Healthcare at the Mayo Clinic: High quality, low cost

Economics are another Mayo 'miracle' for patients and insurers

Sat, Jul 25, 2009
By Jeff Hansel
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

President Obama seems to talk more about Mayo Clinic lately than the medical center itself does.

Obama points to Mayo as one of the lowest-cost, highest-quality health systems in the country, one he'd like health reformers to emulate.

Statistics back that up. Mayo's hospitals in Rochester, combined, were recently named the second-best hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. And the Dartmouth Atlas confirms that Mayo uses fewer resources and spends less per capita than its peers "while simultaneously receiving high marks on established quality measures."

A 2006 Dartmouth report says it cost Medicare patients at Saint Marys Hospital $34,372 during the final two years of life, whereas it cost their counterparts at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles more than double -- $71,637.

A peek behind the statistics gives an idea of how Mayo does this.

(Continued here. And from the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare, 2008:)

Health care costs: Average spending per patient in the last two years of life at selected medical centers

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center $71,637
Johns Hopkins Hospital $63,079
Brigham and Women's Hospital $50,156
Stanford Hospital and Clinics $44,997
Cleveland Clinic Foundation $34,437
Mayo Clinic (St. Marys Hospital) $34,372