Relaxation response-based program may reduce participants' future use of health services

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/mgh-rrp100815.php

Public Release: 13-Oct-2015
Relaxation response-based program may reduce participants' future use of health services
Massachusetts General study reveals how mind body medicine could help cut health care costs
Massachusetts General Hospital

Many studies have showed that eliciting the relaxation response - a physiologic state of deep rest induced by practices such as meditation, yoga and prayer - not only relieves feelings of stress and anxiety but also affects physiologic factors such as blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen consumption. Now a study from the Institute for Technology Assessment and the Benson-Henry Institute (BHI) for Mind Body Medicine - both at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) - finds that individuals participating in a relaxation-response-focused training program used fewer health care services in the year after their participation than in the preceding year. The report is being published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

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Based on the number of health-care encounters in the studied period - which included interactions health care providers in any setting, imaging studies, lab tests and procedures - the 3RP participants had an average reduction of 43 percent in their use of health care services in the year after their participation. The control group had an overall but not statistically significant increase in service utilization in the second year. The utilization-matched 3RP subgroup had a reduction of around 25 percent across all clinical services. Clinical areas in which 3RP participation was associated with the greatest reduction in service utilization were neurologic, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal. The investigators estimate that the price of participating in programs like 3RP would be made up in costs savings in a matter of four to six months or less.

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