LA CROSSE, WI (WXOW)—Mayo Clinic Health System celebrates its 20th anniversary this month.
In 1992, the Mayo Clinic and six practices in Decorah, Iowa joined forces.
Now, Mayo Clinic Health System has grown to 70 locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Georgia.
Dr. Rob Nesse got to see clinics around the Midwest transform into the Mayo Clinic Health System when he was family doctor, in Rochester, 32 years ago.
"It was exciting and frustrating," Nesse said. "The potential was always there, but of course, frustrating because you always want to do it faster and try to accomplish your goals quickly and really it took us a lot of years to understand what we could do here in Southwestern Wisconsin."
Nesse, now CEO of Mayo Clinic Health System said the collaborations are a dream come true.
"Mayo Clinic is better in so many ways by this robust collaboration," Nesse said. "Really by having engaged the community it's not just the hospital or clinic it's the people of the community engaging with us that helped us improve as well."
Franciscan Skemp joined the Mayo Clinic Health System three years after the first collaboration.
"We can share and learn from La Crosse so the team work and the application of all the capabilities in this system, we believe, and have measured better patient outcomes, higher patient satisfaction and service improvements," Nesse said.
Dr. Tim Johnson, CEO of Mayo Clinic Health System La Crosse said he doesn't think they would be nearly the same organization they are today in La Crosse with out the partnership.
"Mayo is a leader in research," Johnson said. "They're a leader in education, their mission is to put the needs of the patient first and to tap into that body of expertise, that body of knowledge, and apply it more in a community setting has been an incredible asset."
But, they're not finished; Nesse said this is just the beginning of the healthcare transformation.
"Everybody is thinking about whether healthcare is being transformed with the Affordable Care Act, well healthcare is already being transformed," Nesse said. "It's being transformed with new relationships with insurers, with community and with businesses in which the medical groups really commit to providing better outcomes for patients overtime."
