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Integrative Health Evidence Guide

Weigh complementary care with evidence, cost, and your clinicians in the loop.

An Integrative Therapy Costs Money: Evidence and Opportunity-Cost Questions

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By the Integrative Health Evidence Guide Team

If an integrative therapy costs money, ask two things before you pay. First, what does the research say about this approach for your goal? Second, what are you giving up to pay for it, whether that's money, time, or other care? This guide gives you a short checklist and a set of questions for both.

This page is general education. It does not diagnose conditions, choose treatments, or recommend any product, provider, or service.

First: When Cost Is Not the Main Question

  • Emergencies come first. If you have symptoms that feel severe, sudden, or life-threatening, call your local emergency number. Don't take time to compare therapies.
  • Don't swap out care on your own. Talk with your health care provider before you use any approach in place of care you already get. Do not start, stop, or change a medicine without their guidance.
  • Tell your providers what you use. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) encourages people to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with their health care provider.

Terms to Know

  • Conventional medicine: In this article, the mainstream medical care you get through your usual health care providers.
  • Complementary: NCCIH says a non-mainstream approach is “complementary” when it is used together with conventional medicine.
  • Alternative: NCCIH says a non-mainstream approach is “alternative” when it is used in place of conventional medicine.
  • Integrative health: NCCIH describes this as bringing conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way to care for the whole person.
  • Whole person health: NCCIH's term for improving and restoring health across connected areas of life: biological, behavioral, social, and environmental.
  • Opportunity cost: What you give up when you choose one option. That includes the other ways you could have used the same money, time, or energy. This is a general decision-making idea, not a medical term.

How the Evidence and Cost Questions Change by Type of Use

NCCIH's definitions are useful for cost decisions. How you use a therapy changes what you might be giving up. For more on the definitions themselves, see our guide to complementary versus alternative care.

Used alongside conventional care (complementary)

  • What you mainly give up: Money, time, and travel. These are added on top of the care you already get.
  • Key question: Is there evidence this approach helps with my goal, and is that worth the added cost to me?
  • Coordination question: Does my provider know I'm using it, especially if it involves an herb or supplement?

Used in place of conventional care (alternative)

  • What you may give up: The money, plus the conventional evaluation or care you are not getting.
  • Key question: What would I be putting off or skipping, and have I talked that through with a health care provider?
  • Context: NCCIH notes that most people who use non-mainstream approaches also use conventional health care.

Used as part of coordinated care (integrative)

  • What you mainly give up: Money and time. The approach is meant to fit into a shared plan among your providers.
  • Key question: Who is coordinating this plan, and how will we decide together whether it is worth continuing?

What the Research Picture Looks Like

You'll make better cost decisions if you know how uneven the evidence can be. Here is what NCCIH reports:

  • Use is common. A 2012 national survey found that more than 30 percent of U.S. adults and about 12 percent of children used health care approaches not usually part of conventional medical care.
  • Supplements led the list. In the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, 17.7 percent of U.S. adults had used a dietary supplement other than vitamins and minerals in the past year.
  • Rigorous studies don't always find a benefit. NCCIH says researchers have done large, rigorous studies on a few dietary supplements, but the results often showed the products didn't work for the conditions studied.
  • Some approaches have been studied more than others. NCCIH says researchers have done many studies on acupuncture, yoga, spinal manipulation, and meditation, but fewer studies on some other approaches.
  • Approaches work in different ways. NCCIH groups approaches by how the therapy is taken in or delivered. Nutritional approaches include special diets, dietary supplements, herbs, and probiotics. Psychological approaches include mindfulness. Physical approaches include massage and spinal manipulation. Some approaches, such as yoga, tai chi, and acupuncture, combine more than one type.

What this means for your wallet: “Popular” and “proven for your goal” are two separate questions. Cost is easier to justify when you've checked the second one, not just the first. Our guide on human studies, lab studies, and tradition explains how to tell these kinds of evidence apart.

Step-by-Step Field Guide: Evidence and Opportunity-Cost Check

Go through these steps before you commit money to a therapy, a package of sessions, or an ongoing product.

  1. Name your goal in one sentence. Write down what you hope will change, such as sleep, daily function, or a symptom. A clear goal helps you judge evidence and value. Our guide to whole-person health goals can help you phrase it.
  2. Label how you'd use it. Will it be complementary, alternative, or part of integrative care? If it's “alternative,” talk with a health care provider before you spend anything.
  3. Check the evidence for your specific goal. For herbs, NCCIH's Herbs at a Glance fact sheets list common names, what the science says, possible side effects and cautions, and where to learn more. Look for research on your goal, not general claims.
  4. Check for interactions. NCCIH's Herbs at a Glance page includes information on how herbs might interact with medicines. If you take any prescription, bring the product to your pharmacist or prescriber. Our list of supplement and prescription interaction questions can help you prepare.
  5. Add up the full cost. Count more than the price tag: the number of sessions or months, travel, time off work, childcare, and any required add-ons. Get the total in writing before you commit.
  6. Name the trade-off. Ask what else that same money and time could go toward, including other care you've been putting off.
  7. Set a check-in point. Before you start, decide when you'll look at whether it's worth continuing, and what you'll track. Our guide to tracking benefit without overclaiming walks through this.
  8. Tell your care team. Share your plan with your health care providers so your care stays coordinated, which is the core idea behind integrative health. Our guide to keeping every clinician informed shows how.

Questions to Bring Before You Pay

For the practitioner or seller

  • What research supports this approach for my specific goal? Is that research in people, or only in lab or animal studies?
  • What is the total expected cost, and how many sessions or months does that assume?
  • What are the refund, cancellation, or package terms? Can I get them in writing?
  • What are the known side effects or cautions?
  • What credentials or licenses do you hold for this approach? (See our guide on verifying complementary practitioner credentials.)

For your health care provider or pharmacist

  • Could this interact with anything I currently take?
  • Would using this delay or replace anything you recommend?
  • Is there anything about my health history that makes this approach a poor fit?

For your insurer or benefits plan

  • Is this approach covered, partly covered, or not covered under my plan?
  • Does coverage depend on the type of provider, a referral, or a documented reason?
  • Can you confirm the answer in writing?

Quick Worksheet

  • My goal: ____________________
  • How I'd use it (complementary, alternative, or integrative): ____________________
  • Evidence I found for this goal (source and date): ____________________
  • Interaction check done with: ____________________
  • Total estimated cost (money and time): ____________________
  • What I'd give up or put off: ____________________
  • Check-in date and what I'll track: ____________________

Sources

About This Article

Integrative Health Evidence Guide.org Research Team wrote this article using the public sources listed above. No physician or other licensed clinician wrote or reviewed it. It is for general education only. It is not medical advice, and it does not describe or promote any services. It cannot replace a conversation with your own health care provider. If you have a medical emergency, call your local emergency number.