For six hours one day, I toggled between a world of velvet pillows and orchids and the virtual digital readouts of my bones, heart and lungs.

I was a tourist in the realm of luxury medicine, camping out in the pale earth tones of a living-room suite at Swedish Medical Center's Executive Health program.

Executive health programs are not new. Some versions have been around for decades, but the level of luxury and the price are higher than ever. Forbes and Newsweek have both commented on the trend, driven by companies willing to pay either the whole cost or part of the cost - estimated at $1,000 to $4,500 - for a select group of their employees.

In part, companies are motivated by the promise of savings in the long run. A 2002 University of Michigan study showed that execs who received this type of physical examination had 20 percent fewer health claims and 45 percent fewer lost workdays in the year following an exam.

Both Swedish and Virginia Mason offer executive health programs, and the Pro Sports Club in Bellevue, seeing the demand, offers an executive health physical as well, patterned after the one at the Mayo Clinic. At Swedish the cost is $4,500; at Virginia Mason the cost ranges between $800 and $1,000. Depending upon the tests and services, the cost at the Pro Sports Club tops at around $4,000. Their menus of services are not identical, but each offers a comprehensive exam. Some employers cover all and some only part of the cost. None of the cost is covered by insurance.

Swedish remodeled a part of what was once called Providence Hospital to create its center. Virginia Mason offers its executive health program at its facilities in Seattle, Bellevue and Federal Way. The Pro Sports Club's executive health physicals are conducted at its Bellevue location, with some imaging off-site.

The flow of efficient information on the patient is a key part of the experience. I fasted the night before my exam, so that samples of blood and urine taken at 8:15 a.m. could be largely analyzed before I saw Dr. George Haddad for my history-taking discussion. In my own case, there was good news about high-density lipids, low-density lipids, triglycerides and glucose. These four numbers, which describe the levels of cholesterol and blood sugar, tell some of the complex story of cardiovascular and diabetes risk.

Most of the patients in these programs are middle-aged sedentary men with managerial jobs. Their numbers usually reveal risks and give doctors an opportunity to lecture about diet, exercise and stress management.

One of the byproducts of charging a lot and making clients set aside most of a day to participate in the program is that they pay attention, Haddad says. More than they might during a yearly 10-minute talk with their primary doctor. "This is almost an intervention ... you are maybe going to have one of these in your life." Patient education is one of the most important benefits of the luxury of time that these patients get with a doctor.

Critics argue that nothing new is offered by these exams and that some tests given are not always appropriate. Portland doctor Martin Donohoe has researched these exams and has written articles and book chapters that criticize how they create a two-tiered health system and are not always based on the best science. He uses the chest X-ray and the calcium scan that I was given at Swedish as examples of tests that may not be necessary for people without symptoms. They could expose a person to unnecessary radiation without much medical benefit, he says.