Here are 12 key things to know about Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, which was recently named one of 100 Great Hospitals in America in 2014 by Becker's Hospital Review.
1. Mayo Clinic — a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care and research — got its start in 1864, when William Worrall Mayo, MD, opened a private medical practice in Rochester. The organization officially took on the Mayo Clinic name in March 1914.
2. Mayo Clinic's operating income rose 55 percent from $395.4 million in fiscal year 2012 to $612.1 million in 2013. It saw total revenue of $9.42 billion last year.
3. Federal health IT incentives were one of the main drivers of Mayo Clinic's increased income in 2013. Last year, the healthcare organization received $54.7 million in Medicare and Medicaid dollars for continued meaningful use of electronic health records.
4. Mayo seems to have two distinct types of models. First, it has an integrated model involving secondary Mayo Clinic locations, such as its major campuses in Florida and Arizona. Second, Mayo Clinic has numerous clinical affiliations where Mayo is paid a fee and the affiliated hospitals or practices get access to the larger organization's resources and get to co-brand with Mayo Clinic. The jury still seems to be out on whether such affiliations can impart Mayo Clinic-level quality to the affiliated institutions and whether that type of affiliation can truly lead to substantial quality accretion at the affiliated institution.
5. Since 2011, Mayo Clinic has been working to create a network of hospitals and health systems that work together to improve the quality and delivery of care in their regions. The Mayo Clinic Care Network has member organizations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Wisconsin, as well as Puerto Rico and Mexico.
6. Each year, Mayo Clinic sees patients from all 50 states and 150 countries. In 2012, it had nearly 1.2 million total clinic patients, 131,000 hospital admissions and 626,000 hospital days of patient care.
7. Mayo Clinic is home to 55,000 physicians, nurses, scientists, students and allied health staff at all of its locations.
8. John Noseworthy, MD, serves as Mayo Clinic's president and CEO. Before obtaining his current position, Dr. Noseworthy was chair of Mayo's neurology department, medical director of the department of development and vice chair of the Mayo Clinic Rochester Executive Board. In 2013, Dr. Noseworthy launched Mayo's $5 billion, 20-year "Destination Medical Center" economic initiative, which he says will secure Minnesota's status as a global medical hub.
9. The strategy to make Minnesota a global healthcare hub is an interesting one, especially because Mayo largely orchestrated the $5 billion project (funded by public and private dollars) by leveraging the role it plays in the state — Dr. Noseworthy is quoted in the local paper as saying "there are 49 states that would like us to invest in them." It's also interesting because Mayo is building this plan with the expectation that Rochester will double in size to enable it. That's a big bet since, as it stands, it has 108,000 residents and the feel of small Midwestern town. To double that and change the perception of a lesser-known Minnesota town in 20 years will take a lot of work that extends beyond the hospital.
10. Mayo Clinic has been ranked as the No. 1 hospital in Minnesota by U.S. News & World Report in 2013-14 and is also ranked as the No. 3 hospital in the nation.
11. Mayo Clinic receives about $634 million in research funding from the government, foundations, industry groups and benefactor gifts. As of 2012, Mayo Clinic's research personnel included more than 3,000 students, allied health personnel, physicians and medical scientists. Additionally, in 2012, Mayo Clinic had 8,968 active human research studies and 5,672 research publications and review articles in peer-reviewed journals.
12. Mayo Clinic's research initiatives have extended beyond the healthcare setting. During World War II, the Clinic assembled the Mayo Aero-Medical Unit, a multidisciplinary team tasked with developing practices to keep military pilots healthy and safe. The team's innovations include the G-Suit and high-altitude oxygen mask.