Integration of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Colombian Healthcare System; a pilot project in Bogota D.C

In 2009 the Health Department of Bogota, Colombia, sought to bridge the gap between its dominantly allopathic healthcare system and other Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) systems. It launched a pilot project entitled “Promotion of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Primary Healthcare Framework in Bogota”. The overall goal of the pilot project was to integrate CAM practices into the service portfolio of public hospitals in the city, as well as to generate experience, evidence and a knowledge base that could support the construction of public policies on CAM, within the national healthcare system.  The project also aimed to increase the public´s access to CAM treatment modalities, irrespective of individual´s purchasing power. The pilot project started through the signing of an agreement between five of the twenty two public hospitals (later expanded to others) in the city and the Health Department. Under the agreement, the hospitals committed to establishing a core working group, whose mission was to collaboratively developing and overseeing the project. The project was developed in three phases: 1. creating CAM task forces within hospitals; reviewing experiences of CAM integration; analyzing the legal context; sensitizing all levels of stakeholders. 2. Launch of CAM Services; development and implementation of a research project in each hospital. 3. Building the financial sustainability and quality improvement systems of the newly created CAM services. This was the first systematic initiative to integrate CAM services in the healthcare system, which until then were solely offered by private practitioners. Towards the end of the project, the government included CAM services into the healthcare system´s coverage.