Assignment task: Among all healthcare provider organizations, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is typically mentioned as a "paragon of virtue" when it comes to quality of care. Mayo physicians attribute their reputed quality advantage to a multi-pronged approach (depicted below). This includes (1) a culture of safety, outcomes, and service that has been built up over time (since the late 19th century) and is embedded in its salaried, integrated, multi-specialty group practice model with an emphasis on collaborative teams and team communication; (2) supportive infrastructure, including an EMR and point-of-care information; (3) an emphasis on both systems and human factors engineering, including many of the quality approaches identified earlier (lean management, PDSA); and (4) disciplined, effective execution, including quality dashboards to monitor performance and diffusion of best practices.
Question - The Mayo approach seems much more encompassing than the quality improvement approaches profiled earlier. Is that what it takes? How can anyone tell whether the 4 components of the Mayo approach are both necessary and sufficient to improve quality?