Health insurers catch on to alternative medicine

Brian Falk

Although acupuncture is an ancient technique for healing, for health insurance plans it's an emerging field. Recent developments suggest acupuncture, along with many other alternative medical services, are moving toward the mainstream.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina made many of these services available to nearly 1 million customers through its Alt Med Blue program, which debuted in August. Alt Med Blue offers discounts of at least 25% on services at participating alternative practitioners, and at least 15% off wellness services such as fitness centers and personal trainers.

Referrals for the services aren't needed; members need only make appointments and show their insurance cards to receive the discounts. Other discounted services include stress management, massage therapy, spas and nutrition counseling.

Like many providers across the country, and some in North Carolina, Blue Cross is responding to a growing market. According to a 1998 study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, 42% of adults used at least one form of alternative medicine or therapy in 1997, spending more than $33 billion.

While consumers have readily embraced herbal therapies and other nontraditional approaches to health care, the insurance industry has been reluctant to extend coverage to alternative medicine.

"A lot of people are asking, and have been asking, about alternative medicine benefits," says Bob Greczyn, president and chief operating officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. "We're in the process of becoming a much more innovative company. This was an opportunity to come out with an innovative, value-added service for our membership."

Blue Cross chose to offer these services through a discount program rather than making them covered benefits.

"This is an opportunity to add a value-added service to our customers without adding to the cost of health insurance coverage," Greczyn says. "We've done a pretty aggressive advertising campaign around this. We've billed it as the first of many innovations from BCBSNC, and that's really what it is."

Richard Dunn would like to see more plans make these services covered benefits. "The HMOs are using this as a marketing niche, but I think they're losing sight of its potential," he says. Dunn is the founder of Alternative Healthcare Options, a Charlotte company that administers provider networks for WellPath Community Health Plans and Generations Family Health Plans, two of the first insurers in North Carolina to offer discount programs for these services. "Until it becomes integrated as a covered benefit, we're not going to see the true value of complementary and alternative medicine. That's what we're focusing on."

Dunn believes the rising popularity of alternative medical services will soon require health insurers to offer coverage. "There are more visits to alternative medicine providers than there are to primary care physicians," he says, citing the AMA study. "In a society where HMOs dictate that you go to a primary care physician before you can get a referral to a specialist, there are more people bypassing the system, going to the providers of their choice -- alternative medicine providers -- and paying out of pocket. That's on top of the premiums they're paying. I think that by 2002 or 2003, it'll be standard. If a health plan doesn't have it in there, it's not going to survive."

One reason for the growing popularity of alternative medicine is the amount of time practitioners spend with patients -- from 45 minutes to an hour, Dunn says. "The average medical doctor spends eight minutes with each patient. People want somebody that's going to spend time with them."

Greczyn says massage therapy is by far the most popular service offered through Alt Med Blue, accounting for more than half the services it has tracked. Fitness centers rank second at 20%, followed by acupuncture at 12% and nutrition counseling at 6%. Yoga, spas and biofeedback have also been popular.

Dunn expects Blue Cross' program to help lessen the stigma associated with alternative medicine and boost acceptance by health insurers.

"It's like Martha Stewart saying, `It's a good thing,' " he says. "Blue Cross is giving it their seal of approval."

Brian Falk is a Charlotte-based free-lance writer who can be reached at 333-1233.