Mayo Clinic expects to lose $900 million in revenue this year

The Mayo Clinic is expecting to lose $900 million in revenue this year as hospitals continue to struggle due to the decline in elective surgeries brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, according to The New York Times.

The clinic, which runs a Minnesota-based hospital system, produced $1 billion in operating revenue last year, but is now expected to lose $900 million in 2020 despite furloughing workers, cutting pay for doctors and pausing new construction projects.

Since the start of the pandemic the clinic has treated more low-income patients enrolled in Medicaid who’ve been impacted by the virus, which is less profitable under the business model of private hospitals. 

Last year 60 percent of the Mayo Clinic’s revenue came from privately insured patients and 3 percent from those on Medicaid.

“It’s uncontrollable,” Mayo Clinic Chief Financial Officer Dennis Dahlen told the Times. 

Johns Hopkins, another elite research hospital, is expected to lose $300 million in revenue, according to the Times.

The clinic expects to see more affluent patients in the second half of 2020. According to the Times, the clinic plans on dipping into their $10.6 billion cash reserve to stay afloat. 

“We’ll probably see a richer mix of locals and people coming from within 100 miles,” Dahlen told the Times.