In a handful of hospitals across the country, patients are being treated to a new level of healthcare where massage, reflexology, water therapies, and even body wraps and facials are par for the course. It’s happening in hospital-based spas, a venue where sound medical focus and the power of complementary therapies combine to create a comprehensive, well-rounded approach to healing.

It’s been dubbed the spa of the future, but the medical spa is as old as “taking the waters.” According to Hannelore Leavy, founder and executive director of The Day Spa Association, European spas have always been medical, centered around mineral springs and waters. “Treatment was and still is prescribed and monitored by a physician,” said Leavy in an interview from her office in West New York, N.J.