
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 29, 1993                   TAG: 9307290015
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LARGE INSURER WILL COVER HEART THERAPY

The use of alternative treatments for serious illnesses got a major boost Tuesday when one of the nation's largest health insurers said it would reimburse the costs of a nonsurgical therapy for heart disease.

The therapy, which uses a vegetarian diet, exercise, meditation and support groups to reverse the disease, was developed by Dr. Dean Ornish, an internist and director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, Calif.

Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co., which provides coverage for about 10 million individuals, said it would reimburse several hundred patients for the $3,500 cost of participating in pilot programs that will test Ornish's therapy, which supplants the need for surgery or drugs.

It's the first such alternative remedy for heart disease to qualify for insurance coverage, said Terry Calek, senior vice president of public affairs for Mutual of Omaha.

"This isn't only a pilot program for coronary artery disease, it's a pilot for medicine in general," said Dr. Kenneth McDonough, Mutual of Omaha's medical director.

Indeed, Mutual of Omaha's novel step signaled that insurers are starting to place a significant value on unconventional therapies for certain ailments.

Mutual of Omaha also might soon be followed by other carriers. Ornish, according to Calek, said several other major insurance companies are considering plans to provide similar reimbursement.

Calek said Mutual of Omaha embraced the program because "it points to a collective type of arrangement between insurers, [health-care] providers and the patients, because the patients have to be very involved in this program."

"What Ornish's program has done is prove that this actually provides you with an alternative to more costly and invasive types of treatment," Calek said. In the Omaha, Neb., area, she noted, typical coronary bypass surgery costs between $30,000 and $40,000.

McDonough said his company decided to cover Ornish's pilot program also because he has documented its success.

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB