Maryam Ferdowsi
The success tale of one of the most reputable and credible hospital chains in the US
Nowadays it is almost impossible to visit the state of Ohio and not see one of the hospitals of Cleveland Clinic. This clinic is one of the most successful private medical enterprises in all of the USA; with its fame projected much further the border of its home state. Cleveland Clinic actively serves some of the most important individuals on the Planet.
The Clinic’s reputation is much more expansive than the names of its famous customers or the sheer number of its medical centers. Since the 1940’s, research centers of this clinic have innovated and discovered more than 12 medical treatment methods and discoveries. The clinic initially singlehandedly monopolized private high quality medical care in its home state of Ohio, and then managed to spread this fame to other states and eventually to the UK, Canada and the UAE.
History
In the closing years of the 19th century, and after the death of Frank Weed, the local surgeon of the city of Cleveland, his surgical permit was acquired by his two assistant, Frank Bunts and George Washington Crile. In 1892 with the help of Washington’s family, a four story building was bought in the Cleveland city center, this center was the very first Cleveland Clinic.
Gradually and with the growing popularity of the clinic, more of surrounding buildings were acquired by the founders and by 1920’s these buildings were fully overhauled into becoming a fully integrated hospital. In 1921 the collective officially chose Cleveland Clinic as its name.
In the 70’s Cleveland had over 30 coordinated and integrated hospitals active across the state of Ohio, however, by this time, many of these hospitals were using older methods and equipment, for example some of them lacked the proper facilities for advanced cardiovascular treatments. To solve this issue, a massive budget of over 600 million US dollars was allocated and by the 1980’s all of Cleveland Clinic’s hospitals had become among the most advanced in the world.
To prevent repetition of Cleveland Clinic from falling behind its competitors, this clinic founded a large medical research center in 1999 and since then, all the new equipment purchases and methodical policies of all Cleveland Clinic hospital is decided by this research center.
Rise of Cleveland Clinic on the International Scene
The continuous success and high success rates of high-risk treatments in the state of Ohio led to large investments and charitable contributions to the Cleveland Clinic Group, which then enabled the clinic to establish new hospitals and clinics in other US states, such as Florida and Nevada.
After becoming one of the largest and most successful medical groups across the USA, in 2006, the first Cleveland Clinic Hospital was built outside the United States in downtown Toronto, Canada.
In 2015, in cooperation with the UAE government, Cleveland Clinic brought its services to the Persian Gulf and opened its hospital in Abu Dhabi.
Since 2017, the Cleveland Clinic has been building its state-of-the-art hospital in the heart of London to export its services to the Green Continent. The hospital is expected to open in 2021.
Accolades and Statistics
Today Cleveland Clinic has 18 operational hospitals and more than 220 outpatient medical centers across the planet. In 2019 more than 10 million patients from 186 countries were treated in these centers, which resulted in more than 9 billion of gross income for Cleveland Clinic.
These medical centers house over 6 thousand operational beds and have under their hire more 67 thousand personnel members. Out of these, 5 thousand are medical specialists and physicians with more than 130 areas of medical expertise. 17 thousand others are certified nurses.
Cleveland Clinic’s Strategies and Plans According to Its CEO
Since 2018 Tom Mihaljevic has been appointed as Cleveland Clinic’s CEO and under his leadership the Clinic has put quality of treatment above all else. In a recent interview with Forbes he noted:
We’re very focused not only on quality of care but also the experience of care. We believe that patient experience is an important part of recovery and healing process, and this combination of quality patient experience and teamwork is what differentiates Cleveland Clinic from very many other providers in the field. One more differentiating feature is that Cleveland Clinic, since its inception almost 100 years ago, has a salaried physician model. So we do not incentivize our providers on anything other than the quality and experience of care that they provide.
Future Trends of the Medical World as Told By Mihaljevic
CEO of Cleveland Clinic Believes the following four components to be the most important future trends of the medical world:
- Robotic Surgeries. According to Mihaljevic, this manner of surgery is part of the difference that the Cleveland Clinic seeks to make. According to him, a procedure in which the patient and the surgeon are physically apart is revolutionary.
- Telemedicine. Mihaljevic believes that Telemedicine is the future of treatment. He notes “I believe that in the future we can have over 75 percent of all medical visits to take place on online health platforms and through telemedicine. These platforms will be crucial to the future of treatment.”
- Team-Based Healthcare. These days we are witness to more and more patients seeking the aid of a medical team as opposed to single specialists. Therefore he believes this will be the direction in which treatment will go.
- Internationalization of Healthcare. Mihaljevic believes that there will be the emergence of an increasing number of powerful medical brands that will eventually globalize the provision of medical services. These brands will emulate giant store chains like Wal-Mart and will be responsible for the majority of medical services around the world. In other words, these large corporations will eventually replace local healthcare providers. Cleveland Clinic also looks to go down this path.
World’s Second Best Hospital
The Cleveland Clinic has been consistently recognized among the top five hospitals in the United States by the media, reputable foundations, and government centers over the past two decades. In the US News and World Report Annual Rankings, Cleveland Clinic Hospitals have had the best performance in the following medical fields for the past 14 consecutive years: cardiovascular therapy, colon cancer, pelvic replacement, knee replacement, urology and lung cancer treatment.
It also ranks among the top ten best performing hospitals of the United States in 20 other medical specialties. This journal also recognizes Cleveland Clinic as the second best hospital in both the United States and in the world, behind the Mayo Clinic.
Medical Innovations and Discoveries by the Cleveland Clinic
Ever since the rise of Cleveland Clinic to the summit of healthcare community in Ohio back in the 1930’s, it has functioned as a central force of innovation and medical advancements in the United States, the Following are the most important of these discoveries and innovations:
- Isolation of serotonin, a key factor in hypertension (1940s)
- First coronary angiography (1958)
- Development and refinement of coronary bypass surgery (1967)
- First minimally invasive aortic heart valve surgery (1996)
- First successful larynx transplant (1998)
- Pioneering success in deep brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders (2006)
- First kidney surgery performed through a patient’s navel (2007)
- Nation’s first near-total face transplant (2008)
- Nation’s first transcatheter valve replacement and repair (2011)
- Discovery that adult brain neurons can regenerate (2011)
- Demonstration that bariatric surgery controls diabetes (2012)
- Discovery that an intestinal bacteria product (TMAO) can predict heart disease risk (2013)