David Orme-Johnson, Ph.D. and Robert E. Herron, Ph.D.
This study was designed to assess the reduction of medical use and costs in a group participating in a comprehensive, natural, prevention-oriented health care system, the Maharishi Vedic Approach to HealthSM (MVAH). The MVAH includes interventions such as individualized diet, exercise, herbs, and detoxification modalities, and the general practice of the Transcendental Meditation® program with advanced meditation techniques. We retrospectively compared 11 years of medical utilization and payment data collected by Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS) of Iowa for 3 groups in Iowa: MVAH (n = 693), statewide norms for BC/BS (n = 600,000), and a control group matched according to geography, age, and profession (n = 4,148). The MVAH group had lower utilization than norms and controls for all 17 BC/BS disease categories (P = 0.001). When compared with norms, the MVAH group’s hospital admissions were 92% lower for cardiovascular diseases, 94% lower for bone/muscle/ligament disorders, 93% lower for virus/bacterial infections, and 92% lower for mental health and substance abuse problems. The greatest savings were for MVAH subjects over 45 years who had 91% fewer total hospital patient days than norms and 88% less than controls. MVAH total medical expenditures per person were 59% lower than the norm and 57% lower than the control groups.
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