THE I NNOVATORS
Innovating the Future of Healthcare
Undoubtedly, innovation thrives at Mayo Clinic . Here’s a look at the secret to fostering innovation – and what’s next for the healthcare powerhouse.
Mayo Clinic Engineering Machine Shop, circa 1950.
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Connectedness. Many describe Mayo as an organization where the focus is on cooperative individualism. Mayo physicians earn a salary, rather than receive payment per procedure, leading to an environment that nurtures innovation through collaboration and cooperation. Mayo physicians rely on each other to take care of their patients. Diversity. Very few people are experts in everything, especially today. So, diversity in this context refers to the different disciplines and specialties within Mayo Clinic that collaborate on the care of patients. Healthcare is complex and hard to understand, but specialization enables an increase in efficiency and productivity. However, communication between specialists is difficult, and the role of the generalist becomes even more crucial. Mayo Clinic has the foremost experts in the world in a variety of disciplines. Further, we have people whose job is to coordinate that expertise to be most beneficial for the patient.
ayo Clinic has a long history of innovation. In 1889, Mayo formed the first group practice of medicine and by 1929 had grown to 386 physicians. As
BY: MARK WEHDE Chair of Mayo Clinic Engineering
ayo-trained physicians left the organization and traveled around the country, they frequently established their own group practices based on the Mayo model, forming over 125 around the country by 1932. Why did this group practice model spread? I believe a primary reason is that it was a successful incubator for innovation. With the advancement of healthcare, it was no longer possible for one physician to provide for all their patients’ needs. This model allowed physicians with different specialties to complement each other and turned Mayo Clinic into a place of firsts. The first group practice. The first program in graduate medical education, the first medical and research nonprofit, the first blood bank. The first commercial heart-lung machine. The first hip replacement. The first CT scanner. The list goes on! What makes Mayo Clinic so ripe for innovation?
WHY INNOVATION THRIVES AT MAYO CLINIC
There was an article in the Harvard Business Review a few years ago discussing why innovation thrives at Mayo, and they identified three unique conditions: Limited Resources. Healthcare is a low-margin business. Many healthcare organizations feel lucky to have margins around five percent. Technology companies, on the other hand, have margins of twenty percent or more. Even at a place like Mayo Clinic, the resources are limited, forcing us to innovate to succeed.
Novel spine stabilization device
Patient-matched implants
16 | The Innovators
The Innovators | 17
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