Dr. Noseworthy and the AHCA

NIRAN AL-AGBA, MD The CEO of the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Noseworthy, was last heard recommending patients fire their physicians suffering from burnout. While he does not have truckloads of compassion or empathy for colleagues; he is, at least, honest. Dr. Noseworthy recently confessed “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 to continue to advance our mission.” The ‘ailing’ nonprofit generated a paltry $475 million last year. During his speech, Noseworthy noted the “tipping point” was the recent 3.7% surge in Medicaid patients as a direct result of ACA Medicaid expansion. “If we don’t grow the commercially insured patients, we won’t have income at the end of the year to pay our staff, pay the pensions, and so on,” he said. These are difficult decisions to make by rationing access to healthcare for the poor. It is a moral dilemma those of us in independent practices have been facing for some time. Mayo will continue taking all patients, regardless of pay or source, and this policy exempts those seeking emergency care. This move is attempting to shift payer mix and mitigate the financial pressure faced by many health systems as a result of federal health-care reform. Approximately 50% of patients at Mayo Clinic are Medicare or Medicaid. Higher reimbursements for...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized AHCA Al-Agba Mayo Noseworthy Source Type: blogs