Washington (H24N). Take two Golden Seal capsules and call me in the morning.

Don’t be surprised if in the not-too-distant future you hear your doctor uttering these words as alternative treatments slowly creep into "traditional" medicine.

Massage therapy, homeopathy, biofeedback and acupuncture are hardly treatments that most people associate with health maintenance organizations, but statistics show that there has been a rise in the number of companies covering such treatments in the last year.

The William M. Mercer employee benefit consulting firm, headquartered in New York, found in a survey of more than 3,000 employer-sponsored health plans that 67 percent of them offered some form of alternative coverage in 1999.

"We have seen a lot more interest in alternative care in the last couple of years," said Susan White Simon, a spokeswoman for the Kaiser Permanente health plan. "Employers are looking to offer their employees something over and above the basic benefits packages."

According to the Mercer survey, the most commonly covered alternative therapies are acupuncture and chiropractic. About 60 percent of the HMOs in the survey covered chiropractic care last year, up from 45 percent in 1998. Coverage of acupuncture also saw an increase last year with 16 percent of the plans offering it, compared to 9 percent in 1998.

But therapies such as homeopathy, massage and biofeedback are also covered in some instances. Companies with fewer than 500 employees are more likely to cover these treatments than larger companies.

Alternative coverage varies from plan to plan, said Kristin Harms, corporate relations manager for the American Specialty Health Network (ASHN). The Network, which is based in San Diego, represents 12,683 accredited acupuncturists, chiropractors and massage therapists who treat members of health care plans throughout the country. ASHN partners with nine of the 10 largest plans in California, including Kaiser Permanente and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

"Some plans require members to get referrals from their primary care physicians before seeking alternative care, and others don’t," Harms said. "It just depends."

Once an HMO member goes to a practitioner, the visit is treated like any other within the plan in which the member pays a nominal co-payment fee, and the rest is picked up by the plan. For those covered under other kinds of health plans, discounts ranging anywhere from 10 to 25 percent are offered on alternative treatments. Members show their plan’s card and then receive the discount.

"When we decided to offer alternative treatments, some doctors were concerned about finding qualified alternative practitioners," White Simon said. "Their network assures our members get quality."

ASHN went national last year. Its expansion is a testament to the growing popularity of alternative treatments, said Harms.

"We are more in demand than ever," Harms said. "There has just been an explosion in alternative care recently. It is driven by consumer demand. People really want these options."

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