At some of the nation's leading hospitals, physicians and their staffs are increasingly providing patients with access to complementary and alternative care. A few recent examples of this trend:

Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa, now offers complementary treatments for cancer patients, including massage therapy, meditation, yoga and art therapy.

At the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, psychiatrists are prescribing herbal medicines to help patients overcome depression.

Beth Israel Medical Center (New York City) recently opened a "Center for Health and Healing" where physicians work alongside chiropractors and other practitioners specializing in homeopathy, clinical imagery and various alternative treatments.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles just completed testing on the efficacy of alternative programs to heart surgery.

Dr. William Jagiello, an osteopathic physician and chairman of the Mercy Center's integrative medicine committee, says that the growing popularity of alternative treatment is confirmation that "illness doesn't exist in a vacuum."

"At some point in the future, there won't be conventional and unconventional treatments," predicts Dr. Jagiello. "They'll all be melded into one system. The important thing will be identifying the best treatment for each patient, rather than whether it's mainstream or alternative care."