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Two years ago I visited the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., to seek a second opinion on the initial diagnosis of Crohn’s disease that my Dallas-based gastroenterologist had handed down a few years before. You see, after I had established care with a GI doctor here in Grand Junction, he had changed that diagnosis to ulcerative colitis. I suppose, then, that you would call my Mayo visit a search for a third opinion.
Anyway, my visit to the Mayo began with a quick browse through their Web site and a phone call to their toll-free number and speaking to one of their appointment staff. My appointment was set for three months away, on July 5, 2007.
A few days after that initial call, I received a thick packet of information from the Mayo. The envelope was stuffed with maps, hotel information, brochures about the hospital and the specific clinic where I was assigned to go, and a detailed itinerary of my two-day outpatient visit. It was like attending a conference, except that my health was the whole purpose of the events listed neatly and to the minute on the paperwork. Let me tell you: Just the fact that the Mayo had taken the time to provide me with such attention and comprehensive detail about my visit long before my scheduled arrival was enough to make me feel a whole lot better.
The visit itself turned out to be an eye-opening experience.
I daresay that few people who read this column have not had the mind-numbing experience of sitting in a doctor’s waiting room for what seems like an eternity. Or being shuffled between doctors and specialists in a maze of hospital corridors, unsure where to go, unable to find anyone who knew where you were supposed to be.
Not at the Mayo. That detailed itinerary that had been sent to me prior to my visit was followed to the letter and to the minute. Everyone seemed to work in rhythm, with nurses and physicians and admissions staff both efficient and kind. I never had to wait a moment for any of my procedures — I knew exactly how to get where I needed to be, and once I arrived I was promptly whisked away to my treatment, oftentimes before I’d even had a chance to sit down. When it was all over, the billing representative told me that I could expect a detailed accounting of all services in the mail within a few weeks. They would file all the insurance paperwork, and I would be responsible for paying the rest. If I had any trouble with my bill, I could arrange a payment plan with them. I left for Grand Junction two days later without having had to pay so much as a dollar.
But there was more. The evening of my last appointment, I found myself rushing to the Mayo Clinic Hospital’s emergency room because of a horrible allergic reaction I’d had to the IV dye they’d given me prior to the CT scan. Again, I was admitted within seconds of my arrival and seen by a doctor almost immediately after I’d sat down on an examining table. On a Friday night. In the summer. In one of the largest metropolitan cities in the country.
Can you imagine such a scenario happening even here in small-town Grand Junction? A few months ago, I called the local emergency room late on a Saturday night when my husband was suffering from horrible stomach cramps. The admissions rep flatly me told that we would be better off staying home because of the hours-long wait we would have to endure before we could even see a doctor.
I remember all of this now because I recently watched a bit of President Obama’s health reform summit on C-SPAN a few days ago. One of the congressional representatives on hand to offer his opinions referred to a study that compared the costs of end-of-life care among several of the nation’s leading hospitals. The study found that the Mayo Clinic had the lowest per-patient cost, despite the fact that the Mayo is considered one of the leading medical care institutions in the world. He noted that the Mayo adheres to a “value” approach rather than one based on “performance,” the latter of which encourages physicians to order unnecessary tests and procedures that do little or nothing to improve the patient’s quality of care but which greatly contribute to that patient’s enormous hospital bills. He concluded that in order for health care reform to be truly effective, efficient and affordable, the system must move towards the Mayo approach and away from the wasteful and costly system currently in place in most hospitals in the country.
I’m fortunate enough to have decent health insurance that would allow visits to the Mayo, even though its several hundred miles away. But I know that I’m one of the lucky few. It’s a shame that the greatest country in the world, with the best medical system in the world, can provide such care only for that lucky few. Here’s hoping that President Obama will heed his health care reform advocates’ suggestions and find a way to ensure that every American receives the kind of stellar care for which our country is renowned.
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Marjorie R. Asturias is a freelance writer and weekly FP columnist living in Grand Junction. Reach her at marjorie.asturias@gmail.com.
Anyway, my visit to the Mayo began with a quick browse through their Web site and a phone call to their toll-free number and speaking to one of their appointment staff. My appointment was set for three months away, on July 5, 2007.
A few days after that initial call, I received a thick packet of information from the Mayo. The envelope was stuffed with maps, hotel information, brochures about the hospital and the specific clinic where I was assigned to go, and a detailed itinerary of my two-day outpatient visit. It was like attending a conference, except that my health was the whole purpose of the events listed neatly and to the minute on the paperwork. Let me tell you: Just the fact that the Mayo had taken the time to provide me with such attention and comprehensive detail about my visit long before my scheduled arrival was enough to make me feel a whole lot better.
The visit itself turned out to be an eye-opening experience.
I daresay that few people who read this column have not had the mind-numbing experience of sitting in a doctor’s waiting room for what seems like an eternity. Or being shuffled between doctors and specialists in a maze of hospital corridors, unsure where to go, unable to find anyone who knew where you were supposed to be.
Not at the Mayo. That detailed itinerary that had been sent to me prior to my visit was followed to the letter and to the minute. Everyone seemed to work in rhythm, with nurses and physicians and admissions staff both efficient and kind. I never had to wait a moment for any of my procedures — I knew exactly how to get where I needed to be, and once I arrived I was promptly whisked away to my treatment, oftentimes before I’d even had a chance to sit down. When it was all over, the billing representative told me that I could expect a detailed accounting of all services in the mail within a few weeks. They would file all the insurance paperwork, and I would be responsible for paying the rest. If I had any trouble with my bill, I could arrange a payment plan with them. I left for Grand Junction two days later without having had to pay so much as a dollar.
But there was more. The evening of my last appointment, I found myself rushing to the Mayo Clinic Hospital’s emergency room because of a horrible allergic reaction I’d had to the IV dye they’d given me prior to the CT scan. Again, I was admitted within seconds of my arrival and seen by a doctor almost immediately after I’d sat down on an examining table. On a Friday night. In the summer. In one of the largest metropolitan cities in the country.
Can you imagine such a scenario happening even here in small-town Grand Junction? A few months ago, I called the local emergency room late on a Saturday night when my husband was suffering from horrible stomach cramps. The admissions rep flatly me told that we would be better off staying home because of the hours-long wait we would have to endure before we could even see a doctor.
I remember all of this now because I recently watched a bit of President Obama’s health reform summit on C-SPAN a few days ago. One of the congressional representatives on hand to offer his opinions referred to a study that compared the costs of end-of-life care among several of the nation’s leading hospitals. The study found that the Mayo Clinic had the lowest per-patient cost, despite the fact that the Mayo is considered one of the leading medical care institutions in the world. He noted that the Mayo adheres to a “value” approach rather than one based on “performance,” the latter of which encourages physicians to order unnecessary tests and procedures that do little or nothing to improve the patient’s quality of care but which greatly contribute to that patient’s enormous hospital bills. He concluded that in order for health care reform to be truly effective, efficient and affordable, the system must move towards the Mayo approach and away from the wasteful and costly system currently in place in most hospitals in the country.
I’m fortunate enough to have decent health insurance that would allow visits to the Mayo, even though its several hundred miles away. But I know that I’m one of the lucky few. It’s a shame that the greatest country in the world, with the best medical system in the world, can provide such care only for that lucky few. Here’s hoping that President Obama will heed his health care reform advocates’ suggestions and find a way to ensure that every American receives the kind of stellar care for which our country is renowned.
--------------------------
Marjorie R. Asturias is a freelance writer and weekly FP columnist living in Grand Junction. Reach her at marjorie.asturias@gmail.com.
