Mayo Clinic, Médica Sur Collaborate on Chronic Disease Care

Q: What has been the impact of home care and telemedicine on the sector?

A:  The telemedicine revolution originated out of necessity and initiative. This transformation led many sectors, mainly the technological and the medical, to collaborate. Mayo Clinic’s main project involved the deployment of multiple ways to access specialists in different US states. In the US, the licensing of a medical practice is granted by each state. Even with the digital platform, it was not possible to cover all states. After the pandemic, we deployed a model to reach more states, balancing access through technological means and in-person treatment.

The pandemic also accelerated our hospital-at-home model, in which patients who do not need to be hospitalized for certain diagnoses but do need follow-up care can now receive that care in the comfort of their homes. The lack of hospital beds at times during the pandemic helped speed the evolution of this innovative approach.

Q: What are the main challenges of implementing the hospital-at-home model?

A: Mayo Clinic’s philosophy focuses on giving the right patient the right treatment at the right time. Our “bricks and clicks” model aims to find a balance between face-to-face and virtual consultations and care provided. Although the new model can help us to reach our vision, it will not fully solve all needs. The patient comes first, and quality and service are paramount. We must consider that there are patients who like technology and there are others who do not and create a model that efficiently attends to both. More importantly the hospital-at-home model covers a spectrum of specific diagnoses only.

Q: What was the Mayo Clinic’s motivation behind the partnership with Hospital Médica Sur for breast cancer collaboration?

A: Mayo Clinic research found that up to 88% of patients who visit Mayo go home with a new or refined diagnosis. Patients leave their country to get a diagnosis when they have already exhausted all local resources. Worldwide, cancer and chronic diseases are growing, leading us to conclude that there is a correlation between complex diagnostics and chronic diseases. These diseases have skyrocketed in Latin America. Insurance companies tell us that there is a high variability in the way these diseases are treated, which does not mean that local doctors are bad but rather that there are different models of medicine. We plan to address these gaps to create a more robust and coherent model to address chronic diseases.

We have worked with Médica Sur, the first international member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, for almost nine years. The hospital shares our vision and values ​​by focusing on the patient. Mayo Clinic’s logo has three shields, representing a clinical practice that will always be supported by research and education. This is the way we learn or develop new therapies to provide the best service to the patient. Médica Sur shares this philosophy, which helps us to create a deeper relationship.

Q: In what R&D projects is Mayo Clinic working and how are these efforts benefiting Mexico’s population?

A: We decided to start with breast cancer because there is a large population in need in Mexico. This project will teach us many things that will benefit them. Mayo Clinic and Médica Sur will not necessarily focus on basic science; instead, we aim to establish treatment protocols that directly benefit patients, such as treatments given after genetic studies. For example, we can study tumors at the pathological level to determine the best lines of treatment for the patient. We do this already at Mayo Clinic and with Médica Sur we will further advance individualized medicine to enable patients to have access to the right therapy at the right time.

Q: What strategies have Mayo Clinic implemented to expand its education efforts?

A: Education for health professionals is equally important as for patients. At Mayo Clinic, we believe that it is key that patients understand their diseases. We recently worked together to host our first joint symposium for patients to discuss advances for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Held in the Médica Sur auditorium, the event allowed us to approach patients and give them the information so they can make the right decisions regarding their medical care.

Education for health professionals involves more than sitting in a classroom; it requires observation, dialogue and research to generate knowledge. For Mayo Clinic, these efforts are a way to validate our mission and for Médica Sur, they elevate local medical practice and benefit the patient. Our shared vision for this collaboration.

Q: How did Mayo Clinic and Médica Sur manage to build a relationship despite their differences?

A: We have different paths since Mayo Clinic has existed for more than 150 years and Médica Sur for 40 years. Our sizes, technology access and capital investments are also different because we operate on a different scale and in different countries. Despite our differences, we both are values-driven organizations and both have a patient-centered focus that make us similar in our approaches to evaluate the best ways to treat patients. There are many differences but there are similarities and we can capitalize on them to benefit the patient.

Q: What will be the priorities for Mayo Clinic and Medica Sur for 2023?

A: We will continue working on education and hold another edition of the symposium for patients. Education for health professionals will continue and mature as we work together to implement diagnostics protocols, new technologies and therapeutic approaches. There are similarities between Mayo Clinic and Médica Sur and when we finish our work on breast cancer, we will work on other cancer areas. We will keep our commitment and strong focus in the optimization of processes and protocols that will benefit the population, patients and many other stakeholders.

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research. It provides healthcare services to over 1.3 million people in 130 countries.