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posted by martyb on Tuesday March 21 2017, @04:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the ham-and-mayo-on-wry? dept.

Mayo Clinic, one of the country's top hospitals, is in the midst of controversy after its CEO said that the elite medical facility would prioritize the care of patients with private health insurance over those with Medicare and Medicaid.

The prioritization by the Rochester, MN-headquartered medical practice was recently revealed by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. And it has quickly drawn out some sharp critics—as well as sympathizers.

In a statement to the Minnesota Post Bulletin, Dr. Gerard Anderson, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Hospital Finance and Management, compared the prioritization to policies seen in developing countries. "This is what happens in many low-income countries. The health system is organized to give the most affluent preference in receiving health care," he wrote.

Likewise, Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper, expressed surprise and concern by the statements of Mayo's CEO, Dr. John Noseworthy. "Fundamentally, it's our expectation at DHS that Mayo Clinic will serve our enrollees in public programs on an equal standing with any other Minnesotan that walks in their door," she said. "We have a lot of questions for Mayo Clinic about how and if and through what process this directive from Dr. Noseworthy is being implemented across their health system."

Specifically, Noseworthy said in a video to Mayo employees late last year:

We're asking... 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 be financially strong at the end of the year.

In statements, Mayo has confirmed Noseworthy's prioritization and added that about 50 percent of its patients are beneficiaries of government programs. "Balancing payer mix is complex and isn't unique to Mayo Clinic. It affects much of the industry, but it's often not talked about. That's why we feel it is important to talk transparently about these complex issues with our staff."

Source: Ars Technica


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @06:39PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @06:39PM (#482305)

    Got news for you sunshine:

    A) They ain't doing what 99% of other Docs ain't already doing.
    B) Medicine isn't the profit center you think it is. INSURANCE is.
    B2) Medical reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid have been STAGNANT or DECLINING for over ten years. Yet your insurer is consistently able to rack up record profits, quarter after quarter. EVERY quarter.

    So where do you think the real problem lies? Your greedy Doctor, or your greedy Insurance Company?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @07:18PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @07:18PM (#482325)

    I interpreted GP as being more focused on the lack of affordable care for the working class. The fact that everybody does this in the medical "industry" (or that medicine is even an "industry") is an even larger indictment of the system.

    GP can correct me if I'm interpreting wrong, but it seems that it doesn't particularly matter to GP whether it's the doctors or the insurance companies or who exactly is profiting off the exploitation of the working class.

    And yeah, I've kind of been wondering when declining payments from Medi* would start making headlines as larger facilities begin to refuse to accept it. Lower priority is a step up from certain practices around here that flat out don't accept those.

    Personally, I realize that doctors aren't exactly making out like bandits. However, the hospital administrators certainly are, and they're all too happy to have somebody else to point the finger at like insurance companies. Insurance companies, of course, are likewise happy to be able to point the finger at hospitals. It's just a big 1%er circle jerk, and too many people get distracted by it and miss the forest for the trees.

    Oh, that's not to mention the tax write-off other 1%ers get when they "donate" to the facilities where their friends are administrators. I put donate in scare quotes because how much of a donation is it really if it's just going to be siphoned up and sent back to them by way of their shares of insurance companies? Hell of a financial acrobatic act if you ask me.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @07:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @07:57PM (#482353)

      I'll take that in reverse order. First, industry. Yeah, it's a little disheartening to realize that medicine has its share of industrial complexes. But wishing that it were not true is not going to make it false. Double negative aside the insurance companies, the hospitals, and the government all conspire to make it harder for an independent, non-hospital-or-megahealthcorp affiliated practice to stay in business. Every year. So, if you don't want a healthcare industry, what have you done to help dismantle it? I work in an independent practice, that's what I do. At least until I won't be able to afford to anymore - I guarantee I could be making a lot more money elsewhere. And that, things keep up the way they are, eventually my bosses will have to sell out to stay alive as practitioners.

      Physicans aren't without blame either. They drank the Kool Aid years ago of, "We'll give you more patients and more consistent reimbursement just for signing up with us!" And they don't *always* play the highest-dollar game - the sicker patient actually still wins most of the time. Whether that costs your physician or not. But two equally sick patients and one slot available for a patient visit... who do you think wins that? (If the doctor just doesn't double-book it....)

      But because it doesn't matter to the GP who's screwing him/her or making the profit off of the GP, the GP will just happily point the finger of blame at whatever person shouted at him last. And my point is that maybe the GP should be looking for where to correctly put the blame by doing a little more research instead of jumping on the "Damn Greedy Doctors" train.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 22 2017, @01:44AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 22 2017, @01:44AM (#482496)

    Again the turds who support GOP policies fail basic reading. No where did anyone blame the doctors, the only thing I could find all the way up to the first post was "medical care is expensive". Yall need to go back to school.

  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 23 2017, @03:17AM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday March 23 2017, @03:17AM (#483061)

    Chew on this, sunshine: Insurers and Healthcare providers are merging into single integrated entities. It doesn't matter which one is making the profit, it all goes to the same owners.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]