Minnesota Community Hospital Claims Mayo Clinic is Steering Patients Away

The CEO of River Edge Hospital in St. Peter, Minn., has requested the state attorney general investigate Mayo Clinic Health Systems in the area, claiming Mayo physicians and staff are purposely misinforming patients to steer them away from local community hospitals, according to a St. Peter Herald report.

CEO Colleen Spike and two area physicians sent a letter to Lori Swanson in October, saying providers at Mayo sites in St. Peter and Mankato misled patients about services offered at River's Edge. Ms. Spike said patients were told by Mayo staff that no one at River's Edge performed colonoscopies or mammograms, for instance.

The three claimed Mayo has "become very silently and swiftly a dangerous monopoly in rural southern Minnesota," according to the report.

Ms. Spike says River's Edge has experienced a sharp decline in the number of procedures performed there, as well as patient admissions. River's Edge was suffering a net loss of nearly $1.6 million as of Nov. 29, according to the report.

River's Edge shares the same building with Mayo Clinic Health System in St. Peter, but the community hospital operates independently and has voted against partnering with a larger system, according to the report.

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