holisticpedsRN

Thank you! This is so helpful. I was so surprised the process of securing an NPI number was remarkably easy. I'm not surprised that billing under them is confusing and legally challenging having worked in the legal field for years before moving into nursing. Liability is a scary thing and medical liability within a private practice is especially messy. Most of the integrative private practices I'm familiar with don't bother with insurance reimbursement because it can be such an administrative nightmare. Most opt for private pay or sliding scales for services. Even a lot of the new concierge medical practices I've seen popping up are going this route. I'm still trying to sort out whether expanding ones scope to be a "secondary provider" is worth the extra liability (requiring additional insurance) and billing/coding legalities. Can anyone comment on how easy it is to bill with the NPI number? Are the reimbursement amounts significantly increasing your revenue flow? Was anyone out there a nursing wellness coach of some kind (so not billing through insurance) first and then completed to NIWH program to get this expanded scope? How did it shift your practice? What percentage of your client base is being billed using this NPI number? Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I'm not sold on the benefits of a NPI number yet, but I'm really interested in understanding more and trying to assess how valuable it might be.

I answered my own question: I went ahead an applied for an NPI number and my number was issued to me within a few HOURS of submitting the online application. So there really isn't anything to significant there. If you're a practicing RN and want an NPI number it's super easy to get! Here's the website link: MAIN PAGE — NPPES

Can anyone comment more on the NPI number? It appears that the application process is very straightforward and says RNs are eligible to register for an NPI number free online. Is there some kind of special NPI application requirement that the NIWH program meets that I'm missing? Thanks!

Hi there! There aren't a lot of mainstream programs that pay for nurses to do Reiki or Healing Touch at the bedside...yet...but there is growing interest and support for it. I know there is a program at Rady's Children's Hospital in San Diego where RNs circulate through the hospitals each day, for fours hours, paid at their normal nurses hourly, performing Healing Touch on patients, families, and staff. Had an interesting conversation with an RN who relocated to California from NY. She was a paid holistic nurse in a NY hospital where they offered a variety of services including guided imagery, mindfulness, and bioenergetic work. I'm trained in Healing Touch, Level 1, and provide it to my patients at the bedside but I have to fit it around my normal nursing tasks and sometimes there isn't time. It took a LOT of work, years actually, to get a hospital policy in place allowing us to do Healing Touch on patients and our goal is to eventually get a program in place like the one at Rady's...but its slow going and finding funding is always the biggest challenge. We've just started a Healing Touch Unit Committee to try and promote/coordinate services and we have about 60 Healing Touch trained nurses hospital-wide through a grant we received. It takes a ton of effort and creativity and dedication but I do believe it's worth it. I've heard of Healing Touch being referred to as "Reiki for Nurses." The nice thing about Healing Touch is the system was developed by an RN and is very easily translated to the bedside because it uses the nursing process applied to various bioenergetic systems. Reiki principles are incorporated into Healing Touch, but there are a lot of other systems used as well. I was actually a massage therapist before becoming an RN, and never thought I'd get into energy work. I thought it was just to "woo-woo" but the practice has pulled me in and I really think there's so much we don't understand in this field. It's been fascinating learning and experiencing it! Most of the time I have no idea why it works, but it works so I use it as a tool to help my patients find relief.

Here is a link to a great interview with the Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) Pain Clinic director that includes a lot of references to the CAM therapies they use. LINK: http://www.wetreatkidsbetter.org/2014/04/pain-management-clinic-provides-relief-for-kids/ "Gold: I believe that medications and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices (like acupuncture and massage) will always have a place, side-by-side, especially in the management of chronic pain. The goal is to always treat patients with the least invasive methods that produce the least amount of side effects, with the greatest functional gains. Combining CAM therapies with medication strives to achieve that goal." With children especially, if they can use massage or acupuncture to decrease dependence on pharmaceuticals and/or decrease dosages, that's tremendous. I really enjoy seeing examples of this holistic approach to treatment being utilized by large, established teaching/research hospitals. I heard CHLA will be publishing some significant research results from their pediatric acupuncture program soon. Stay tuned!!

I recently completed the AHNA "Foundations of Holistic Nursing" home study course which was FANTASTIC and is worth 65 contact hours -- it uses Dossey's Holistic Nursing Handbook as the main text, and I believe it was a really good way to start preparing for the exam too. You have nine months to complete the course. It was really wonderful.

Hi everyone! I feel that holistic nursing is really at the forefront of a much larger movement in the preventative health and wellness fields & I'm excited to be a part of it. In the hospital environment, I bring aspects of holistic nursing to my practice regularly. I do think we have a long way to go before being a "holistic nurse" is really fully recognized (and respected) for the specialty that it is, and many holistic nurses are working within an entrepreneurial/independent contractor sphere as wellness coaches or getting additional certifications in things like massage therapy & acupuncture. It's very challenging to balance the clinical side of nursing with the complementary mind/body/spirit therapies that we appreciate so much. I'm just glad there are others out there who love this stuff like I do & the AHNA is a wonderful resource. I really felt like I'd found my tribe when I joined that organization! Good luck in your career!!