Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients

[toomuchtime_]

The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

More than 3,000 patients eligible for Medicare, the government’s largest health-insurance program, will be forced to pay cash if they want to continue seeing their doctors at a Mayo family clinic in Glendale, northwest of Phoenix, said Michael Yardley, a Mayo spokesman. The decision, which Yardley called a two-year pilot project, won’t affect other Mayo facilities in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota.

Obama in June cited the nonprofit Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio for offering “the highest quality care at costs well below the national norm.” Mayo’s move to drop Medicare patients may be copied by family doctors, some of whom have stopped accepting new patients from the program, said Lori Heim, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, in a telephone interview yesterday.

“Many physicians have said, ‘I simply cannot afford to keep taking care of Medicare patients,’” said Heim, a family doctor who practices in Laurinburg, North Carolina. “If you truly know your business costs and you are losing money, it doesn’t make sense to do more of it.”

Medicare Loss

The Mayo organization had 3,700 staff physicians and scientists and treated 526,000 patients in 2008. It lost $840 million last year on Medicare, the government’s health program for the disabled and those 65 and older, Mayo spokeswoman Lynn Closway said.

Mayo’s hospital and four clinics in Arizona, including the Glendale facility, lost $120 million on Medicare patients last year, Yardley said. The program’s payments cover about 50 percent of the cost of treating elderly primary-care patients at the Glendale clinic, he said.

“We firmly believe that Medicare needs to be reformed,” Yardley said in a Dec. 23 e-mail. “It has been true for many years that Medicare payments no longer reflect the increasing cost of providing services for patients.”

Mayo will assess the financial effect of the decision in Glendale to drop Medicare patients “to see if it could have implications beyond Arizona,” he said.

Nationwide, doctors made about 20 percent less for treating Medicare patients than they did caring for privately insured patients in 2007, a payment gap that has remained stable during the last decade, according to a March report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a panel that advises Congress on Medicare issues. Congress last week postponed for two months a 21.5 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors.

Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients - Bloomberg.com

 

[uscitizen]

Ahh that might slow the retirement community growth in AZ a bit.

 

[xsited1]

It lost $840 million last year on Medicare??? Can't Obama just print more money?

 

[slackjawed]

Ahh that might slow the retirement community growth in AZ a bit.

maybe, but the snow-bird industry has been going on in AZ since before mayo had a clinic here.

A lot of Az residents go to mexico for healthcare-10cents on the dollar for the same service, drugs even cheaper.

The Canadians who's doctor told them that one more winter in british columbia was going to kill them so they come south might quit coming. But that won't be a bad thing they are grouchy and rude.....

 

[uscitizen]

Ahh that might slow the retirement community growth in AZ a bit.

maybe, but the snow-bird industry has been going on in AZ since before mayo had a clinic here.

A lot of Az residents go to mexico for healthcare-10cents on the dollar for the same service, drugs even cheaper.

The Canadians who's doctor told them that one more winter in british columbia was going to kill them so they come south might quit coming. But that won't be a bad thing they are grouchy and rude.....

Yaah, I lived in FL and the next subdivision over seemed to be made up of NY retirees. Such a rude place.

I had not thought of the border and mexican healthare. Thanks for that info.

But for states that depend heavially on snowbirds and retirees the reductions in DR's accepting medicare patients will be a finiancial drag on the state. A fair bit of their economy depends on medicare dollars.

 

[Navy1960]

While not a good indication as to the condition of Medicare in general, I rather doubt that Banner, or John C. Lincoln, or any of the LARGE number of people that serve the Senior community in places like Sun City and elsewhere will stop taking Medicare anytime soon, nor will it curb the number of snow-birds here. What is happening though, is a problem in primary care and Doctors accepting Medicaid and Medicare as a form of payment for new patients and that doesn't bode well for any bill that plans to put patients into a system that has low levels of paymens to Doctiors.

New figures Wednesday from the U.S. Census Bureau show the state posted its lowest rate of population growth since the beginning of the decade.

And the big reason is that net migration to Arizona from elsewhere in the country slowed to a virtual crawl in the 12 months ending July 1. The population grew barely more than 15,000, from “snowbirds’’ and others.
Arizona population growth slows down | State News | eastvalleytribune.com

It appears the only segment of Arizona thats actually growing is the snowbrids and not by much , even our Illegal population is most likely getting smaller because of the lack of construction here.

 

[Mr. H.]

They should hold the Mayo responsible for this outrage.

Hold the Mayo.

Hello...?

 

[Joe Steel]

The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

Free-market health care strikes again.

Universal, single-payer now!

 

[sitarro]

The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

Free-market health care strikes again.

Universal, single-payer now!

Doctors say FUCK YOU Joe, they will quit before they continue to lose money on government run health care........ are you going to import some of those fine commie doctors?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Ahh that might slow the retirement community growth in AZ a bit.

maybe, but the snow-bird industry has been going on in AZ since before mayo had a clinic here.

A lot of Az residents go to mexico for healthcare-10cents on the dollar for the same service, drugs even cheaper.

The Canadians who's doctor told them that one more winter in british columbia was going to kill them so they come south might quit coming. But that won't be a bad thing they are grouchy and rude.....

Yaah, I lived in FL and the next subdivision over seemed to be made up of NY retirees. Such a rude place.

I had not thought of the border and mexican healthare. Thanks for that info.

But for states that depend heavially on snowbirds and retirees the reductions in DR's accepting medicare patients will be a finiancial drag on the state. A fair bit of their economy depends on medicare dollars.

And Obama and the Democrats plan to cut payments and allowed treatments from Medicare even MORE. Go figure.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

Free-market health care strikes again.

Universal, single-payer now!

Dumb ass Medicare IS Single payer. And it is Universal for anyone disabled or over 64. The problem is Medicare does not PAY for services or visits at an acceptable level. They pay at best 50 percent of allowed costs and the allowed costs are below the accepted industry standard.

I have tricare and medicare. tricare is primary followed by medicare. Between the two the bills get paid. BUT Doctors are taking it in the wallet just accepting tricare and medicare. The first thing that happens is that the system Tricare or medicare determines if the service is covered, then they determine at what price it is covered and then they pay at approximately 50 percent of the allowed charges.

 

[California Girl]

The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

Free-market health care strikes again.

Universal, single-payer now!

Yay! We can follow Britain down the drain of a single payer system. Such a screamingly successful system theirs is.... not.

 

[Joe Steel]

And Obama and the Democrats plan to cut payments and allowed treatments from Medicare even MORE. Go figure.

Just the waste, fraud and abuse.

It's a good thing.

 

[Joe Steel]

Free-market health care strikes again.

Universal, single-payer now!

Dumb ass Medicare IS Single payer. And it is Universal for anyone disabled or over 64. The problem is Medicare does not PAY for services or visits at an acceptable level. They pay at best 50 percent of allowed costs and the allowed costs are below the accepted industry standard.

I have tricare and medicare. tricare is primary followed by medicare. Between the two the bills get paid. BUT Doctors are taking it in the wallet just accepting tricare and medicare. The first thing that happens is that the system Tricare or medicare determines if the service is covered, then they determine at what price it is covered and then they pay at approximately 50 percent of the allowed charges.

Try again, dumbass.

Medicare is just for seniors and some others. It's not universal single-payer because it doesn't cover everyone. Until the US adopts one single system for everyone, free marketeers will exploit health care to extract unjustified profits from the sick.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Free-market health care strikes again.

Universal, single-payer now!

Dumb ass Medicare IS Single payer. And it is Universal for anyone disabled or over 64. The problem is Medicare does not PAY for services or visits at an acceptable level. They pay at best 50 percent of allowed costs and the allowed costs are below the accepted industry standard.

I have tricare and medicare. tricare is primary followed by medicare. Between the two the bills get paid. BUT Doctors are taking it in the wallet just accepting tricare and medicare. The first thing that happens is that the system Tricare or medicare determines if the service is covered, then they determine at what price it is covered and then they pay at approximately 50 percent of the allowed charges.

Try again, dumbass.

Medicare is just for seniors and some others. It's not universal single-payer because it doesn't cover everyone. Until the US adopts one single system for everyone, free marketeers will exploit health care to extract unjustified profits from the sick.

Ignorance of your level is hard to quantify. The Government can NOT afford to run health care for those disabled and over 65 yet we are to believe magically if they suddenly got control of EVERYONE'S insurance they could afford it?

 

[Joe Steel]

Free-market health care strikes again.

Universal, single-payer now!

Yay! We can follow Britain down the drain of a single payer system. Such a screamingly successful system theirs is.... not.

First of all, Britain doesn't have universal, single-payer. About 15% of all Britons have some private health insurance.

Secondly, Margaret Thatcher screwed-up the NHS when she tried to institute free market reforms:

Margaret Thatcher and many other heads of state joined the international policy movement of competition as a way to challenge entrenched, inefficient, and unresponsive public services in education, municipal services, and health care.15 Health authorities were changed from being administrative offices to being purchasers. Hospitals, community health services, and specialists became semi-autonomous “trusts” that had to sell their services, although most just continued as before under contracts with their health authorities. Switching from global budgets to unit prices and setting up markets was very costly. Mrs Thatcher also reconceptualized patients as consumers and encouraged them to be demanding. She then transformed the NHS from a public service for sick patients to a public system of purchasers and providers trying to please patients-turnedconsumers. The government aimed to provide greater choice and greater rewards to providers who responded to local preferences. Who could possibly disagree? “Almost everyone.” As Klein explains, “Nothing like it had been seen in the NHS policy arena since the opposition provoked by Nye Bevan 40-odd years before.”4(p 192–193)

By 1996, the conservatives concluded that these competition policies were not working well.16 Even in its perfect form, managed competition has been shown to have deep flaws, and of course it undermines public health and a population-based health care system.15,17,18 Competition required more regulation and government monitoring, because health care has so many kinds of market failure.12 The costs of setting up and running a market became apparent and large. The salaries of top managers escalated, and the number of managers at least tripled. Overall costs rose, not shrank. A thorough review of US managed care and managed competition by British researchers found little evidence for their alleged benefits.19 (Perhaps out of bias, few Americans read this major study.)

Universal Health Care: Lessons From the British Experience

Health care is too important to trust to "the market."

 

[Joe Steel]

Dumb ass Medicare IS Single payer. And it is Universal for anyone disabled or over 64. The problem is Medicare does not PAY for services or visits at an acceptable level. They pay at best 50 percent of allowed costs and the allowed costs are below the accepted industry standard.

I have tricare and medicare. tricare is primary followed by medicare. Between the two the bills get paid. BUT Doctors are taking it in the wallet just accepting tricare and medicare. The first thing that happens is that the system Tricare or medicare determines if the service is covered, then they determine at what price it is covered and then they pay at approximately 50 percent of the allowed charges.

Try again, dumbass.

Medicare is just for seniors and some others. It's not universal single-payer because it doesn't cover everyone. Until the US adopts one single system for everyone, free marketeers will exploit health care to extract unjustified profits from the sick.

Ignorance of your level is hard to quantify. The Government can NOT afford to run health care for those disabled and over 65 yet we are to believe magically if they suddenly got control of EVERYONE'S insurance they could afford it?

Judging from your demonstrated dimwittedness, I imagine you'd have trouble quantifying anything.

Focus on this: the taxpayers already are paying for at least some health care for everyone. Establishing a rational health care system will make those who pay nothing now pay at least something.

Universal, single-payer, or something like it, will reduce the financial burden of health care on each taxpayer. That's the way insurance works. More covered persons means lower average costs.

Get it?

 

[California Girl]

Try again, dumbass.

Medicare is just for seniors and some others. It's not universal single-payer because it doesn't cover everyone. Until the US adopts one single system for everyone, free marketeers will exploit health care to extract unjustified profits from the sick.

Ignorance of your level is hard to quantify. The Government can NOT afford to run health care for those disabled and over 65 yet we are to believe magically if they suddenly got control of EVERYONE'S insurance they could afford it?

Judging from your demonstrated dimwittedness, I imagine you'd have trouble quantifying anything.

Focus on this: the taxpayers already are paying for at least some health care for everyone. Establishing a rational health care system will make those who pay nothing now pay at least something.

Universal, single-payer, or something like it, will reduce the financial burden of health care on each taxpayer. That's the way insurance works. More covered persons means lower average costs.

Get it?

Single payer doesn't work. Ask the Brits.

Edit: Oops, my bad. That was a dumb answer - no point asking the Brits, very few of them have experienced anything other than their NHS so they think it's great. They don't know jackshit about good healthcare.

 

[Sarah G]

The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

More than 3,000 patients eligible for Medicare, the government’s largest health-insurance program, will be forced to pay cash if they want to continue seeing their doctors at a Mayo family clinic in Glendale, northwest of Phoenix, said Michael Yardley, a Mayo spokesman. The decision, which Yardley called a two-year pilot project, won’t affect other Mayo facilities in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota.

Obama in June cited the nonprofit Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio for offering “the highest quality care at costs well below the national norm.” Mayo’s move to drop Medicare patients may be copied by family doctors, some of whom have stopped accepting new patients from the program, said Lori Heim, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, in a telephone interview yesterday.

“Many physicians have said, ‘I simply cannot afford to keep taking care of Medicare patients,’” said Heim, a family doctor who practices in Laurinburg, North Carolina. “If you truly know your business costs and you are losing money, it doesn’t make sense to do more of it.”

Medicare Loss

The Mayo organization had 3,700 staff physicians and scientists and treated 526,000 patients in 2008. It lost $840 million last year on Medicare, the government’s health program for the disabled and those 65 and older, Mayo spokeswoman Lynn Closway said.

Mayo’s hospital and four clinics in Arizona, including the Glendale facility, lost $120 million on Medicare patients last year, Yardley said. The program’s payments cover about 50 percent of the cost of treating elderly primary-care patients at the Glendale clinic, he said.

“We firmly believe that Medicare needs to be reformed,” Yardley said in a Dec. 23 e-mail. “It has been true for many years that Medicare payments no longer reflect the increasing cost of providing services for patients.”

Mayo will assess the financial effect of the decision in Glendale to drop Medicare patients “to see if it could have implications beyond Arizona,” he said.

Nationwide, doctors made about 20 percent less for treating Medicare patients than they did caring for privately insured patients in 2007, a payment gap that has remained stable during the last decade, according to a March report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a panel that advises Congress on Medicare issues. Congress last week postponed for two months a 21.5 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors.

Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients - Bloomberg.com

Doctors deserve to be paid that is true but they have been charging more, the hospitals have been charging more, so much more that nobody can keep up, especially not medicare. If the Mayo Clinic isn't accepting some medicare patients, they need to find a way to justify that. The senior community in AZ is quite large and verbal.

I went to the doctor several weeks ago and had to pay more on my copay because Aetna didn't cover something from the time before. I asked the receptionist what they didn't cover and she couldn't tell me.

It isn't just medicare being abused and abusing the system. All of the insurance companies do the same thing. Who loses? All of us consumers.

 

[Joe Steel]

Universal, single-payer, or something like it, will reduce the financial burden of health care on each taxpayer. That's the way insurance works. More covered persons means lower average costs.

Get it?

Single payer doesn't work. Ask the Brits.

Edit: Oops, my bad. That was a dumb answer - no point asking the Brits, very few of them have experienced anything other than their NHS so they think it's great. They don't know jackshit about good healthcare.

Read the link I gave you above.