On The Front Lines Of Alternative Medicine

More and more respected mainstream physicians are blending traditional and alternative medicine—even when it means risking their reputations and security.

By Jill Neimark, published on January 01, 1997 - last reviewed on July 06, 2006

Money Talks

Remarkably often, alternative approaches treat chronic illnesses more efficiently and cheaply than orthodox methods. Each year we spend nearly a trillion dollars on health care services and products, and insurance companies carry most of that financial burden. So now they are turning to enterprising crossover doctors who have proven that their methods can cut costs. Stranger bedfellows one couldn't find: the big behemoths of the insurance industry, and the doctors who have championed a grassroots movement. This is a decade that has been marked by radical shifts in the economics of health care through the precipitous use of HMOs, and by the invention and refinement of ever more specialized, expensive diagnostic and surgical techniques. Many Americans have felt abandoned by their doctors, and doctors in turn have felt abandoned by the system itself. Now the system is beginning to change, spurred on in part by entrepreneurial alternative doctors who understand how important cost effectiveness is.

Samuel Benjamin, M.D., is a case in point. He is program director at the Arizona Center for Health and Medicine, a facility that employs six physicians and eight full-time "equivalents" who offer approaches such as herbal medicine, body work, meditation, and visualization. When Dr. Benjamin's daughter was born prematurely—weighing in at two pounds, one ounce—he made sure she received true integrated medicine: the best in conventional care, as well as therapeutic touch, prayer, and stimulation with colors, pleasant smells, and music. His little girl is now five years old and healthy. Dr. Benjamin offered the same approach to his mother-in-law when she developed breast cancer six years ago. She underwent a lumpectomy and radiation, but at Dr. Benjamin's suggestion she also began praying, practicing guided visualization, and taking coenzyme Q 10 (a nutrient known to have a protective effect against breast cancer) and an herbal formula called Essiac, which is reputed to have anticancer properties. At her last checkup she was cancer-free.

But it's not Dr. Benjamin's beliefs that have captured the attention of the Mercy Family Health Centers network, whose parent company is Catholic Healthcare West, the fifth largest health care provider in the U.S. It's his financial success. When one insurance company compared 300 patients at Dr. Benjamin's center with patients with similar diagnoses—such as autoimmune diseases, lower back pain, or migraines—who were not seen at the center, the trends were startling. Treatment costs were cut by 56 percent. Emergency room visits were down. The level of patient satisfaction was 92 percent at the center and 76 percent outside. "I'm not against managed care," says Dr. Benjamin. "It's one of the champions of alternative medicine in this country."

Dr. Benjamin plans to expand the Arizona Center's services so that it will serve 2.6 million state residents. Meanwhile, he continues to help his patients. He tells of a 43-year-old woman who had been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and was taking powerful anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids, along with the drugs Zantac and Prilosec to treat their side effects. Dr. Benjamin treated the woman with acupuncture, guided visualization, and the anti-inflammatory herb ginger, which costs about seven dollars a month. He also sent her to a wellness support group that meditates and discusses their problems in a positive way. The results were "nearly miraculous," Dr. Benjamin says. "Her inflammation decreased, the mobility of her joints increased, she's back at work, she's off her medication, and we substantially decreased the cost of her care."

Even physicians in solo practice are beginning to talk about cost cutting. Robert Ivker, D.O., a family physician in Littleton, Colorado, and president of the American Holistic Medical Association, says he cured himself of sinus problems through a holistic approach that included changing his diet, his lifestyle, and his attitude. "Half a million sinus surgeries are performed every year," he says. "Each surgery can cost up to $10,000, so Americans are spending close to $5 billion on sinus surgery alone." Ivker tells of one patient who recently came to him after suffering with sinusitis for six years and undergoing four separate surgeries. By changing his diet, cleaning up his environment, and treating his allergies, the patient improved dramatically in just three months. "The treatment cost under $1,000, and he says he's been reborn," says Ivker. "There's an unprecedented opportunity now for alternative medicine to work with the managed care industry, and eventually attract the entire medical community."

To that end, research under the auspices of universities and the OAM may prove crucial. The OAM has already funded small studies on everything from homeopathy to visualization. A pilot study on the efficacy of mental imagery in the treatment of asthma, for instance, conducted by psychiatrist Gerald Epstein, MD., in conjunction with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, found that imagery exercises helped 47 percent of patients decrease or discontinue their medications.

The OAM is currently funding studies at 10 top universities, on everything from allergies to cancer, aging, and chronic pain. A typical study, at the Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research in Women's Health at Columbia University, will compare the diagnosis and treatment plan offered to women seen by both Chinese and Dominican doctors. The study will analyze the botanical medicines prescribed in the two cultures for common conditions, to see whether the plants share any chemical properties. "Our assumption is that they will," says Fredi Kronenberg, Ph.D., director of the center.