After holding out against managed care for eight years, Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale and Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix have just inked a contract with Cigna HealthCare, reports the Business Journal of Phoenix. The profitable Arizona Mayo facilities--the hospital reported $21.9 million in net income in 2004--weren’t boycotting managing care. Rather, Mayo claims it didn’t like the erstwhile restrictions of managed care plans, Dr. Robert Gorman, medical director for contracting at Mayo, told the Journal. It’s a different story today, now that there are no referral requirements for two-thirds of Cigna’s members to receive specialty care. "As managed care has evolved, we have evolved in terms of understanding if we're going to be able to offer our services to a greater number of people and a more interesting mix of people, we need to be able to adapt as well," Gorman said.
For Cigna, the contract with Mayo will shore up its enrollment, which dropped when it lost its contract with the state of Arizona two years ago. Gorman adds that although he continues to talk to other insurers, he wants to proceed slowly and first determine how Cigna enrollees will affect capacity and demand at the Mayo facilities before signing other contracts.
