NPRI: Naturopathic Physicians Research Institute

The Naturopathic Physicians Research Institute (NPRI) is a group of academic and community clinicians, clinical researchers and other health scientists whose aim is to increase the amount of original data and analysis on the practice of naturopathic medicine for the purposes of its documentation and improvement, the discovery of potentially generalizable health applications, and to inform policy.  Its focus is primarily on licensed and registered naturopathic medicine practiced in the US and Canada, but it attends to naturopathic practice globally and welcomes collaboration with all interested parties. NPRI was incorporated in Oregon in June 2010 and is a public charity designated as an exempt organization under IRS 501c3.

The mission of the Naturopathic Physicians Research Institute is to stimulate, organize, fund, conduct and disseminate research on the clinical practice and outcomes of naturopathic physicians in order to improve practice and the health of their patients and communities. 

A Naturopathic Science & Policy Summit was organized by NPRI and the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) and co-sponsored with the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges on August 16, 2011 in Phoenix AZ. Leaders from the naturopathic profession’s agencies in the US and Canada were invited along with media, policy activists, clinicians, academicians, and researchers. The 100 attendees addressed the value of data on the character and outcomes of naturopathic medicine, considering discipline-specific research for purposes of informing government and corporate health care policy. One goal was to define the role of research data in multiple policy domains: licensing, insurance, participation in public health programs and the position of naturopathic physicians in Federal health reform. Another was to assess and report on the commitment to discipline-specific studies in the major sectors of the profession including academic institutions; state, national and specialty associations, individual clinicians and group practices, naturopathic physician-scientists, and industry serving the naturopathic community. Finally, we hoped to set directions for obvious next steps in research. The day began with a view of science and policy from 3 keynotes with perspectives on research from professions that share characteristics in the marketplace and policy arena. Ian Coulter PhD of the RAND Corporation presented on lessons learned in the chiropractic profession. Lorraine Jordan, CRNA PhD, showed how outcomes research paved the way for advances by nurse anesthesists. John Weeks of the Academic Consortium for Complementary & Alternative Health Care shared the research priorities of a multidisciplinary CAM Collaboration. A second session focused on the state of research specific to naturopathic practice, highlighting recent projects that address discipline- and policy-specific issues. A panel followed by four of the profession’s policy and political activists on the needs for policy-informing naturopathic data. The panel was capped by a summary of the federal funding climate for naturopathic health research. Finally four break out sessions—colleges, clinicians, specialty societies and clinician--considered the way forward in terms of naturopathic agencies’ roles, most pressing issues, needs and resources. Findings were summarized by reporters from each group and then overall by the AANP President and NPRI’s Executive Director. Key conclusions affirmed the importance of clinical outcomes research and the need to secure more financial resources for policy-informing research from within the profession as well as from Federal and philanthropic sources. A complete report on the Summit may be found here.

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Preliminary results from a recently completed randomized pragmatic trial of a whole practice model of naturopathic care for cardiovascular risk were presented at the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians meeting in Portland in August 2010. Dugald Seely, ND, MSc, principal investigator showed data indicating that Canadian postal workers at elevated cardiovascular risk improved under naturopathic care beyond those in usual care in the Framingham CV risk profile.  The MYMOP patient-centered outcome measure showed improvements in multiple areas. Patricia Herman, ND, PhD, in a cost-effectiveness analysis of outcomes, showed most cost-savings to be in the indirect costs of work productivity. For more detail on the study before its publication, see a report in The Integrator Blog.