About
Mayo Clinic seeks to provide the best possible care for its patients every day. For more than 150 years, Mayo has pursued solutions to the problems that exist, seeking continuous improvements in health and health care. The organization's ability to meet this goal stems from the research it conducts — in close alignment with the medical practice — to address the unmet needs of patients.
The Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery builds on Mayo's strong history of taking a scientific approach to health care delivery.
Since the early 1900s, Mayo Clinic has been finding innovative ways to make medical practice more efficient and effective. Dr. Henry S. Plummer, one of Mayo's first doctors, is credited with developing several concepts that today are commonplace at medical facilities around the world, such as a single, unified medical record for each patient.
Today in the center, every project is inspired by real-world challenges experienced by patients and health care providers at Mayo Clinic and elsewhere. The foundation of the center's work is an unwavering commitment to creating a high-quality, affordable, seamless patient experience.
Capabilities of unique depth and breadth
The Mayo Clinic Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery is particularly unique in its ability to draw on a breadth and depth of resources and multidisciplinary expertise to translate ideas and findings into real-world applications.
Within the center, experts come together from across a range of fields, including:
- Augmented human intelligence
- Economics
- Engineering
- Ergonomics
- Experiential learning
- Health care policy
- Health services research
- Human-centered design
- Information technology
- Knowledge management
- Population health
- Qualitative research
Together, the team seeks to discover new ways to improve health and the way people experience health care. Their goal is to translate discoveries into evidence-based, actionable treatments, processes and procedures. With Mayo's culture of teamwork and collaboration, new models of health care delivery move rapidly from the earliest stages of research and discovery, through rigorous testing and refinement, and into routine patient care.
As new knowledge is generated and potential improvements are identified, the Mayo Clinic Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery works with health care providers to apply this new knowledge in the practice to improve care for Mayo patients and patients everywhere.