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In Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Union republics, the term sanatorium is generally used for a combination resort/recreational facility and a medical facility to provide short-term complex rest and medical services. It is similar to spa resorts with medical services.
On the other hand, for most Eastern Europeans including Russians, Ukrainians, Czechs, and other national cultures sanatorium mostly means a kind of hotel with health resort facilities and various available services (such as massage, pools, saunas, aromatherapy, oxygenotherapy, etc.) not covered by medical insurance. It is mostly without any double connotation is a spa resort where relatively healthy business people can rest and recuperate well-being during a regular job vacation. For example, Sanatorium Astória and others located in Karlovy Vary Czech Republic, or Geneva Sanatorium Hotel in Ukraine may serve the purpose. Usually in this case a doctor's prescription is not required. However, a general practitioner is available and recommended for guests to check their health status in the beginning and at the end of their staying in a hotel.
In How the Universe got its Spots, (pp. 63-70), physicist Janna Levin describes a scientific meeting in a sanatorium near Moscow at the end of 1999. She discusses mathematics and general relativity but mentions no medical care.