13421. ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE AND THE NIH. This paper provides an overview and analysis of NIH-mediated activities in the area of alternative and complementary medicine. The first section traces the history of CAM at the NIH and describes the current and historical mission of the Office of Alternative Medicine (now the National Center). Following this, the analysis looks at NIH-funded studies of alternative medicine, focusing on the general direction of these studies and highlighting consensus statements on various CAM modalities. The next section addresses issues of methodology in the scientific study of CAM, with particular reference to NIH position statements on this issue. The remaining sections examine how alternative medicine “fits” within conventional medicine and the existing healthcare reimbursement system and how it is viewed by healthcare practitioners from both the “alternative” and “conventional” ends of the spectrum. KEYWORDS: alternative medicine term paper national health policy nutrition herbal vitamin chiropractic acupuncture complementary medicine research paper. APA Style. 26 pages, 72 footnotes, 32 bibliographic sources.