Cleveland Clinic is one of a few top health systems that has expanded its international presence in recent years, increasing the diversity of its healthcare operations while promoting its clinical expertise in new markets.
The 23-hospital, 6,699-bed system has locations in Ohio, Florida and Las Vegas, as well as Toronto, Abu Dhabi and London.
Cleveland Clinic London Hospital, a 184-bed facility estimated to have cost $1 billion, opened in March 2022. The 325,000-square-foot hospital provides a range of services — including care for heart and vascular, digestive disease, neuroscience and orthopedics —- and houses 29 intensive care unit beds, 41 neurological rehabilitation beds and eight operating rooms.
"We believe that touching more lives is our ethical imperative," Cleveland Clinic President and CEO Tom Mihaljevic, MD, said. "With the opening of Cleveland Clinic London, we are extending our unique model of care to more patients than ever."
The health system is also expanding its U.K. presence by opening a second outpatient facility near the hospital in late 2023. It opened its first outpatient center in London in September 2021.
Cleveland Clinic's international portfolio also includes a health and wellness center and a sports medicine clinic in Toronto and management services provided to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, a 364-bed multispecialty hospital offering a range of critical and general acute care services.
International expansion has provided Cleveland Clinic the opportunity to bring its high-quality care services and protocols to more people, closer to home, while also creating additional resources to improve the system's clinical and research practices as well as its reputation.
"As we expand internationally, we are 100 percent committed to making sure each Cleveland Clinic location is an extension of who we are and the care we provide," Cleveland Clinic Chief of Operations Bill Peacock told Becker's. "There is significant effort that goes into expanding our footprint, but the impact fulfills our ethical obligation to grow and responsibility to bring the best care to patients — regardless of where they live — because everyone deserves high-quality healthcare."
Cleveland Clinic's mission is to care for life, research for health and educate those who serve, and the system is committed to providing seamless and uniform quality and experience of care across its global enterprise.
Across its global enterprise, new technology has allowed it to break through bottlenecks in scientific discovery and reduce the amount of time to find solutions to problems. This means researchers can get to discovery faster — expediting the time to find medicines, cures and vaccines — to provide better care for patients around the world, according to Mr. Peacock.
"The biggest challenge is also the biggest reward," he said. "Understanding the healthcare needs of the people in that region and bringing world-class care to address those needs is no small task."