BEIJING, April18 -- Based on the news released from the press conference of the First Asian Pacific Summit on Emerging Healthcare Strategy, many medical experts have indicated that the Mayo model of clinical practice of medicine which has been created by Mayo Clinic in the U.S. and has been adapted worldwide successfully has been regarded as a paradigm of medicine in many developed countries. Introduction of the Mayo model of care into our country would greatly benefit the advancement of the healthcare reform in China.

Professor Meng Lou, a former faculty of University of Miami School of Medicine, US, stated that since Mayo Clinic was established in 1864 in the Rochester of Minnesota, US, Mayo Clinic with its principle of providing the best care for every patient has created a world renowned, an exceptional and the best healthcare system. Over last more than 100 years, Mayo Clinic has set an exemplar in many areas of hospital management as well as medical practice, especially, the world first integrated multi-specialties practice group, the world first residency training program, the world first medical record system and the world first intra-hospital telephone communication system among many others. Many breakthroughs in modern medicine have come from Mayo Clinic over last several decades. Currently, there are 27,000 physicians and scientists, and 42,000 allied health staff employed in Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic itself has become a huge medical kingdom in US.

There are 1,800 medical residents in training in Mayo Clinic at present. Every physician in the US must have gone through a few years of rigorous and comprehensive residency training before he or she can obtain a license to practice medicine. The residency training has become the part of hospital management system since then. During several decades of continuous improvement, Mayo Clinic has set up the highest standard for its residency training programs not only on the aspects of clinical skills, but also on the other aspects of patient care. This well evolved residency training system was initially started in Mayo Clinic, the first in the world, and has been widely adapted worldwide over the last several decades.

Professor Zhan Qimin, the Vice President of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, indicated that although we do not have that kind of highest level residency training system at present, we should start to pay more attention on residency training from now on, and integrate the resources of tertiary hospitals and community hospitals into a new system which would effectively tackle the problems of lack access to healthcare and high cost of healthcare for the majority of our patients.

Professor Zhan also said that one of the major problems for the lack access to and high cost of healthcare is the limited resources of tertiary hospitals that can not meet the demands of vast populations from all over the country. In Beijing, the prices for seeing those elites or experts from several well reputable hospitals have been jacked up to several hundred Yuan by those mongers at doors. Therefore, it is inevitable for patients from other parts of the country to pay astronomical prices to see the physicians or simply unable to be seen at all even after a few hundred miles bitter journey to the big city.

Professor Zheng Chaoqang from Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences believes that majority of patients would still go to big cities to seek medical care even local community hospitals have been equipped with better facilities in recent years as government has boosted the construction of the local community hospitals. One of the many reasons behind this phenomenon is that most of patients don't perceive the qualities of medical care provided by their local community hospitals as good as those from tertiary hospitals. The clinical skills and services among the local community hospitals are rather variable.

According to the Mayo Clinic Facts in 2004, there were 28 millions patients visited Mayo Clinic and Mayo Health System in the year of 2004. Each one of the patients had been indiscriminately treated with the dignity and the highest quality of care in any given of Mayo facilities regardless of the patient's income and social status. The managements of same type of illness by different physicians would be quite similar, which is regarded as "standard of care". The rigorous and comprehensive residency training at Mayo Clinic will effectively train the future practicing physicians and unconditionally guarantee to the society by providing the fully trained, best skillful and most compassionate physicians.

The strong financial support with external fund of $36 millions and internal fund of $116 millions in that year at Mayo had impeccably secured the normal operation and further development of Mayo Clinic.

Mr. Fu Yang, the Secretary General of the First Asian Pacific Summit on Emerging Healthcare Strategy, stated that as our nation's economy booming, the problematic clash between demanding better healthcare in society and lack of fund in healthcare has been emerging as a major concern at every level of our society. Adequately utilizing capitals from domestic enterprises as well as foreign investments in healthcare rather solely relaying on government funding would be an appropriate way to meet the challenge of deficiency in healthcare fund. He believes that establishing "Foundation" would be a good way to build the investment mechanism for future healthcare.

Sanctioned by the China Ministry of Health, the First Asian Pacific Summit on Emerging Healthcare Strategy which is co-sponsored and organized by Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Mayo Clinic and CITIC Group will be held in May, Beijing. Several professors in top leadership positions from Mayo Clinic as well as from Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences will deliver unprecedented and historical speeches. The summit will provide ample opportunities for participates to actively involve the discussions and ideas exchanging on the issues of strategic development of medical sciences, hospital management, healthcare services, and major health concerns in 21 century.

According to Professor Zhan, through several discussions with top officials from Mayo Clinic, Mayo clinic would like to provide technical supports for the highest standard physician training in China when the time has come. In order to promote the medical sciences and technology as well as improvement of public health in China, we would like to seek further pragmatic collaboration with Mayo Clinic in the near future.

(Source: Economic Information Daily)