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Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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Complementary and Alternative Medicine:
A Shift in Medicare Policy to Benefit the Elderly Disabled
Nursing Role in Leadership, Management, Current Issues, and Gerontology

The United States Department of Health and Human Services identifies the disabled as individuals having difficulties in movement, deficiency in senses, impairments in emotional or cognitive functioning, which is usually in connection to some sort of health problem (Altman & Bernstein, 2008). Data from the National Health Interview Survey for 2001 to 2005 indicates that 61 percent of people aged 65 years and over have some form of disability (Altman & Bernstein, 2008). The main resource for the medical needs of almost all elderly disabled people is the Medicare program (Altman & Bernstein, 2008). The Medicare program provides them with access to primary healthcare providers, hospital care, nursing home care, hospice, home health, some medicines, and medically necessary services like durable medical equipment and supplies (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, n.d.). Unfortunately, according to the Medicare National Coverage Determinations Manual (2012) it does not reimburse Complementary and Alternative Medicine services. The author proposes that Complementary and Alternative Medicine should be included in Medicare’s coverage for elderly disabled people as part of an integrative approach to their care. The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) offers the elderly disabled person an additional option in ways to improve their quality of life. Almost half of older adults have a functional limitation and this has a direct relationship with their ability to live independently and in their overall quality of life (Holmes, Powell-Griner, Lethbridge-Cejku, & Heyman, 2009). Studies have shown that despite Medicare’s refusal to cover such services, the prevalence of

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