“This is the 11th consecutive year that the Proceedings has experienced an incremental increase in impact factor,” says William Lanier Jr., M.D., editor-in-chief, Mayo Clinic Proceedings. “This history is unique in that, among the world’s top 15 general/internal medicine journals, the Proceedings is the only one to increase each of those years. At the beginning of this ascendency, the journal had a ranking near the 20th percentile of general/internal medicine journals, in contrast to its current 8.6th percentile ranking.”

Dr. Lanier adds, “clearly these improvements will appeal to many progressive authors who will find the journal’s new impact factor — along with its 125,000 print circulation, active Web presence, and immense media coverage — appealing as they seek out appropriate journals to publish their better literature contributions. Increased manuscript submissions, along with a declining acceptance rate, should help the journal improve the quality of its published content and better tailor that content to the journal’s readership interests. Long term, these actions will help Mayo Clinic Proceedings secure its position among the world’s leading medical journals.”

Mayo Clinic patient, Lisa Dixon, encourages women to explore and understand the treatment options available for uterine fibroids.

Click here for more information about uterine fibriods and available treatment options.

Collectively bringing together both the latest technology and a shared mission to deliver patient-centered high-value health care to the citizens of this nation, Geisinger Health System (PA), Kaiser Permanente (CA), Mayo Clinic (MN), Intermountain Healthcare (UT), and Group Health Cooperative (WA) today announced the creation of an interoperability consortium. The consortium will utilize standards-based health information technology to share data about patients electronically.

“Each of our organizations can point to concrete examples in which information technology allowed us to develop new knowledge, facilitate decisions, improve safety, efficiency and coordination of care, and offer the best treatment for the patient,” said John Noseworthy, MD, president and chief executive officer at Mayo Clinic. “This collaboration will demonstrate what is possible when a unique union of forces is brought to bear on this multi-faceted challenge: realizing the promise of health information technology for patients across the nation.”

Dr. Dawn Milliner, Mayo Clinic’s Chief Medical Information Officer, offers her thoughts on how the new care connectiviity consortium will benefit patient care.

The goal of the consortium is to demonstrate better and safer care with better data availability. If a patient from one system gets sick far from home and must receive health care in another system — or if any system sends patients to another — doctors and nurses at each of the consortium systems will be able to easily and quickly access invaluable information about the patient’s medications, allergies, and health conditions, allowing them to provide the right kind of treatment at the right time and avoid unintended consequences like adverse medication interactions.

Below Lee Howard recounts her experience of having to bring all her medical records in a binder to her Mayo Clinic appointment. She expresses the benefits of electronic records on a patient’s health care experience.

The five health systems believe that achieving electronic health information interoperability and connectivity will be a critical next step in the United States becoming a 21st century, information-enabled health care system. With patient privacy and security as overarching priorities, the Care Connectivity Consortium’s goal is to demonstrate that effective and timely health information exchange using the latest national IT standards is possible in a secure environment and among geographically disparate health care providers.

To view the live press briefing today at 9 a.m. EST, please visit: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/CareConnectivityConsortium

“I’m truly honored and highly enthusiastic about my privilege to serve in this role,” says Dr. Forbes. “As professionals in diagnostic radiology, radiation oncology, and medical physics, we support an entity that has a sole commitment to the public good. This entity will continue to promote our professionalism, which reflects our devotion to lifelong learning and selfless service to patients.”

Dr. Forbes joined Mayo Clinic in 1977 and is a professor of radiology in Mayo Medical School. At Mayo he has served as chair of the Department of Radiology, chair of the Executive Board of Mayo Clinic Rochester, member of the Board of Governors and Board of Trustees of Mayo Clinic, CEO of Franciscan Skemp Healthcare of Mayo Health System, and medical director of Government Relations and Public Affairs. He currently serves as medical director for Mayo Clinic Imaging Solutions, the business unit within Mayo Clinic’s diversified activities. He is past president and gold medalist of the American Society of Neuroradiology, past first vice president of the Radiological Society of North America, and fellow of the American College of Radiology.

In order to receive Top Hospital recognition, a hospital must meet high standards for:

• Use of computer physician order entry (CPOE) to prevent medication errors
• Complex, high-risk procedures such as heart surgery
• Adherence to protocols and policies for reducing medical errors and other safe practices recommended by the National Quality Forum
• Adequate nurse and physician staffing.

In addition, hospitals are measured on progress in preventing infections and other hospital-acquired conditions and the handling of serious medical events. This year, hospitals were also evaluated on efficiency — which looked at patient length of stay and hospital readmissions.

“The recognition of three of our hospitals on this Top Hospital List is a testament to the level of quality and value being defined across our organization and delivered by our staff,” says John Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO, Mayo Clinic.

In today’s announcement, Leapfrog Board Chair David Knowlton noted that qualifying for the top hospital rank grows more difficult each year as Leapfrog’s standards evolve and new standards are added.

Leapfrog results are available at www.leapfroggroup.org

In the video below, Mayo Clinic director of quality, Dr. Stephen Swensen, comments on being named to the list.

Dr. Kolipaka describes the technology and shows some of the images it produces:

How it works

Once set up, the scans can be done in less than 5 minutes. A patient is placed in an MRI scanner and a sound speaker is used to send sound waves into the chest. The MRI scanner takes pictures of the sound waves as they pass through the heart muscle. The wavelength of the waves can be used to calculate the stiffness of the heart.  This new, non-invasive technique could give clinicians in day-to-day practice information that up until now was out of their reach.

How it could be used

Cardiac MRE could have a huge impact on many diseases, but in particular, it could dramatically change the understanding of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFPEF).  Many people think of heart failure as being a condition where the heart can’t squeeze normally. However, in HFPEF patients, the heart has normal squeeze, but patients still get short of breath and have other symptoms of heart failure.

It is thought that the underlying problem in HFPEF is that the heart is too stiff, but because measuring stiffness is so difficult and invasive, there’s disagreement about how to diagnose and monitor the disease. Little is understood about this disease even though it is very common, accounting for up to 40 percent of heart failure cases and has a very poor prognosis. Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Elastography could be the marker of this disease that researchers follow when developing treatment drugs.

John Nance, noted aviation analyst and healthcare consultant will be presenting the keynote address on September 29.

Nance brings a rich diversity of professional training and background to the quest of patient safety and healthcare improvement.  His new book, Why Hospitals Should Fly: The Ultimate Flight Plan to Patient Safety and Quality Care, is reinventing the cultural foundations of healthcare and bringing clarity to the decade-long patient safety and quality care debate.

A few of the hot button topics to be discussed include:

Patient Experience:  A Strategic Differentiation
M. Bridget Duffy, M.D.
Former Chief Experience Officer
Cleveland Clinic

Cultural Changes for Patient Safety
Charles L. Bosk, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
School of Arts & Sciences
University of Pennsylvania

For information on additional speakers and registration please visit: http://www.mayo.edu/cme/qualityconference/