and a low-quality mass-marketed supplement then they can’t protect their patient. And even more importantly, natural medicine providers that do not have sub specialty training in integrative oncology cannot know whether even a multivitamin is contraindicated with chemotherapy (it often is). Naturopathic doctors, as a standard part of their doctoral education, are experts in supplement quality.

2. Natural medicine, complementary and alternative healers, who may not have a formal degree, or may just have a certification, can claim to provide the same level of care as a licensed and doctoral level educated naturopath. Licensure separates life-experience and self study from formal medical training without invalidating the very real need for experience and continuing education.

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When you live in a state where the state hasn’t determined by law:

  • Who is a doctor

  • Who has been appropriately trained to provide a specific level and type of care

Then not only are patients at risk, Medicare does not need to cover that service. And Medicare is the determinant as to whether the Blues and other private providers will cover.

This means that to access any natural medicine service in Michigan, you need to pay cash unless the MD or DO or DC codes the visit (often by getting into a gray area) as “medical care”, and throws in some supplements for sale.

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As of February 1st, 2021, to see myself, Dr. Roy, it costs $379/hour. To see Dr. March, $179-279/hour. The rate to see us approximates the cost of reimbursement from Medicare for the time and level of care we provide.

For many, this is very high. We do understand. And we want you to understand that you ARE empowered to do something about this. Write to your representative. Ask them to Support Michigan House Bill 4531 and Senate Bill 826

If we were covered under your insurance, the cost of this level of care would be anywhere from zero to the cost of co-pays. 

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Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luCQUjNIp2Y&feature=emb_title to watch a short video on licensure in Michigan.

These states all license natural medicine doctors or naturopaths who have received a four-year combined doctoral degree in conventional medical science and evidence-based complementary medicine, an (ND).

  • Alaska

  • Arizona

  • California

  • Colorado

  • Connecticut

  • District of Columbia (D.C.)

  • Hawaii

  • Idaho 

  • Kansas

  • Maine

  • Maryland

  • Massachusetts

  • Minnesota

  • Montana

  • New Hampshire

  • New Mexico

  • North Dakota

  • Oregon

  • Pennsylvania

  • Rhode Island

  • Utah

  • Vermont

  • Washington state

  • United States Territories: Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands

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At Associates of Integrative Medicine, our natural medicine doctors are not just NDs. We are also Fellows of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology or Fellowship candidates.

We are also unique in that we:

  1. Have MD supervision

  2. Have completed a 5-year hospital or outpatient-based fellowship in naturopathic oncology

  3. Are nationally recognized speakers in supportive care for oncology in our field.

  4. See somewhere around 2000 patients a year, almost all of whom are cancer patients and their families.

This level of training, exposure, and expertise is not comparable to natural medicine healers who have an intuition and feel for natural therapy. We value these colleagues. We collaborate with them and we refer to them. But when it comes to cancer care, EVERY cancer patient should have access to a FABNO as a standard part of their care just as medical, surgical, and radiation oncology.

  • We improve tolerance to drugs and radiation

  • We sensitize drugs and radiation

  • We avoid contraindicated therapy

  • We improve outcomes

  • We decrease cancer cell’s ability to resist drugs

  • We significantly and profoundly improve the ability for our patients to lower the risk of recurrence and slow progression

There is a powerful lobby AGAINST natural medicine in Michigan. This is mostly from the American Association of Family Physicians who are worried about competition. A typical ND graduate has a broader toolbox from antibiotics to probiotics. And there is push back from natural medicine providers who do not have a formal medical education from an accredited naturopathic medical school who feel that licensing will limit their reach. But it is absolutely the case, at this time in history, that more regulation, rather than less, will help to bring peace, normalcy, and health to our beautiful state.

Michigan has this opportunity to be at the leading edge care only if YOU are active and aggressive in pursuing this level of care. 

We hear your concerns about cost, and as you know, when you are our patient, we do what we need to do to meet everyone’s needs and still deliver a high level of care, but there is no point in complaining to us, we are powerless to move mountains. But you can. 

When you write to your representative, you can copy and paste the points on https://www.michnd.org/licensing/

And state your support for Michigan House Bill 4531 and Senate Bill 826

Fight Cancer the Right Way. Make it a human right to have access to this kind of care and get loud with your representative. These people represent your will, your wishes. So many of us focus on federal decision-makers but the people who impact whether our families get the kind of expert cancer care that will keep them around tomorrow are our LOCAL politicians. Push hard.

Be well,

Dr. Roy