U.S. Health Secretary Says Mayo Practices Worth Copying

Jun. 4- During a tour of Mayo Clinic on Thursday, the nation's top health official said the new health-reform law allows Mayo's successes to be emulated by other health organizations without administrative changes.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was given the tour by Mayo's top officials -- President Dr. John Noseworthy and Chief Administrative Officer Shirley Weis. They were joined by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Al Franken, Rep. Tim Walz and, from Wisconsin, Rep. Ron Kind.

As part of the new law, Mayo has begun several pilot projects to explore ways to make people healthy, including the three-year "Medical Home Project" in Austin, Sebelius said.

Mayo expects to improve the health of the Austin residents and lower the cost of care by bringing together "schools, churches, employers, hospitals and other local groups to better care for and prevent chronic diseases like diabetes and heart failure," according to a Mayo document. Mayo hopes the program will serve as a model of patient-centered medical home care.

"It's a wonderful approach," Sebelius said.

[widget:newsarticlehospital]

Sebelius said a new federal program was announced just Wednesday that would mesh well with what Mayo is doing. The Community Health Data Initiative is "unlocking and presenting" community-by-community health data "and putting it out free on the Web."

"It hasn't been available to anyone and we think that's another patient tool and provider tool to really figure out what's gong on," Sebelius said.

Mayo leaders made surepaying for value, rather than paying based upon the volume of procedures performed, was included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama on March 23.

Sebelius shared with both Noseworthy and Weis that she had just come from breakfast with a Mayo cardiologist -- one of her long-time friends -- from whom she got the "grassroots" view of Mayo.

But Mayo staff were prepared to wow her with the official details.

Sebelius and the lawmakers toured the Mayo Center for Innovation and were told of a variety of projects Mayo has underway that are intended to decrease costs, improve patient outcomes and improve the patient experience.

Members of Mayo's medical staff described, for example, a "care-at-a-distance technology platform" that allows detailed patient data, such as blood pressure, temperature and oxygen levels to be transmitted from remote locations to specialists at Mayo.

After the tour, Sebelius praised Mayo's ability to decrease health costs while getting good patient outcomes.

Mayo, she said, "is one the best places in the country in terms of those outcomes."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To see more of the Post-Bulletin, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.postbulletin.com.

Copyright (c) 2010, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

U.S. Health Secretary Says Mayo Practices Worth CopyingOriginally from: http://www.nursinglink.monster.com/news/articles/13231-us-health-secretary-says-mayo-practices-worth-copying

View this post on my blog: http://travelnursesuccess.com/u-s-health-secretary-says-mayo-practices-worth-copying