Hospital CAM services are on the rise

The proportion of hospitals offering complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services increased by 0.8 percentage points in 2002, according to the 2003-2004 edition of the AHA Guide. About 16.5% of the 4,756 hospitals that answered the services questionnaire in the 2002 AHA Annual Survey of Hospitals said they provide CAM, up from 15.7% of 4,773 respondents in 2001.

Large hospitals reported the largest rise in CAM services, up 6.7% for hospitals with 300 to 399 beds and 10% for those with 400 to 499 beds. Hospitals with 25 to 49 beds were the only size category to see a decrease in CAM services, down 0.3%.