Hospitals

Nonprofit Mayo’s operating income jumps on higher volumes of surgery

The Mayo Clinic announced Thursday that higher volumes of surgery and higher numbers of complex […]

The Mayo Clinic announced Thursday that higher volumes of surgery and higher numbers of complex medical cases helped operating income jump 18.4 percent to $610.2 million last year compared with 2010.

Revenue also climbed to $8.5 billion in 2011 from $7.9 billion in 2010.

In 2011, Mayo Clinic cared for 1.11 million patients across its three locations in Rochester, Minnesota, Arizona and Florida, and in the Mayo Clinic Health System, which provides healthcare in far-flung locations in the rest of Minnesota as well as in Wisconsin and Iowa. By comparison, in 2010, Mayo saw 32,000 fewer patients.

“Patients come to Mayo Clinic seeking answers to their problems — hope and solution,” said Dr. John Noseworthy, president and CEO of Mayo in Rochester. “We continue to invest heavily in that activity of patient-centered care as a destination site for answers for patients who have looked for them elsewhere and haven’t found them.”

One such patient, Noseworthy said, was Brooke Hayes, who throughout her 20s has suffered the debilitating effects of a bone-growth disorder that has caused her to be of short stature and suffer severe arthritic pain. At 30, after seeking care all over the country, she arrived at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, where two hip replacement surgeries have given her a new lease on life.

Mayo wants to make it easier for patients around the country to find that kind of care. Noseworthy emphasized that the Mayo Clinic Care Network, which connects local healthcare providers to physician expertise at Mayo, is gaining favor. Two health systems in North Dakota and Arizona have joined the network and nine more health centers are interested, Noseworthy said.

He noted that Altru Health System in Grand Forks, North Dakota is already seeing the benefits and that the partnership has created jobs.

Mayo itself added more than 2,000 additional jobs in 2011, said Shirley Weis, the clinic’s chief administrative officer, for a total of 58,322. The healthcare sector added the most jobs in 2011 out of any other industry, so Mayo’s results are not surprising.

“Our staff is our most precious resource,” Noseworthy said. “They turn the impossible to the possible every day for our patients.”

To stay current with the latest science and research, Mayo is also launching $600 million worth of capital projects this year. Those new projects include building the Center for Individualized Medicine, the Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery.

For more on Mayo’s 2011 results, click here.

[Photo Credit: vichie81]


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