Mayo Clinic is the first and largest not-for-profit medical group practice, health care organization initially run as a temporary hospital by the practice of Dr. William and his two sons, William J. and Charles H. Mayo when a Tornado struck Rochester in 1883. Today however Mayo Clinic has thrived into a huge organization with three clinics and four hospitals in three states, employing more than 40,000 physicians, scientists, nurses and allied health workers. In addition, the Mayo Clinic owns and operates the Mayo Clinic Health System, which consists of more than 70 hospitals and clinics across Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Mayo Clinic also runs colleges of medicine, including Mayo School of Health Sciences, Mayo Medical School and the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education. More than a million people get treated at Mayo Clinic from all 50 states and around 150 countries each year.
Through growth and change, Mayo Clinic remains committed to its guiding principle, as articulated by Dr. Will that the best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered (Mayo Clinic, 2011). As of 2011 Mayo Clinic had total revenue of $8,476 million which reflects the business success of Mayo even in the time of economic downfall.
Mayo’s Mission Statement
As stated on its website Mayo Clinic’s (2012) mission statement is
“To inspire hope and contribute to health and well-being by providing the best care to every patient through integrated clinical practice, education and research.”
Their primary value states that “The needs of the patient come first” therefore we can say that Mayo Clinic is a patient focused organization.
Environmental Assessment
Mayo Clinic maybe considered as a true national brand of Health Care in America since it is well known. Focus of Mayo Clinic since it was established has been on providing highest quality of care to all patients. The organization steadily focuses on team work and group oriented approach, which is why instead of a marketing strategy its success has been built by work-of-mouth after all these years of quality patient care. This quality is what makes Mayo Clinic differ from other healthcare organizations that also tend to provide same kind of services.
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Organizational Assessment
The Environment at Mayo Clinic values strong work ethics and excellence in skills. Expertise is highly recognized and employees tend to show commitment towards their organization. A scholarly environment for education and research is also provided which acts as an edge for the organization. Further physician governance is incorporated in organization’s environment which makes doctors the leaders and provides an egalitarian environment. Mayo Clinic tends to provide exceptional decorum, facilities and professionalism in their service structure. Mayo Clinic realizes that the world is on a rapid quest towards technological advancement. Further employees are the face of Mayo Clinic which is why the organization has taken initiatives like the Mayo Effect survey and using social media which lets employees and patients share their unique experiences at Mayo Clinic (Donlin, 2010).
Human Resource Assessment
Mayo Clinic has long followed the philosophy of its founders which states that since medical knowledge is so cast it is impossible for one man to excel in it. Therefore best interest of patient which is to get benefit from advance knowledge combination of various forces is vital. Due to which it is necessary to incorporate cooperative science including clinician, specialists, and laboratory workers to work in a group oriented approach focusing on the elucidation of problem at hand. Mayo has inhibited a culture of teamwork and collaboration since its founding a tradition which is conserved through scrupulous recruitment procedure (Ramlall, 2009). Mayo Clinic provides facilities like online shared clinical record for peer review, paging system and salary based compensation to its employees. Further the employees are free to practice multi disciplines and enhance their skills and knowledge in the research centers.
Political Assessment
Several acts were enacted in the presidency of President Obama like Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act. This act restricts insurance companies to drop people when they get sick, it allows young adults to stay on their parent’s health plans till the age of 26 and likewise. These policies tend to facilitate general public on their health care. Health Care Organizations are also directly affected by such policies since non-profit organizations depend on grants and funding from the government. Right now the health care bills are how ever being criticized for their not so positive role in improving the health care condition of Americans.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Research and Innovation
Mayo Clinic tends to give a lot of attention to Research and education activities. The teams at Mayo are involved in multidisciplinary a research which helps in rapid discoveries of new treatment and prevention techniques.
Focus on Quality
At Mayo Clinic quality is the in-depth outlook on the experience of a patient. Mayo tends to focus on excellence in knowledge and expertise, care, compassionate staff and technology. Measures of quality are mortality rate, surgical infections, and number of people who have been successfully diagnosed along with the integration of confidential medical record. Mayo Clinic also tends to measure quality in the time given to patient, treating with respect and dignity and making sure that the appointments are on time along with the availability of the doctors.
Integrated Medical Record System and Team Work
Mayo has incorporated a patient scheduling system which allows assigning patients to physicians and organizes the patient’s time at clinic. The system records important details like availability of the patient, laboratory tests, comments by doctors and any other diagnosis being given. Doctors can check patient’s previous history and this way multiple doctors work as a team through this system in treating a patient.
Weaknesses
Even though Mayo Clinic has high quality care system and a patient focused multidisciplinary force yet there is room for improvement like
The affiliated regional medical groups researched that the ambulatory care of Mayo Health System ranked below regional average of 12 as of 2008.
A variation in the intensity of care was found at the Dartmouth researchers found “surprising variation” in the end of life intensity of care among patients treated at different Mayo Foundation Hospitals which requires Mayo to show more consistency across hospitals.
As Mayo Clinic brings people from different cultures to work together if a diversity synergy is not created it may cause any conflict inside the organization
Opportunities
The translation of research into practice has always been an opportunity creator for Mayo Clinic. Since their research centers provides innovative systems approach to disseminate benefits of research discoveries in daily medical practice which generates room for new treatments and diagnosis.
Mayo Clinic tends to focus on in affiliations to expand its reach into new states and build a larger. In 2011 incorporated a Mayo Clinic Care Network which helps it to affiliate with other hospitals and broaden its scope (The Advisory Board Company, 2012).
Threats
Salary-based compensation system may increase the fixed cost of the hospital
Lack of highly qualified medical practitioners in America
Criticism on researches and innovation by competitors and other authority officials
Increasing number of physicians are likely to demand reimbursement for input, call and other activities in future
Recommended Strategies for the Future
According to Dr. Schwenk three interrelated forces are the pillars on which success of Mayo Clinic rests. First is Salary-based compensation plan for doctors along with multidisciplinary practices which tend to enhance patient care in a group oriented approach. Secondly the well-integrated technological infrastructure along with focus on research and innovation. Last but not the least a business model which states that best interest is focusing on the best interest of the patient and putting patient first.
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However along with these strategies there are few additional strategies which Mayo Clinic might need to work on. First is expansion of heath care facility units as according to research due to aging population of the baby boomers in a few years there will be an increase in the number of people looking for quality treatment and Mayo Clinic right now is accommodating maximum number of patients.
Secondly Mayo Clinic needs to find new ways to raise funds for its research programs, since they are unable to continue most of their groundbreaking researches due to lack of funds. Like a research on delaying degeneration of the tissues in 2011 was denied funds since the funding organization’s reviewing committee did not find it up to the mark (Wade, 2011). This might discourage the innovative approach which Mayo Clinic is known for.
Furthermore Mayo Clinic needs to justify its investment policies since it was highly criticized for investing $180 million in building a proton beam treatment facility which critics claimed was even yet proved to be worth the amount (Emanuel & Pearson, 2012). Mayo Clinic should not pose such strategies which make people think that it is only trying to compete with its rivals like Massachusetts General Hospital.
Lastly quality control and improvement techniques like Lean Operations and Six Sigma are being incorporated in Health Care Sector. Mayo is also implementing them in their business model but the management might face resistance while changing the historic practices and bringing new practices in the hope of improving patient access, cost reduction and improved quality.
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The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is an important part of the strategic planning process and should be reviewed on an ongoing basis. The SWOT analysis backs up the business plan that serves as a map for employees to seek guidance on how to direct the organization.
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