The following were developed at the first ACCAHC leadership retreat in February 2004 and endorsed in March 2004.

Vision

ACCAHC envisions a health care system that is multidisciplinary and enhances competence, mutual respect and collaboration across all complementary and alternative medicine and conventional health care disciplines. This system will deliver effective care that is patient centered, focused on health creation and healing, and readily accessible to all populations.

Mission

The mission of ACCAHC is to create and sustain a network of national complementary and alternative medicine educational organizations and agencies, which will promote mutual understanding, collaborative activities and interdisciplinary health care education.

Values:

The diversity and traditions that exist in federally accredited complementary and alternative medicine institutions as well as recognized emerging complementary and alternative medicine fields that wish to become federally accredited CAM institutions.

The Institute of Medicine statement that “the goal of integrating care should be the provision of comprehensive care that is safe and effective care, that is collaborative and interdisciplinary, and care that respects and joins effective interventions from all sources.”⁽¹⁾

Public accountability and standards of practice, which emphasize patient-centered care, patient safety, practice competencies, professionalism and a rigorous code of ethics.

The complementary and alternative medicine paradigms and their academic and clinical applications, which recognize the intimate relationship between health, mind, body, spirit and environment, and emphasize health promotion, healing, prevention and wellness.

The importance of insuring that complementary and alternative medicine academic health care institutions have direct and equitable access to all public and private support systems.

Furthermore, ACCAHC supports evolving complementary and alternative medicine academic health centers and institutions as they emerge through the benchmarking processes of establishing high standards and developing academic curriculum, research, clinical training, future leaders and policy action that will affect the transformation of our health care system.

⁽¹⁾Institute of Medicine: Committee on the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by the American Public Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Institute of Medicine. Complementary and Alternative Medicine  (CAM) in the United States. Washington D.C.: National Academy of Sciences Press, 2005