A study of costs and length of stay of inpatient naturopathy – Evidence from Germany

BackgroundClassical naturopathy in an acute, inpatient, internal medicine setting is rare in Germany. Procedure 8-975 regulates the structures and processes for providing naturopathic complex therapy in German hospitals. An interdisciplinary team is required to provide therapy from at least five therapeutic areas of classical naturopathy, all applied within a narrow time-frame. The entry criteria for being entitled to receive naturopathy in an acute hospital depend upon the degree of chronicity, the intensity of the symptoms and the complexity of the disease.MethodsIn the present study, a total of 918 patients who received naturopathic complex therapy were investigated regarding their clinical picture and the length of their stay in hospital.ResultsThe results showed that the duration of hospitalization was significantly greater than that of the comparison group of patients (cases from 263 German hospitals) receiving purely internal medical treatment in hospitals at national level.