As Congress and the Obama Administration continue to struggle with issues related to escalating health care costs and the rising incidence of chronic disease, Feb. 26th proved a crucial day for defining how alternative and integrative medicine can play a major role in transforming the nation’s failing health care system.

On that day, the nation’s foremost alternative medicine leaders testified before the Senate on how alternative medicine can help solve the worsening health care crisis. Doctors Mehmet Oz, Dean Ornish, Andrew Weil and Mark Hyman -- four of the nation’s most highly respected proponents of natural and integrative medicine -- argued before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) must be incorporated into the conventional health care system if we’re ever going to fix it.

For those unfamiliar with the practice, integrative medicine is an approach to health care that places the patient at the center of care, focuses on prevention and wellness, and attends to the physical, mental and spiritual needs of the person. For those of us who practice integrative medicine, Feb. 26th was an historic day in our continuous quest to get the word out that medical treatment should not just focus on doctors reacting to disease. Rather, preventative care, healthy habits and alternative medicines should also be incorporated in an effort to promote wellness 365 days of the year.

What we have now is a 'sick care' system that only reacts to problems when they occur. The integrative approach puts the patient at the center, addressing not just symptoms, but the causes of illness. It is care that is preventive, predictive and very personalized. In the wake of the Feb. 26 hearings, The Institute of Medicine -- which advises U.S. policymakers -- convened a Summit on Integrative Medicine at the Institute of Medicine in Washington D.C. Participants came to the conclusion that the current healthcare reimbursement system - one that rewards procedures, rather than healthy outcomes - must be changed. They also determined that combining prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and recovery efforts in promoting wellness is much better than the current practice of only reacting to disease.

The Summit articulated the following important factors to be considered in upcoming health care reform:

• The progression of many chronic diseases can be reversed and sometimes even completely healed through lifestyle modifications. Lifestyle modifications programs have been proven to mitigate cardiac disease and prostate cancer, among other chronic conditions.
• Genetics is not destiny. Recent research by Dean Ornish, M.D., and others has shown that gene expression can be turned on or off by nutritional choices, levels of social support, stress reduction activities such as meditation and exercise..
• Our environment influences our health. Mounting evidence suggests that the environment outside one's body rapidly becomes the environment inside the body.

President Barack Obama and our Congressional leaders have pledged to make major changes in the U.S.. healthcare system, which is the world's most costly even as it lags other nations in many quality measures. The alternative medicine model will lead not only to better health, but also dramatic cost savings. More important than saving money, however, is the better quality of life we can all experience. Too often we think of medical breakthroughs as a new FDA approved drug, an advance laser treatment or high-tech surgical procedure. Instead we should all remember that simple lifestyle choices – what we eat, how we cope with stress, how often we exercise and the quality of our life – can be even more powerful than drugs and surgery.