Robert E. Herron, Ph.D. and Stephen Hillis
The purpose of this quasi-experimental, longitudinal, cost-minimization evaluation study was to determine whether practice of the Transcendental Meditation® technique can affect medical expenses. 1,418 health insurance enrollees from the Province of Quebec, Canada who practiced the TM technique were compared with 1,418 randomly selected subjects matched for age, gender, and region. TM subjects had chosen to begin the technique prior to learning about and choosing to enter the study. This 14-year, pre- and post-intervention study retrospectively assessed government payments to physicians for treating the TM and comparison groups. Other medical expense data for individuals were unavailable. Data were inflation-adjusted. For each subject, least squares regression slopes were calculated to estimate pre- and post-intervention annual rates of change in payments. We compared the groups? means and 1%, 5%, and 10% trimmed means (robust estimators) of the slopes. Before starting meditation, the yearly rate of increase in payments between groups was not significantly different (p > 0.17). After commencing meditation, the TM group?s mean payments declined 1–2% annually. The comparison group's payments increased up to 11.73% annually over 6 years. There was a 13.78% mean annual difference (p = 0.0017). The results suggest the TM technique reduced payments to physicians from 5% to 13% annually relative to comparison subjects over 6 years. Randomized studies are recommended.
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