Walmart employees to get expanded cancer treatment options with the Mayo Clinic

NEW YORK — Walmart's employees and their dependents are being offered expanded cancer treatment with doctors at the Mayo Clinic through the retailer's insurance coverage.

The nation's largest private employer said Wednesday that those covered by the insurance and diagnosed with most types of cancer will be able to get a second opinion from the Mayo Clinic and then travel to the clinic for treatment if needed.

The retail giant's action comes as more employers seek better care options and are paying particular attention to cancer treatments, benefits experts say.

Walmart's cancer program had been offering employees and their dependents help from the Mayo Clinic on breast, lung, colon, prostate, pancreatic and blood cancers. It is now expanding the coverage to include most other cancers.

The only exceptions are three skin cancers — basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and localized melanoma — which can be treated at a local doctor's office, the company said.

Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minnesota, and with locations in Arizona and Jacksonville, Florida, has been expanding its work with companies beyond Walmart, partnering with employers including Whirlpool and 3M. It has a complex care program that covers 10 million people, said Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr. Lyell Jones

Employers have become more focused on connecting people with good care as they watch their health care costs climb.

Companies have long sent patients to care providers that they rate as so-called ''centers of excellence,'' benefits experts say. The push started with bariatric surgery. It then expanded to spine surgeries and hip or knee replacements.

Cancer care is probably the newest wave of this approach, said Maura Cawley, a senior partner at consulting firm Mercer.

These centers also give them a chance to offer more options for help to people who live in rural areas, Cawley noted.

Planning for cancer care also has become a bigger focus for employers in general. Aside from connecting people with good care, companies are doing more to encourage early detection and being flexible with patient work and treatment schedules, Cawley said.

''It's a bigger and bigger part of their spend, people are living with it much longer,'' she said.