The Mayo Clinic Health System is shuttering its home health care services in two Minnesota markets.
Mayo Clinic Health System plans to phase out its home health care services in Albert Lea and Red Wing, Minnesota, by June 30, the Rochester, Minnesota-based nonprofit research and health provider announced last Friday in a press release. The organization will transition care to other home health agencies in the area. The change will affect about 50 patients in Albert Lea and 70 in Red Wing, as well as some home health care staffers.
Hospice programs run by the Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea, Austin, and Red Wing, Minnesota, will remain open, however.
“As we work to build a system of health care across Southeast Minnesota that provides affordable, sustainable care for area residents, we need to look beyond the walls of our Mayo Clinic facilities and include the many resources located in our communities,” said David Agerter, regional vice president for the Mayo Clinic, in the press release. “Mayo Clinic Health System’s core business, the way that we bring the best value to our patients, is to deliver inpatient (hospital) and outpatient care. We recognize that there are high-quality community agencies who are better positioned to offer other services, such as home health care, because that is their main focus.”
This isn’t the first time Mayo Clinic Health System has discontinued home health services in the region. The nonprofit also shuttered its home health care services in Cannon Falls, Fairmont, and Austin, Minnesota, in 2009, 2010, and 2012, respectively.
The Mayo Clinic Health System currently runs clinics, hospitals and other health care services in more than 60 communities in Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Other hospital systems—such as Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH), Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC), and Baylor Scott & White—also have been backing off on providing home health, selling these operations or entering into joint ventures with dedicated home health providers. Island Hospital, a health care provider in Anacortes, Washington, recently offloaded its home health program to Utah’s Canyon Home Care & Hospice for $1.45 million, reports local news website GoSkagit.com.
Written by Tim Regan
Photo Credit Michael Hicks, CC BY 2.0
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