NEW YORK – Walmart employees and their dependents will be able to receive more cancer treatments from Mayo Clinic doctors thanks to the retailer’s insurance coverage.
The nation’s largest private employer said Wednesday that those covered by insurance who have been diagnosed with most types of cancer will be able to get a second opinion from the Mayo Clinic and, if necessary, travel to the clinic for treatment. .
The move by the retail giant comes as more employers look for better care options and are paying special attention to cancer treatments, benefits experts say.
Walmart’s cancer program has been offering its employees and their dependents help from the Mayo Clinic for breast, lung, colon, prostate, pancreas and blood cancers. It is now expanding coverage to include most other types of cancer.
The only exceptions are three types of skin cancer – basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and localized melanoma – that can be treated at a local doctor’s office, according to the company.
The Mayo Clinic, headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota, with centers in Arizona and Jacksonville, Florida, has expanded its collaboration with companies other than Walmart, partnering with employers such as Whirlpool and 3M. It has a complex care program that covers 10 million people, according to Dr. Lyell Jones, a Mayo Clinic neurologist.
Companies have increasingly focused on connecting people with good care as they see their healthcare costs rise.
Companies have long referred patients to care providers they call “centers of excellence,” according to benefits experts. The push began with barytric surgery. It was later expanded to spinal operations and hip or knee prostheses.
Cancer care is probably the next wave of this approach, said Maura Cawley, senior partner at consulting firm Mercer.
These centers also give them the opportunity to offer more options for help to people who live in rural areas, Cawley said.
Cancer care planning has also become a priority for companies in general. In addition to connecting people with good care, companies are doing more to encourage early detection and be flexible with patients’ work and treatment schedules, Cawley says.
“It is an increasingly larger part of their spending, people are living with it much longer,” he said.
