Mayo Clinic’s chief executive is expressing “regret” over a choice of words in a recent speech that raised concerns among Minnesota regulatory officials that the Rochester-based health system would be making it harder for publicly funded Medicaid patients to receive care.
Dr. John Noseworthy said in a written statement released Friday that Mayo would continue to serve Medicaid patients, despite the low reimbursement rates paid by the government program, and despite a speech late last year in which he indicated that privately insured patients would get priority over publicly funded patients with equivalent conditions.
“In an internal discussion I used the word ‘prioritized’ and I regret this has caused concerns that Mayo Clinic will not serve patients with government insurance,” he said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, about half of the total services we provide are for patients who have government insurance, and we’re committed to serving those patients.”
At the same time, Noseworthy’s statement said that the financing of American health care has reached a point that requires the nation to confront difficult decisions.
“Changing demographics, aging of Americans and budgetary pressures at state and federal government pose challenges to the fiscal sustainability in healthcare today,” the statement said. “While these discussions are uncomfortable, they are critical for us to be able to meet the needs of all of our patients.”
In a videotaped speech to Mayo staff late last year, Noseworthy indicated that the health system had reached a “tipping point” at which growth in the number of its Medicaid patients jeopardized its ability to pay staff and maintain its substantial clinical and research agenda. Medicaid covers low-income and disabled Minnesotans, but reimburses clinics and hospitals at a rate below the cost of providing care, so hospitals typically rely on income from privately insured patients to balance their budgets.
Noseworthy told staff in his speech that Mayo gave first priority to patients with severe medical needs that Mayo could uniquely address, and second priority to patients who were employees or were sent to Mayo by “frequent referrers” or alums of the health system.
“But we’re asking, is the third consideration, is if the patient has commercial insurance, or they’re Medicaid or Medicare patients and they’re equal, that we prioritize the commercial insured patients enough so we can make that shift so we can be financially strong at the end of the year to continue to advance, advance our mission,” he said, according to a recording of the talk reviewed by the Star Tribune.
State Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper, who oversees the federal-state Medicaid program, said her department would be checking to make sure Mayo wasn’t violating patients’ civil rights by this policy or any conditions of its Medicaid contracts with the state.
Date: March 19, 2017