[Tennisnut]

Originally Posted by sunnyatlast

"In the United States, the vendors such as Physicians, Hospitals, Clinics, Home Health, DME will always be privatized which gives incentive for more vendors to enter the market. The more eligible Patients, the more vendors eager to provide the care."

Really?

The Mayo Clinic stopped accepting Medicare at its five-physician practice in Glendale, Ariz., two years ago. Officials said at the time they would analyze financial results of the move early this year.

No results yet. Mayo spokesman James McVeigh said in an e-mail: “Our plan is to continue to study the program, collect data and review the impact on our patients.”

Mayo officials, who were unavailable at deadline, need more time to analyze how the Arizona clinic's decision to drop Medicare affected its finances, patient satisfaction and the overall number of patients, he said.

Mayo officials faulted Medicare for the move when they first announced plans to stop accepting the insurance.

“Mayo Clinic in Arizona loses a substantial amount of money every year due to the reimbursement schedule under Medicare, a loss we cannot continue to sustain,” the health system said on its news blog. “The discrepancy between what Medicare pays and our cost of providing services is particularly acute for our primary-care practices.”

Mayo also told the Bloomberg news service the clinic's finances would be examined under the pilot “to see if it could have implications beyond Arizona.”

Mayo Clinic operates in Arizona, Iowa, Florida, Minnesota and Wisconsin."
Mayo vs. Medicare: an update | Of Interest, the healthcare finance blog by Modern Healthcare's Melanie Evans

SO. Medicare payments less than the costs of providing the care is going to "incentivize more vendors to enter the market"??

Why? So they can go bankrupt and be unable to pay themselves and their employees who need jobs?

Sounds like the Mayo clinic needs to implement some cost controls since other facilities can provide services under the MediCare fee schedule. I know for example, a MRI can run from $1500 to $5000. Why is there that much variation in cost?