For the past year, the medical staff at Johnson Memorial Health have had a powerful tool available to best treat patients.
Dr. Stephen Eberwine, an oncologist and director of the Johnson Memorial Health Cancer Care Center, is confident in his diagnoses and treatment plans for local residents with cancer. But if those patients want a second opinion, or if a particularly tricky diagnosis comes to his attention, he knows he can tap into the expertise of one of the world’s best medical groups.
Through Johnson Memorial Health’s partnership with the Mayo Clinic, his patients get world-class care minutes from their own homes.
“I do all I can to give the best care to these patients, but I think to have this as an option, to be able to offer this Mayo Clinic option here locally puts us up there with the quality of care that can’t be matched,” he said.
Since the healthcare system announced its partnership with the Mayo Clinic Care Network in August 2022, Johnson Memorial physicians have combined their intimate knowledge of their patient’s medical needs with Mayo Clinic resources and expertise.
Specialists from across the medical spectrum, from oncology to pulmonology to OB-GYN, have taken advantage of these resources. The result has been an invaluable boost to patient care and outcomes, said Dr. David Dunkle, president and CEO of Johnson Memorial Health.
“It’s helped improve the quality of care that we deliver. It’s the ability for physicians to take advantage of that knowledge of thousands of providers with the Mayo Clinic. I think the power in that, you can’t put into words — how important that is,” he said.
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization based in Rochester, Minnesota, that has cultivated a reputation for innovative clinical practice, education and research. The group formed the Mayo Clinic Care Network to share the accumulated knowledge with other like-minded health care systems.
The network is an assembled group of about 45 health organizations across the United States, Asia, Mexico and the Middle East that work together to share knowledge and resources, all connected under the umbrella of the Mayo Clinic’s expertise. Including Johnson Memorial Health, three other Indiana healthcare systems are included in the network.
Johnson Memorial Health had been discussing entering the Mayo Clinic Care Network for more than a decade. In 2022, Dunkle and other hospital leaders met with Mayo Clinic officials to discuss entering into the network. After vetting the Johnson Memorial’s operations, culture and approach to centering care, Mayo Clinic leaders moved to include them.
“This has allowed us to develop a deeper collaborative relationship with JMH. It’s allowed us to get to know their region, their providers, their level of expertise, and now can we compliment that so that the services being provide locally can be amplified by Mayo Clinic expertise,” said Dr. Mark Larson, Mayo Clinic Care Network medical director.
Since the partnership started, physicians from Johnson Memorial Health have been able to access Mayo Clinic’s database of clinical information on hundreds of medical conditions, arrange consultations with Mayo Clinic specialists for second opinions on specific patient cases and participate in live video conferences to virtually review and discuss complex cases with teams of Mayo Clinic specialists.
Johnson Memorial Health staff has also been able to use Mayo Clinic’s materials to help educate patients and take part in professional development and continuing medical education.
All of it comes with no additional cost to patients, Dunkle said.
“It comes with the additional advantage of them being able to stay in their community close to home,” he said.
Eberwine has been particularly impressed with the trove of resources now available to him.
“For patients to get a second opinion, they’d normally have to go somewhere else — either drive downtown or to another state to get that high level of care,” he said. “They can get that from the Mayo Clinic, probably the best name in health care, right here.”
Illustrating how his patients have taken advantage of Mayo Clinic resources, Eberwine shared a case of a patient with a cancer diagnosis. The standard practice in treating the disease was a harsh, intense chemotherapy regimen, something the patient was dreading.
After a consultation with a Mayo Clinic physician, they realized the patient would benefit from a different, less unpleasant treatment.
“It was one that was as tricky and challenging a case as they come — it didn’t fall right into where the guidelines would suggest to proceed,” Eberwine said. “If anything, the guidelines lead into a gray area, where the Mayo (Clinic) was able to fill in some of the gaps and that patient specifically was able to avoid aggressive chemotherapy, which the patient was dreading and the expectation was he was going to get that after speaking with other doctors outside this facility.”
On Aug. 22, Johnson Memorial Health and Mayo Clinic leadership gathered inside the Franklin hospital for a small ceremony recognizing first year of the partnership.
While the focus was on the past 12 months, representatives from both organizations saw potential for greater impact moving forward.
“We’re going to gather and talk about what the relationship has brought, but more importantly, what more we can do together to serve the nurses, the providers, the allied health staff, the physicians to better serve the patients of this region,” Larson said.
Dunkle sees the potential to make even more of the medical staff aware of the resources the partnership provides, and collaborating and consulting with the Mayo Clinic on local health projects that can be applied directly to Johnson County residents.
“I really feel this is the beginning of a relationship that’s going to last many years and result in better outcomes for patients in Johnson County and the surrounding areas here at Johnson Memorial Health,” Dunkle said.
AT A GLANCE
Johnson Memorial Health-Mayo Clinic collaboration
What is it: The hospital is now part of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a group of carefully vetted, independent health care organizations, that have special access to Mayo Clinic’s knowledge and expertise. Local physicians have access to Mayo Clinic clinical solutions and services
What is available
AskMayoExpert, a program offering providers a database of concise clinical information on hundreds of medical conditions, and includes medical protocols, treatment recommendations and medical references.
eConsults, that enable physicians to contact Mayo Clinic specialists for second opinions on specific patient cases when they believe additional input will benefit their patients.
eBoards, or live videoconferences that enable medical teams to virtually review and discuss complex cases with a team of Mayo Clinic specialists and doctors from Mayo Clinic Care Network health systems.
Health care consulting, which provides access to Mayo’s extensive experience, knowledge and subspecialty expertise to attain clinical, operational and business goals.
Staff from Johnson Memorial Health can use Mayo Clinic educational materials designed for patients, and access opportunities for professional development and continuous medical education.
Source: Johnson Memorial Health
