Arizona PBS is airing a two hour show on the Mayo Clinic. Growing up in Minnesota I was aware of how famous the Mayo Clinic was but was unaware of it's story, and the role that St Mary's Hospital and the Sisters of St Francis played in the Clinic's success. Rochester was in my ( high school) sports conference and later my job took me to Rochester on a regular basis, but I have not been in Rochester since the late 60's. Seeing the Clinic today and learning it's history was amazing.
I haven't seen it fix, but a quick story on Rochester Mayo (BTW, you all do know that is where Del Webb died on July 4, 1074). Anyway, two years before i retired in 2003, a bunch of union and employer trustees from our health care plans began an aggressive effort to create "centers of excellence." Statistics showed that hospitals and doctors who performed higher numbers of operations and specialized in procedures in greater numbers than those doing lessor numbers resulted in superior care and often at lessor costs. It was all about outcomes. We were convinced we had a formula to reduce costs and drive quality care. We started canvassing hospitals for data. We knew what we wanted, what we needed and had put in place the tools to compile and measure it. Damned if virtually every hospital didn't push back, except one. Rochester Mayo was able to provide us with as much information as we needed/wanted. Of course names were redacted, due to privacy issues, but they immediately stepped up. They have always been known as a research hospital so info was critical to have in hand. Sadly, i retired in the midst of the process and the coalition kind of fell by the wayside. Too bad, because the potential upside was staggering.
A few years ago I visited relatives in Minnesota. Daughter-in-law worked for Mayo and arranged for me to have a tour. It was very interesting. She now works for Mayo in Arizona (Scottsdale?). I have also been to that hospital. BTW. Did Del Webb actually die in 1074?
Yup, Del was gone before he ever saw the final chapter of the phenomena called Sun City grow out. Too bad, he would have loved 1977/1978 when they sold more than 5000 homes in that final year and a half. John Meeker said they could have sold another 5000 homes is 1978 if they had the lots available.
