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INM Primary Care Task Force

Mission:

To spearhead outreach at underserved rural and urban health centers resulting in the creation of primary care positions for naturopathic physicians in Oregon and Washington.

Vision:

Improved health outcomes for underserved populations and an expanded Oregon and Washington State primary care workforce through the addition of naturopathic physicians.

In October 2018, INM launched its Primary Care Task Force. Thus far, the Task Force has approved Partnership Agreements with Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians (WANP), Naturopathic Academy of Primary Care Physicians (NAPCP), Northwest Regional Primary Care Association (NWRPCA), Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physicians (OANP), Bastyr University, and National University of Natural Medicine. The Task Force has been spearheading outreach to rural and underserved clinics and health service providers that includes opportunities for integration with naturopathic doctors in primary care roles in Oregon and Washington. The Task Force promotes naturopathic physicians as one  answer to the primary care provider shortages across the Pacific Northwest region.

Interested in integrating a naturopathic doctor into your community health center (or federally qualified health center), and/or learning about how to integrate an ND PCP into your own clinic? 

Goals:

  • Increased community and provider knowledge about NDs

  • Education to clinics regarding utility of evidence-based clinical nutrition approaches to chronic illness

  • Increase primary care career opportunities for NDs as primary care physicians, not adjunctive roles

  • Increase loan forgiveness opportunities for licensed NDs in OR and WA through state-funded loan repayment programs

  • Assess feasibility of primary care ND residencies in rural clinical settings

  • Create and implement a pilot program study in Washington community health centers to look at the effectiveness of naturopathic nutritional interventions for the treatment of chronic illness ( diabetes and hypertension)

  • Collect OR and WA State workforce data for NDs

  • Improve health disparities by providing primary care in areas of need

Get Involved!