- 1,255
The Mayo Clinic in Arizona will no longer accept patients who are on Medicare. Medicare patients are no longer going to be accepted due to the fact that the compensation paid out by Medicare is apparently not adequate to make up for the cost of care taken on by the clinic. If 3,000 Medicare patients who've been coming to the clinic want to keep seeing their same doctor, they'll have to pay cash up front.
Mayo’s move to drop Medicare patients may be copied by family doctors, some of whom have stopped accepting new patients from the program, said Lori Heim, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, in a telephone interview yesterday.
“Many physicians have said, ‘I simply cannot afford to keep taking care of Medicare patients,’” said Heim, a family doctor who practices in Laurinburg, North Carolina. “If you truly know your business costs and you are losing money, it doesn’t make sense to do more of it.”
I personally understand how paltry reimbursement rates lead to a cost imbalances and an inability to sustain a level of care for my clients. In my practice, I have stopped selling standalone Medicare PartD plans. During AEP I advised, but did NOT sell any PartD plans. Could this be a trend?
Mayo Clinic Arrowhead Drops Medicare - Video - KPHO Phoenix
Dear Patient,
Changes are occurring at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhead that could affect your access to primary care. Please review the following information carefully:
The discrepancy between what Medicare pays and our cost of providing care acutely impacts the sustainability of our primary care practice. Medicare reimbursements do not cover our actual costs of providing care, and therefore we have recently had to make some difficult decisions that will impact the Arrowhead Family Medicine practice. Effective January 1, 2010, the physicians at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhead will opt out of participating in Medicare, meaning that Medicare will no longer reimburse for the services they provide.
Therefore, beginning January 1, 2010, your physician at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhead will no longer accept Medicare as reimbursement for your care. This change will not impact any other services provided at Arrowhead or any other Mayo facilities. Medicare will still be accepted for laboratory, X-rays, Anticoagulation Clinic and specialty care (such as Cardiology or Neurology) at Mayo Clinic.
Because of this change, as a current Medicare patient, should you choose to continue receiving your primary care at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhead, you will be required to pay for your care out-of-pocket. Neither your physician nor you will be permitted to seek reimbursement from Medicare for care you receive. We will not be able to bill Medicare for the physician office visit services you receive at Arrowhead, nor will you be able to submit the bill to Medicare for later reimbursement. Again, laboratory, X-ray, and specialty services will remain covered. Only the office visit will change to an out of pocket expense.
Costs you should anticipate paying out-of-pocket include:
An annual administrative fee of $250 which will be collected each year. (This will cover the administrative expense of providing you with appropriate prescription refills and phone inquiries for minor needs as they arise throughout the year.)
Normal fee rates for office visits. (Depending on the type of exam, fees may range from $175 to $400 per visit.)
Patients will be expected to come into the office for the number of visits appropriate to their medical conditions, which include a complete physical exam at appropriate intervals. If you pay the administrative fee, have a physical, and come in three other times per year, your annual costs are estimated to be approximately $1,500.
By maintaining your primary care with Mayo Clinic you will be assured continued care by a physician you know and trust. You will also have guaranteed access into primary care, an important resource that has become more difficult to obtain in recent years. In addition, by continuing your primary care with your Mayo Arrowhead physician, you will have continued coordinated specialty care at Mayo Clinic and be assured that your medical record will remain intact.
To continue seeing your Mayo Clinic Arrowhead physician for your primary care please complete and sign the enclosed letter of agreement and bring it with you to your first appointment in 2010 along with the $250 administrative fee. If you have questions and would like to speak to someone directly about this change, please call Sue Stevens at 623-376-8985 to talk over the phone or to set up an appointment to meet in person.
Unfortunately, you will not be able to transfer your primary care to another Mayo facility. However, you always have the choice of seeking primary care elsewhere in the community. If that is your choice, to assist you with this transition, we will forward a copy of your Mayo medical record to the office of your new physician, free of charge. To do this, a written request is required. Please complete the enclosed release of information form and return it to:
Medical Records Department
Attn: Theresa Ferrato
Mayo Clinic
13400 East Shea Boulevard
Scottsdale, Arizona, 85259
A partial list of family medicine physicians in the west Valley who are accepting new patients is included. Please contact the Maricopa County Medical Society at 602-252- 2015 or online at mcmsonline - Maricopa County Medical Society for an additional list of physicians.
We are deeply sorry that we have had to make this decision in order to maintain access to primary care at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. While we know that change is difficult and can be disruptive, we hope that you will understand the challenges that have contributed to our need to make this decision. Throughout this and other changes we have made to our practice, we remain committed to being able to provide care to our patients.
If you have questions regarding this transition or primary care at Mayo Clinic, please call Sue Stevens at 623-376-8985. We appreciate your understanding and we hope that you will choose to remain in our practice.
Sincerely,
Richard L. Engle, M.D.
Mayo’s move to drop Medicare patients may be copied by family doctors, some of whom have stopped accepting new patients from the program, said Lori Heim, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, in a telephone interview yesterday.
“Many physicians have said, ‘I simply cannot afford to keep taking care of Medicare patients,’” said Heim, a family doctor who practices in Laurinburg, North Carolina. “If you truly know your business costs and you are losing money, it doesn’t make sense to do more of it.”
I personally understand how paltry reimbursement rates lead to a cost imbalances and an inability to sustain a level of care for my clients. In my practice, I have stopped selling standalone Medicare PartD plans. During AEP I advised, but did NOT sell any PartD plans. Could this be a trend?
Mayo Clinic Arrowhead Drops Medicare - Video - KPHO Phoenix
Dear Patient,
Changes are occurring at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhead that could affect your access to primary care. Please review the following information carefully:
The discrepancy between what Medicare pays and our cost of providing care acutely impacts the sustainability of our primary care practice. Medicare reimbursements do not cover our actual costs of providing care, and therefore we have recently had to make some difficult decisions that will impact the Arrowhead Family Medicine practice. Effective January 1, 2010, the physicians at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhead will opt out of participating in Medicare, meaning that Medicare will no longer reimburse for the services they provide.
Therefore, beginning January 1, 2010, your physician at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhead will no longer accept Medicare as reimbursement for your care. This change will not impact any other services provided at Arrowhead or any other Mayo facilities. Medicare will still be accepted for laboratory, X-rays, Anticoagulation Clinic and specialty care (such as Cardiology or Neurology) at Mayo Clinic.
Because of this change, as a current Medicare patient, should you choose to continue receiving your primary care at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhead, you will be required to pay for your care out-of-pocket. Neither your physician nor you will be permitted to seek reimbursement from Medicare for care you receive. We will not be able to bill Medicare for the physician office visit services you receive at Arrowhead, nor will you be able to submit the bill to Medicare for later reimbursement. Again, laboratory, X-ray, and specialty services will remain covered. Only the office visit will change to an out of pocket expense.
Costs you should anticipate paying out-of-pocket include:
An annual administrative fee of $250 which will be collected each year. (This will cover the administrative expense of providing you with appropriate prescription refills and phone inquiries for minor needs as they arise throughout the year.)
Normal fee rates for office visits. (Depending on the type of exam, fees may range from $175 to $400 per visit.)
Patients will be expected to come into the office for the number of visits appropriate to their medical conditions, which include a complete physical exam at appropriate intervals. If you pay the administrative fee, have a physical, and come in three other times per year, your annual costs are estimated to be approximately $1,500.
By maintaining your primary care with Mayo Clinic you will be assured continued care by a physician you know and trust. You will also have guaranteed access into primary care, an important resource that has become more difficult to obtain in recent years. In addition, by continuing your primary care with your Mayo Arrowhead physician, you will have continued coordinated specialty care at Mayo Clinic and be assured that your medical record will remain intact.
To continue seeing your Mayo Clinic Arrowhead physician for your primary care please complete and sign the enclosed letter of agreement and bring it with you to your first appointment in 2010 along with the $250 administrative fee. If you have questions and would like to speak to someone directly about this change, please call Sue Stevens at 623-376-8985 to talk over the phone or to set up an appointment to meet in person.
Unfortunately, you will not be able to transfer your primary care to another Mayo facility. However, you always have the choice of seeking primary care elsewhere in the community. If that is your choice, to assist you with this transition, we will forward a copy of your Mayo medical record to the office of your new physician, free of charge. To do this, a written request is required. Please complete the enclosed release of information form and return it to:
Medical Records Department
Attn: Theresa Ferrato
Mayo Clinic
13400 East Shea Boulevard
Scottsdale, Arizona, 85259
A partial list of family medicine physicians in the west Valley who are accepting new patients is included. Please contact the Maricopa County Medical Society at 602-252- 2015 or online at mcmsonline - Maricopa County Medical Society for an additional list of physicians.
We are deeply sorry that we have had to make this decision in order to maintain access to primary care at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. While we know that change is difficult and can be disruptive, we hope that you will understand the challenges that have contributed to our need to make this decision. Throughout this and other changes we have made to our practice, we remain committed to being able to provide care to our patients.
If you have questions regarding this transition or primary care at Mayo Clinic, please call Sue Stevens at 623-376-8985. We appreciate your understanding and we hope that you will choose to remain in our practice.
Sincerely,
Richard L. Engle, M.D.
