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NorthShore captures Mayo partnership
Mark Neaman, president and CEO of NorthShore University HealthSystem, along with Dr. Jim Maraganore, chairman of the Department of Neurology, and Dr. Mark Talamonti, chairman of Department of Surgery, announce a partnership with the Mayo Clinic.
Updated: October 21, 2012 2:05PM
GLENVIEW— NorthShore University HealthSystem has launched a partnership with the Mayo Clinic, becoming part of the Mayo Clinic Care Network.
The collaboration will give patients and doctors from NorthShore’s four hospitals access to Mayo’s world-renowned physicians and medical resources at no extra cost to the patient, NorthShore and Mayo representatives said.
In return, NorthShore, which operates Evanston, Glenbrook, Highland Park and Skokie hospitals, as well as a web of doctor’s offices and clinics from Gurnee to south suburban Harvey, will become the Mayo network’s largest and most demographically diverse member.
The Mayo network has partners in smaller cities and rural locations in Florida, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Arizona, Missouri and Michigan.
NorthShore will be Mayo’s first – and so far only – partner in the Chicago area.
“This will be transformational for both our patients and physicians,” NorthShore president and CEO Mark Neaman said. “It’s a big moment in the Chicago region.”
The two networks share similar patient-based philosophies and operational models, said Neaman and Dr. David Hayes, medical director of the clinic network.
“There’s no question from a Mayo standpoint, and particularly from a Mayo Clinic Care Network standpoint, that we look for people who are aligned culturally with us, have similar philosophies and are patient-centric,” Hayes said. “We line up perfectly in that regard.”
The partnership officially begins Oct. 1, but the relationship between NorthShore, and Mayo has been developing for the past two years, Neaman said.
Hayes agreed, calling NorthShore’s initial contact fortuitously timed; it occurred as the Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo was in the progress of founding its network, which began operating last year.
Initially, collaboration will focus on three fields, although that will “undoubtedly” expand, Hayes said. Patients and doctors at NorthShore’s Neurological Institute and its Kellogg Cancer Center and Cardiovascular Center will be able to tap into electronic consultations, video-conferencing and records sharing that can generate opinions and treatment options from Mayo specialists, often within 24 to 48 hours.
More complex cases can be facilitated in weeks rather than months, Dr. Demetrius “Jim” Maraganore said.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Maraganore, who chairs NorthShore’s neurology department and spent 24 years at Mayo.
Maraganore said Mayo has pioneered innovative medical records technology, just as NorthShore has in electronic medical record keeping.
Quick access through NorthShore to Mayo’s expertise can be life-saving, Dr. Mark Talamonti said.
Talamonti, a cancer surgeon who chairs NorthShore’s department of surgery, said the two organizations mirror each other in patient care, rapid implementation of treatment and what he called a culture of investigation and inquiry. He cited a 43-year-old North Shore man who was told by doctors at another Chicago area network that his pancreatic tumor was inoperable. Talamonti disagreed, which left the man confused and unsure.
“I asked him, ‘How would you like to get a third opinion from the Mayo Clinic?” He said, ‘I don’t think I can leave and go to Rochester to do that,’ and I was able to tell him, ‘You don’t have to.’” Talamonti said.
Talamonti performed electronic consultations with Mayo’s specialists, gave them full access to pertinent case files and quickly received a pro-surgery opinion back from them.
“I expected (the patient) to say that he’d get the surgery at Mayo, but he said, ‘If Mayo has the confidence to work with you, I do too,’” Talamonti said. “That showed me the value that patients place in Mayo. It was my first patient, and it sold me.”
Officials from both sides emphasized that the benefits run both ways in the partnership; while NorthShore will be able to route patients for direct Mayo clinic care when necessary, Mayo can direct its Chicago and North Shore patients to NorthShore for continuing care, Mayo cardiology department head Dr. Robert Simari said.
Ultimately, Neaman said, the partnership represents “the real opportunity to favorably transform the practice of medicine in America.”
