· The National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) reports that more than 42% of Americans use alternative medicine to address their health and wellness concerns.
· The budget for the NCCAM went from $2 million in 1993, to $50 million in 1999.
· In addition, Americans spent more than $27 billion on these therapies in 1997, exceeding out-of-pocket spending for all U.S. hospitalizations.
· The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) reports a 47.3% increase in total visits to alternative medicine practitioners between 1990 and 1997.
· A survey published in 1994 revealed that more than 60% of doctors from a wide range of specialties recommended alternative therapies to their patients at least once. That same study also reported that 47% of those doctors used alternative therapies themselves.
· Nearly 3/4 of U.S. medical schools offer elective courses in alternative and complementary medicine or include it in required courses.
· A 1998 JAMA study showed that people turn to  alternative healing not so much as a result of dissatisfaction with conventional medicine, but largely because the healthcare alternatives more closely mirror their own values, beliefs and philosophical orientations toward life.