Why is Mayo Clinic Involved in Health Care Reform

Mayo Clinic's strong patient focus underlies our decision to take a more active role in national health care reform, through the creation of the Health Policy Center. Mayo is convinced that the future of quality, accessible care for patients requires changing our current system.

"Mayo needs to be involved in national health care reform because we believe that the needs of the patient come first," says Robert Smoldt, Mayo's chief administrative officer. "Nationally, today's medicine is not serving patients as well as it should, especially when it's causing financial hardships for some."

Through the Health Policy Center, Mayo Clinic will bring its patient-focused voice to the crucial national discussion on how to reform all elements of health care: public policy, provider accountability and patient responsibility. Mayo Clinic hopes to inform the dialogue with new research data and responsible, nonpartisan, solution-based discussions.

Mayo's History with Health Policy

Mayo Clinic's concerns with U.S. health care policies go back nearly 25 years. In the 1980s, serious concerns about the impact of managed care spurred major efforts to "diversify" Mayo's activities and led to some momentous changes: start up of new Mayo Clinics in Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale, Ariz.; expansion of Mayo Medical Laboratories; and publishing books and newsletters for the public. The regional Mayo Health System, which began in 1992, was another response.

In 1993, Mayo Clinic in Rochester hosted a program with Hillary Rodham Clinton called "Minnesota Speaks: Our Hopes for Health Care Reform." It was part of the Clinton administration's campaign to demonstrate the need for health care reform. David Niedfeldt presented the first lady with a gift at the end of the program.

Health care reform surfaced as a major issue in the 1992 presidential campaign, prompting Mayo to issue a set of health policy principles to "guide policy makers in developing national health policy."

In 1998, the Mayo Board of Trustees approved a Statement on Medicare Reform that was submitted to the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. In its summary, the statement said, "Mayo Clinic supports patient-centered Medicare reform, based on the concepts of choice, competition, and innovation, with a defined role for government."

In 2003, the Mayo Board of Trustees approved a new Mayo Clinic Proposal on Market-Based Universal Health Insurance Coverage. The statement says, "Mayo Clinic recognizes that national health policy reforms are necessary to deal with problems of cost, access, and quality in the health care system ... Reforms are necessary to provide coverage for the increasing number of uninsured, and to establish a market-based system in which reimbursement to providers is adequate to ensure high quality and innovation, while also providing incentives for efficiency. Many aspects of our proposed model are based on the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan, which provides private health insurance to federal employees through a market-based system of choice and competition among insurance plans."

In fall 2005, Mayo approved and began initiatives under the Health Policy Center to stimulate the development of nonpartisan proposals for health care reform.

In April 2006, Mayo leaders offered their own ideas to "heal our ailing health care system." They suggest creating "a learning organization for health care in the United States ... to provide medical care that is safe, effective, efficient, timely, equitable and patient centered." See a summary of the article.