In 2004, the Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic’s self-funded health plan increased cost sharing for its employees and their dependents, according to the report. For example, specialty care visits required a $25 co-payment while imaging, testing and outpatient procedures added a 10 to 20 percent co-insurance, depending on the option.
Mayo researchers found that there were large decreases in the use of diagnostic testing and outpatient procedures over four years, and there was an immediate decrease in how patients used CT scans, MRIs and other imaging tests, according to the report.
Additionally, there was no corresponding increase in patient use of primary care services. Nilay Shah, PhD, assistant professor of health services research at Mayo Clinic and a co-author of the study, said they expected more people to go toward primary care due to cost sharing. “We actually hired more primary care doctors, assuming demand would go up. That did not occur,” he said in the study.
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