How to treat at Mayo Clinic if you live a distance from Rochester

Posted by retirement75 @retirement75, Dec 8, 2021

I've recently had a virtual appointment with a cardiologist for a 2nd opinion on a current diagnosis after a heart attack followed by triple bypass last year. Getting adequate feedback from the doctors I've worked with was going nowhere. I was very happy with the communication and time spent going over my records. I would like to treat with Mayo; however, I live 4 hours from Rochester. I realize I have to have a doctor locally. Is there anyway this would work?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Visiting Mayo Clinic Support Group.

It’s so frustrating when you have medical questions and you’re not getting any answers from your doctors. Especially since you’ve had some extensive surgery. I hope your health is improving and your recovery is going well. A good friend of mine had a double bypass this summer. A life saver for sure, but it takes time to get back to normal.

I’m a Mayo-Rochester patient and also live 4 hours from the clinic. I have to return 4 times a year for a visit with my transplant doctor. But I do need monitoring during the interim. So he works with my doctors back home by providing a treatment plan for my hematologist and my PCP to follow. It works out really well.
The specialists at the clinic often anticipate the ongoing patient care will be carried out closer to home for the patient.

If you’d like to request an appointment, Here’s the link to our Mayo Clinic site. http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63
Call the number for the Rochester campus. The coordinator on the phone can help you get the process started.

You don’t need a referral but can help if your physician does the referral along with medical records.

There are several heart health groups in our Connect forum. Do you have any particular questions or concerns you’d like to to share?

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Thank you, Lori, for your input. Yes, recovery from bypass surgery and this heart attack have been the most challenging thing I’ve been through. The two concerns I have about treating at Mayo Clinic would be getting there and I have already had resistance from a few doctors here when you mention Mayo Clinic. However, that shouldn’t stop me if I feel strongly about this. I wanted to post about systolic heart failure or cardiomyopathy but need more clarification from the cardiologist as to where I am at. I also have cervical and lumbar fusions that are ongoing chronic problems. I would say that I definitely have reasons to treat at Mayo!

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Hi, @retirement75 I'm Scott and for years my wife was a patient at Mayo Rochester for her brain cancer. We found that her GP here (three states away) and her specialists at Mayo worked very well together. A lot of her later appointments were virtual long before it was a thing and that worked very well for her, especially when her condition made travel problematic.

We, too, encountered some hesitancy by her local doc, but as it became evident to her local doc that her condition was complex, she finally got fully onboard for help from Mayo.

Happy to answer any questions you might have,
Strength, Courage, & Peace

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Thank you for your input Scott. I think I will contact the cardiologist I had the virtual appointment with and ask him what his thoughts are on treating with him and how it might work.

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