Mayo Clinic To Merge Two Rochester Hospitals

It's no secret that the two hospitals in Rochester, Minn. – Saint Marys Hospital and Rochester Methodist Hospital – have been under the management of that city's most renown business, the Mayo Clinic.

But the Mayo, which has been on a decade-long campaign to strengthen its brand and positioning in healthcare delivery, has decided to merge the operations of the two facilities under a single license. Beginning in 2014, their campuses will be renamed the Mayo Clinic Hospital – Rochester.

Both facilities will continue to operate as before, said Mayo spokesperson Bryan Anderson.

“The hospitals are already integrated. This will just make a single license hospital,” he said. Mayo has overseen the operations of both facilities under a joint operating and governance agreement that went into effect in 1986.

Mayo officials said added regulatory pressures, including ongoing reporting to agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Joint Commission, prompted the change.

“We know patients seek information from government and nongovernment entities to obtain important quality and financial data,” said John Noseworthy, M.D., the Mayo Clinic's president. “By continuing the integration we began in 1986, patients can have a more complete, accurate picture of the care we provide at Mayo Clinic.”

However, the organization has also been on a campaign since at least the late 1990s to expand its operations, opening up inpatient sites in Scottsdale, Ariz. and Jacksonville Fla. It has also relentlessly publicized the studies it has undertaken and pushed its healthcare quality initiatives to a national audience.

There is some operational fallout from the license merger and renaming: Saint Marys will lose its designation as a Catholic facility. However, the chapel and convent on its campus will remain in operation, officials said.

The changes will go into effect at the start of 2014, according to a statement issued by Mayo.