Citing an organizational-wide loss on Medicare services of $840 million in 2008, officials from Mayo said that the federal program no longer covers the cost of treating Medicare patients and that physicians can no longer afford to provide care. According to the report, Arizona’s Mayo hospital and four clinics lost $120 million on Medicare patients.
Many other physicians in the area may follow Mayo’s lead, who cite rising overhead costs and inadequate Medicare reimbursement as reasons they have had to limit the amount of elderly patients they can see, according to the report.
The Glendale facility will accept Medicare as payment for laboratory services and specialty care, according to the report. The decision will not affect patients at Mayo’s other Arizona facilities, as well as its facilities in Minnesota and Florida.
Read the BusinessWeek report about Mayo Clinic limiting Medicare patients.
