Mayo Clinic as a model for health reform?

    I read a very interesting article by Peter Benesh on Pres. Obama's health reform plan. President Obama often points to the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., as one model for repairing the nation's health care. He's often cited stats showing that the Mayo Clinic spends 20% to 30% less on health care than other hospitals yet produces better patient outcomes. It could be the staffing model (MC hires doctors as salaried staff rather than independent, fee-for-service contractors)

    Remember, the Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit hospital. Benesh suggests that using a not-for-profit hospital organization as a model for health care reform will draw plenty of attention as the debate intensifies over the next few months. I believe one of the important points of this article is that researchers found patient satisfaction across the country did not increase along with higher spending on care. Nor did outcomes improve with spending.

And you know I'll always have a reference to EMR:

Mayo's cost-saving program has several components. It aggregates care under one roof, with teams of medical professionals integrating their skills for each patient. It creates a single, electronic medical record for each patient for physicians to share so that everybody knows what everyone else is doing. Surgery, if required, can be performed within 24 hours.

In addition, patients can get all their appointments and tests completed in three to five days at the Mayo Clinic, without having to see doctors and take tests in different locations and wait for results.

And because doctors are salaried employees, they don't have to spend a lot of time on paperwork, back-office staff and associated overhead.

As always, I only pick articles I think my readers would find interesting, click here for the complete article.

Source: Peter Benesh, Obama Health Plan: Reform Might Be Heavy On The Mayo Famed Clinic Seen As Model Hospital Group Scores Well On Efficieny, But Is It The Right Prototype?, Investor's Business Daily, National Edition, Front Page News, pg. A01 (July 7, 2009)