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Mayo Clinic is a world-renowned medical practice based in Rochester, Minnesota, USA. The first and largest facilities of Mayo Clinic are also located in Rochester, but it also runs additional hospitals and physician practices in Jacksonville, Florida, and Arizona. In addition, Mayo Clinic operates a number of smaller clinics and hospitals in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, known as the "Mayo Health System". Mayo Clinic is consistently ranked second among the best hospitals in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report; in 2005*.

The word "clinic" in Mayo Clinic's name is rather confusing. Although the term normally implies a single small outpatient facility, and Mayo Clinic did begin as such, it is now a comprehensive healthcare system in its home region of southern Minnesota (the Mayo Health System) and provides a full range of inpatient and outpatient care through its hospitals and clinics. It is also a medical research organization of nationwide scope and global reputation. The old name appears to have been kept for historical and nostalgic reasons. The primary value at Mayo Clinic is, "The needs of the patient comes first." The mission is, "Mayo will provide the best care to every patient every day through integrated clinical practice, education, and research." *

In terms of revenue, Mayo Clinic is the state's second-largest non-profit organization, after health insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. In 2004, the organization took in States dollar|US$" target="_blank" >*5.6 billion.* Any excess money is funneled into education and research.

Statistics for 2004: 513,377 unique patients, 2,271,484 total outpatient visits, 130,093 hospital admissions, and 599,002 hospital days of patient care.

Mayo Clinic is significant in the way the medical physicians are paid. In most health care systems, medical doctors are paid based on the number of patients that they see. The more patients seen, the more a doctor gets paid. At Mayo Clinic, medical doctors are paid a salary that is unaffected by patient volume. This allows the doctors to spend time with their patients and not worry so much about time constraints. Physicians and surgeons have no undue influence upon them to do more procedures and operations.

History

Mayo Clinic evolved from the frontier practice of Dr. William Worrall Mayo and his two sons, William James Mayo (1861–1939) and Charles Horace Mayo (1865–1939). Dr. William Worrall Mayo emigrated from Salford, United Kingdom to the United States in 1846 and became a doctor in 1850. During the American Civil War he was an examining surgeon for the Union enrollment board in Minnesota. In 1864, the Mayos moved to Rochester where the enrollment board was headquartered.

Dr. Mayo's two sons began their medical education at their father's side, observing and later by assisting their father on patient visits and with autopsies. "Dr. Will" (as he was known) graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1883, and "Dr. Charlie" graduated from Chicago Medical College of Northwestern University in 1888. After graduation both returned to Rochester and joined their father's practice.

In 1883 a tornado struck Rochester, causing a substantial number of deaths and injuries. Dr. W. W. Mayo worked with nuns from the Sisters of St. Francis to treat the survivors. After this, Mother Alfred Moes and the Drs. Mayo recognized the need for a hospital and joined together to build the 27-bed Saint Marys Hospital which opened in 1889; today, the hospital has 1,157 beds.

Dr. Henry Stanley Plummer joined the practice in 1901. Plummer is considered the "architect" of the Mayo Group Practice, and the inventor of many of the systems of group practice which are universal around the world today in medicine and other fields, such as a single medical record and an interconnecting telephone system.

The Clinic's Plummer Building, designed by Dr. Plummer, was the tallest building in Rochester for many years. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Today, Mayo Clinic continues its consistent tradition of putting the needs of the patient first, and is guided under the leadership of the President and CEO, Denis A. Cortese, MD.

Public trustees include: Robert E. Allen Former Chair and Chief Executive Officer AT&T Basking Ridge, N.J. H. Brewster Atwater Jr. Chair and Chief Executive Officer - retired General Mills, Inc. Minneapolis, Minn. James L. Barksdale | Barksdale Management Corporation Ridgeland, Miss. John H. Dasburg Chair and CEO ASTAR Air Cargo, Inc. Miami, Fla. A. Dano Davis Former Chair, Board of Directors Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. Jacksonville, Fla. Bert A. Getz Chair Globe Corporation Scottsdale, Ariz. Louis L. Gonda President Lexington Commercial Holdings Beverly Hills, Calif. Jerome H. Grossman, M.D. Senior Fellow JFK School of Government Cambridge, Mass. Honorable Charles T. Manatt | Manatt, Phelps & PhillipsLos Angeles, Calif. Former Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Patricia E. Mitchell President and CEO Public Broadcasting Service Alexandria, Va. Marilyn Carlson Nelson Chair and CEO Carlson Companies, Inc. Minneapolis, Minn. Luis G. Nogales, J.D. Managing Partner Nogales Investors, LLC Los Angeles, Calif. Ronald L. Olson Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP Los Angeles, Calif. Hugh B. Price Of Counsel Piper Rudnick, LLP New York, N.Y. Frederick W. Smith Chair and CEO FedEx Corporation Memphis, Tenn. Anne M. Tatlock Chair and CEO Fiduciary Trust Company International New York, N.Y.

Notable visitors

The Clinic frequently treats famous people from around the world. Well-known former and current patients include:

See also

External links

Hospitals in Minnesota | Rochester, Minnesota

Mayo Clinic

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Mayo Clinic".

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