The Mayo Clinic is engaged in a large expansion of its facilities in its home base of Minnesota, and it has pushed hard to get public financing for some of the work, the New Republic reported.
According to the New Republic, the Mayo Clinic was able to wangle $585 million in funding from Minnesota lawmakers in order to help complete the funding of its upgrades, which are projected to cost $5.6 billion. Mayo is spending $3.5 billion of its own money, with other healthcare-related businesses contributing the remainder. Its plans are to draw wealthier and sicker patients in the coming years as the Affordable Care Act unfolds.
The work at Mayo is part of a nationwide boom in hospital construction, with tens of billions of dollars being invested in new facilities and infrastructure. However,many have questioned whether hospital construction and improvement projections are excessive or completely unnecessary.
Much of the money appropriated by lawmakers for Mayo's expansion will be for non-healthcare infrastructure improvements, such as sidewalks, sewers and roads. According to the New Republic, Mayo wants to help double the size of Rochester, Minn., the town where its headquarters are based. Although it is Minnesota's third-largest city, its population barely breaks 100,000. "The Mayo Clinic as an entity is a five-star experience," Bradly Narr, M.D., Mayo's head of its medical destination division, told the New Republic."We want Rochester to be able to offer the same."
To learn more:
- here's the New Republic article