This in no way reflects that Mayo is doing anything wrong, they have financial obligations like all the rest of the hospitals in the US. At last check if 
you are not aware 55% of the hospitals in the country are in the red now, pay attention to this fact.
Mayo has had to make some cutbacks as well in many areas, such as in clinical trials as an example. Also, they had a hit by the Madoff scheme too. With 7.2 billion coming in and 7.2 billion going out in 2008, the Clinic broke even, but only because of the 39 million dollar sale of St. Luke's Hospital in Florida as I reported in my March 2009 Desperate Hospitals update.
Mayo Clinic Addresses Shortcomings with Healthcare Reform
Technology throws us a left curve every day in healthcare, something else we need to learn to live with too as it usually creates some innovative and better solutions and outcomes for patients. There is plenty of room for savings and technology will bring many of those about, but whether or not we have a public plan or continue on with the shambles we have today, money has to be spent on healthcare and there’s no white rabbit to pull out of the hat.
What we are seeing now is strictly control by risk management with business intelligence software giving some forecasting information, but again that’s not all folks, we can’t be accurately on course with technology growing at the pace it is either. We have individuals making laws that unfortunately will not entertain or take the time to listen or study on how technology can do this, so until they maybe catch up and think about some algorithmic centric laws, it’s still just one big crap shoot in Washington. Cuts in the system we have now will continue until we reach a higher level of intelligence with the way we practice business, handle sick patients and create laws. BD
The renowned Mayo Clinic is no longer accepting some Medicare and Medicaid patients, raising new questions about whether it is too selective to serve as a model for health-care reform.
The White House has repeatedly held up for praise Mayo and other medical centers, many of which are in the Upper Midwest, that perform well in Dartmouth College rankings showing wide disparities in how much hospitals spend on Medicare patients.
Mayo announced late last week that its flagship facility in Rochester, Minn., will no longer accept Medicaid patients from Nebraska and Montana. The clinic draws patients from across the Midwest and West, but it will now accept Medicaid recipients only from Minnesota and the four states that border it. As it is, 5 percent of Mayo's patients in Rochester are on Medicaid, well below the average for other big teaching hospitals, and below the 29 percent rate at the other hospital in town.
Separately, the Mayo branch in Arizona -- the third leg of the Mayo stool, with the Rochester clinic and one in Florida -- put out word a few days ago that under a two-year pilot program, it would no longer accept Medicare for patients seeking primary care at its Glendale facility. That facility, with 3,000 regular Medicare patients, will continue to see them for advanced care -- Mayo's specialty -- but those seeking primary care will need to pay an annual $250 fee, plus fees of $175 to $400 per visit.
Mayo Clinic Criticized for Limiting Medicare Patients - washingtonpost.com
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