That's what's happening at Beth Israel's Center for Health and Healing, located on the second floor of a nondescript office building in downtown Manhattan. The waiting room is light and airy with fluffy couches, and there's a bench made from recycled redwood in the reception area. The center, opened in June, includes medical doctors, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, psychotherapists and practitioners of acupuncture, chiropractic procedures, mind-body therapy and massage therapy. Merrell said some Beth Israel doctors were suspicious of the center, especially orthopedic surgeons who are leery of chiropractors. To win the specialists' support, the center has agreed that after a patient sees a chiropractor three times, the case must be reviewed by a physician.
Experts say alternative care providers gain credibility by working with physicians and hospitals.
And the doctors and medical institutions are viewed as cutting edge for facilitating alternative care. Financial barriers remain, however, because there is limited insurance coverage for alternative procedures. Beth Israel's center so far has been unsuccessful in attracting an insurer for a pilot project to test whether alternative therapies can save money and provide good care, Merrell said. Still, support among physicians is growing. Dr. Gregory Fontana, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai, uses acupuncture to relieve the neck pain he develops from surgery.