I really liked this article on how more hospitals are offering natural alternative medicine to those in their care. I know it’s not really evidence, that the medical establishment is more open to alternative natural healing modalities. It does tell us though, that more people are realizing that there are valuable therapies outside of western “scientific” sick care.

Of course there is one major reason hospitals are taking note (it’s the same reason so many stores adopted the Organic movement ) they supply because there is Demand (which = $$$) !

More Hospitals Offering Natural Alternative Medicine

More hospitals offering "Alternatives"

Experts say hospitals are embracing these therapies for many reasons, including a growing recognition that some integrative therapies, as they’re also called, are very effective in certain instances.

In addition, hospitals aren’t blind to the opportunity these therapies present to attract patients and perhaps make some money. According to the most recent report from the National Center for Health Statistics, Americans spent $33.9 billion on integrative therapies in 2007 — with most of the money coming out of their own pockets, since the majority of these treatments aren’t covered by insurance. That figure includes fees for about 354 million visits to complementary and alternative medical practitioners, and it represents about 11% of total out-of-pocket expenditures on healthcare.

 

According to the survey, the top treatments offered at outpatient centers were massage therapy, acupuncture and guided imagery. (The latter uses mental techniques, including visualization, to achieve such goals as reducing stress sometimes known as biofeedback.)

On an inpatient basis, the top offerings are therapy with pets, massage and music/art therapy, according to the survey.

Check out the whole article here

Sure, they are mostly doing it for the money, but maybe this small form of recognition from hospitals will lead to even wider acceptance among the public and professionals for alternative natural healing techniques.

Do you think it’s a good thing that more hospitals are offering natural alternative medicine to their patients or do you think it’s better to “keep em separated” ?

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