List: Quackwatch is up in arms about this agreement. Therefore, it will probably prove beneficial. Here's some links to learn more about it. Roger
"Has anyone bothered to point out to Mr. Colvin that there is a heck of a lot of difference between getting a massage twice a month an promoting and charging for Chopra's eastern spirituality disguised as medicine?" (Birmingham, AL too?) ------------------------ http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/082101/LOCchopra.shtml Memorial embraces alternative medicine Hospital joins mind-body physician to open the Chopra Center. By Mary Landers Savannah Morning News Millions buy the holistic medicine books of Deepak Chopra. The entrepreneur and physician espouses a spiritual Eastern philosophy toward healing, describing the universe as a "dynamic web of energy" in which we can experience "the expansion of our consciousness." Now his teachings are expanding to Savannah. On Monday, Memorial Health announced a partnership with the Chopra Center for Well Being based in La Jolla, Calif. Eventually, Memorial plans to offer services such as acupuncture, reflexology, and both mind-body and herbal medicine consultations. The agreement with Memorial is the first the Chopra Center has made with a hospital. The center also has an agreement with a mind-body facility in Birmingham, Ala. About 160 Memorial employees are attending a three-day, mind-body medicine workshop with Chopra at the Savannah Civic Center, where Chopra and Memorial CEO Bob Colvin made the announcement. The new program, which costs about $250,000 to start, won't replace any standard medical therapies, Colvin said. And not everything Chopra espouses will make it to Savannah. Chopra's Web site advertises astrology charts and a trip to Thailand to learn "how to know God." Chopra, looking relaxed in a golf shirt and sneakers in a Civic Center ballroom, said the astrology offering is just a fun thing. "It's a way of invoking your own intuitive response," he said. "The information is pretty non-specific." It costs $275 through his Web site, but Memorial patients won't be offered astrology in Savannah. In fact, Memorial is taking a cafeteria-style approach to Chopra's teachings. If it's too "far-out," it's not being offered at Memorial, Colvin said. That includes anything that sounds like Eastern religion. "We will not be advocating that Eastern religion is part of the health care they're getting," Colvin said. Patients who don't want any mind-body medicine, won't get it, he said. "We're going to be careful no patient is exposed to something they're not interested in," Colvin said. But lots of patients already seek out alternative therapies. In 1997, more than 4 in 10 Americans used some type of alternative medicine, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That year, Americans made more visits to alternative medicine practitioners than to their primary care doctors. And Americans spent approximately the same in out-of-pocket expenses -- about $27 billion -- on alternative therapies as on physician services. Those services are largely provided outside of hospitals. In 2000, about 13 percent of hospitals reported providing alternative therapies to patients, according to a Deloitte & Touche survey of 5,000 hospital executives. Locally, St. Joseph's/Candler Health System opened its Wellness Center in March. Hospital CEOs are starting to listen better to patient demand. It may be that they are looking at their own behavior. In that same survey, many CEOs reported using alternative therapies themselves, even though the employer didn't offer them. Memorial's Colvin said he gets a massage twice a month. But to some, responding to consumer demand is bad medicine. "In the case of hospitals utilizing Dr. Chopra's dubious services, they're giving the approach of the department store magnate Marshall Field who said 'Give the lady what she wants,' " said Jack Raso, director of publications for the American Council on Science and Health, a non-profit educational consortium. "It's basically catering to what consumers see as desires and needs." Dr. J. P. Saleeby already practices integrative medicine at his Saleeby Longevity Institute in downtown Savannah. Memorial has been interested in what Saleeby was doing since he opened in November, he said. "Two weeks after we opened, representatives of Memorial Health came snooping around," he said. But his approach to integrative medicine -- which involves spending upward of an hour with patients -- would be tough to do in a large health system driven by managed care, he said. Still, some local physicians see Memorial's step as a positive one. Dr. Diane Weems, interim director at the Chatham County Health Department, said she learned in medical school to convince patients they didn't want alternative medicine. Now, she questions that. "All of us in the health care field are looking at alternative medicine and trying to look at its merits," she said. ---------------------- The Chopra Center at Memorial Health Memorial is phasing in its Chopra Center. The first two phases are mainly training, and will cost about $250,000. The center is expected to be fully operational in the spring of 2002. Planned services include reflexology, tai chi, massages, acupuncture, yoga, mind-body consultation and herbal medicine consultations. There may be additional, as-yet-undetermined costs in licensing the Chopra name. Health reporter Mary Landers can be reached at 652-0337 or [email protected].
