Mayo to consolidate services in southern Minnesota

Mayo Clinic Health System will transition care from several of its clinics to alternate locations by early December.

Outpatient clinical services in Belle Plaine, Caledonia, Montgomery, Northridge, St. Peter and Wells will move to nearby Mayo Clinic sites. Elective surgeries and procedures in orthopedics, podiatry, endoscopy, ophthalmology and gynecology will be relocated from Albert Lea to the Austin and Waseca campuses.

Albert Lea will continue to serve patients by providing outpatient surgical evaluations, consultations, and pre- and post-operative care. The emergency department’s procedural services will remain unchanged.

Free transportation will still be available for patients 55 and older traveling to and from medical appointments at Mayo Clinic Health System locations in Albert Lea and Austin.

All affected patients will have the option to continue receiving care at another location or with their chosen provider.

Dr. Kathik Ghosh, vice president of Mayo Clinic Health System in Minnesota, said that these changes and consolidations are part of a larger effort to maintain patient and staffing volumes, sustain quality care and invest in modernizing facilities.

“We do not have the ability to spread out physicians or care teams across all of our sites,” Ghosh said. “What we are doing is strengthening sites. Brick and mortar is one aspect of it, but we also have to look at novel ways of reaching our patients through technologies.”

Ghosh said that Mayo Clinic Health Systems will retain all staff at this time.

Mayo Clinic patients will receive more information in the coming weeks about their provider's future clinic location. The health care system will offer virtual access to primary care services and same-day appointments to minimize unnecessary travel.

“We are continuously assessing, trying to refine and work towards transforming how we provide care for our rural and community patients,” Ghosh said. “This commitment requires that we must adapt. We have to make changes, and sometimes these changes are difficult.”