Some national ranking and rating groups have chosen to withhold reporting from several months, or even multiple years falling with in the COVID-19 pandemic. However, at Mayo Clinic, and across many leading academic medical centers, health services researchers and hospital quality leaders believe that hospital quality measurement becomes even more important during times of health system crisis.

Indeed, we believe our patients deserve to continue to receive high-quality care regardless of pandemics or other outside factors.

This conundrum in fact provides an opportunity for quality reporting stakeholders. Namely, the chance to develop a hospital quality resiliency measure or index. A recent article in JAMA discussed some potential basic criteria for measuring resiliency, or a hospital's ability to continue to:

• Deliver high-quality care to patients admitted with COVID-19.
• Deliver high-quality care to patients admitted with other acute care needs.
• Provide service to their community, including elective surgeries, while mitigating disparities.
• Protect staff well-being.

In the Science of Quality Measurement Program in the Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery we have a data use agreement permitting researchers to use retrospective Medicare inpatient claims data to explore risk-adjusted trends in readmission and mortality among Medicare beneficiaries.

This data allowed us to identify some simple quality measurement options to assess the first three criteria. For example, 30-day mortality or readmissions among COVID-19 patients as well as the CMS 30-day readmission and mortality measures could be used to evaluate a hospital's ability to maintain a high quality of care for patients hospitalized for all acute care needs.

Or, as shown in the Figure 1 below, using Medicare claims data from 2020 we could assess inter-hospital 30-day mortality rates among non-COVID patients comparing all months of pandemic-era data versus only the months in which hospitals had below national average COVID-19 burden (i.e., percentage of patients admitted for COVID-19 compared to all other causes). 

Figure 1: Intra-hospital correlation in risk-adjusted 30-day mortality among non-COVID patients with inclusion versus exclusion of high-COVID-burden data months

Likewise, Medicare inpatient claims could be used to assess volumes of common elective procedures to assess whether usual community needs were being met.

There isn't widely available national staff well-being data, so hospital-level measures would require more discovery. However, it is clear that evidence-based measurement of resiliency in hospital quality performance during the COVID-19 pandemic is possible and may yield surprising and informative results.

We look forward to investigating this further, and leading efforts to ensure continued high-quality patient care for today and future generations.

-- Ben Pollock, Ph.D., is the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Scientific Director for the Science of Quality Measurement.

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Editor's note: This project illustrates one of several ways Dr. Pollock's team is using the CMS data, examining the following factors:

• Patient-level factors for both targeted and nontargeted conditions.
• Patient-level factors for inpatient service lines such as cardiology or neurology
• Patient-level factors for diagnosis-related groups
• Institution-level factors such as geography, patient demographics and overall patient volume

The data analysis will allow researchers to document granular trends or differential effects of patient outcomes that have not been previously examined in sufficient detail.

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As the COVID pandemic continues and flu season begins, staying healthy and finding ways to improve your immunity is important.

"A resilient immune system is not just preventing, but constantly eliminating our exposures to background infections or inflammatory agents," says Dr. Anjali Bhagra, a Mayo Clinic integrative medicine specialist. "It allows your body to keep healing from inflammatory or infective triggers." 

In this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast Dr. Bhagra, whose research focuses on resilience, talks about the ways to build your immune system and how resiliency practices can help you cope with illnesses this winter.

Information in this post was accurate at the time of its posting. Due to the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific understanding, along with guidelines and recommendations, may have changed since the original publication date.  

For more information and all your COVID-19 coverage, go to the Mayo Clinic News Network and mayoclinic.org.

The post Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Resiliency during COVID-19 pandemic flu season appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Listen: Mayo Clinic Radio 12/3/16

You probably know what stress feels like. The average person has 150 undone tasks at any given time. But what can you do to manage stress? One key is resiliency: being able to adapt to life's misfortunes and setbacks. On Mayo Clinic Radio, stress and resiliency expert Dr. Amit Sood shares tools to help manage stress and improve resiliency. Also on the program, infectious diseases specialist Dr. Andrew Badley discusses improved treatment for AIDS and the work toward a cure for HIV as part of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. And Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler covers the latest research on teens and sleep.

The post #MayoClinicRadio Podcast: 12/3/16 appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Here's the Mayo Clinic Radio podcast.

The post World AIDS Day: Mayo Clinic Radio appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Listen to the program on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 9:05 a.m. CST, and follow #MayoClinicRadio.

Mayo Clinic Radio is on iHeartRadio.

Access archived shows.

Mayo Clinic Radio produces a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: World AIDS Day appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Listen to the program on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 9:05 a.m. CST.

Follow #MayoClinicRadio, and tweet your questions.

Mayo Clinic Radio is on iHeartRadio.

Mayo Clinic Radio produces a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

Access archived shows.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: Stress and resiliency / World AIDS Day / teens and sleep appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

A simple path to resilience
From moving more and eating well to taking time to relax, discover simple things you can do to nurture your inner strength.

Coping with pain after breast surgery
Nerves are often cut in breast cancer surgery, possibly leading to different types of chest pain. See how to find relief.

Melanoma
Although melanoma is a type of skin cancer, in rare cases it can spread to other parts of the body. Former President Jimmy Carter was recently diagnosed with melanoma in his brain.

The post A Simple Path to Resilience appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Amit Sood, M.D., is director of research in the Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He also chairs the Mind-Body Medicine Initiative at Mayo Clinic. In this animated video he shares how practicing daily gratitude can make your brain happier. 

Dr. Sood talks about stress and resiliency in this video clip and you can also listen to him when he was an expert guest on Mayo Clinic Radio: Stress-free Living.

Here are more tips for cultivating contentment from mayoclinic.org.

Click here for the script.

The post How to Train a Happy Brain appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Hensrud discussing the Healthy Living Plan are available in the downloads. 

This new program will be located within the Mayo Clinic Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center in Rochester.

To achieve its vision, the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program is designed to help people break down barriers, dispel myths and give participants a comprehensive wellness experience tailored to their individual goals. What makes this program unique is that it doesn’t end once the person leaves the campus; it offers ongoing support long after the person returns home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_732QomrHk4
“Mayo has been dedicated to the health and wellness of individuals for 150 years, and this program continues that tradition by offering life-changing experiences to people seeking whole-person wellness who want to maximize their health,” says Donald Hensrud, M.D., medical director, Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program. “We’re committed to partnering with each participant to design an individualized wellness plan to help them reach their wellness goals so that their success continues once they return home and are immersed back into the reality of their busy lives.”

The program will offer several wellness plans, and the first of the program offerings is the Healthy Living Plan. This is a four-day experience (two full days, two half days), based on three areas of wellness: physical activity, nutrition and resiliency.

The experience begins while the individual is still at home, by assessing eating habits, activity, sleep, stress and health goals. Once the participant is on-site, the program takes a very hands-on approach with a comprehensive wellness assessment, involvement in exercise and cooking classes, participation in resiliency and stress management sessions, one-on-one wellness coaching sessions, and access to spa services. The coach partners with the individual to shape an on-site experience and continues follow-up once the participant returns home to provide tools, resources and support intended to help them achieve their goals. The Healthy Living Plan is currently taking reservations.

Dr. Hensrud and teams of experts used their clinical experience and research to design the program offerings. Health and wellness service specialists will deliver this hands-on program. The medical services of Mayo Clinic are available to assist if a medical problem occurs or is identified while the individual is participating in the program.

In addition to the program, a la carte services will be offered to patients and visitors to Mayo Clinic, as well as the public. Those include cooking classes; yoga; healthy sleep; Pilates; and spa services such as massage, acupuncture and aesthetic treatments from Mayo Clinic’s Dermatology and Plastic Surgery practices. Here is a list of the services offered a la carte.

Mayo announced this program in 2011 when longtime Mayo patient and benefactor Dan Abraham, founder of Slim-Fast International, provided financial support to expand the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center and build upon his previous gifts that established two successful employee wellness and fitness facilities at Mayo Clinic.

The Healthy Living Program is located on floors four through seven at the current center at the corner of First Street SW and Sixth Avenue SW.

Together with the new Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center personnel, Healthy Living Program staff will be available during a public open house at the new facility on Saturday, May 3 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.

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About Mayo Clinic
Recognizing 150 years of serving humanity in 2014, Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit 150years.mayoclinic.org, http://www.mayoclinic.org and newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Kelley Luckstein, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Mayo Clinic Launches Healthy Living Program Aimed to Help People Achieve and Sustain Wellness appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living helps tackle new year’s resolutions and find joy and contentment in the new year

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Jan. 2, 2014 — Americans will start the New Year with resolutions that are doomed to fail if they don’t deal with the underlying issue of stress before they join a gym, start a diet or throw the cigarettes away. Research shows that stress negatively impacts our ability to lose weight, quit smoking and stick with a new healthy lifestyle change.

In The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living, Mayo Clinic stress management and resiliency expert Amit Sood, M.D., draws on decades of groundbreaking research to offer readers a scientifically proven, structured and practical approach to reducing stress. He explains the brain’s two modes — focused mode and default mode — and how an imbalance between the two produces unwanted stress, and he shares new insights about how the mind works, including its natural tendency to wander. In this easy-to-follow guide, Dr. Sood provides actionable steps to cultivate emotional and mental strength, find greater fulfillment and nurture a kind disposition.

The book answers:

• What is unique about stress in the 21st century?
• How is stress linked to the wandering nature of our mind?
• Why do the most-commonly-taught practices for stress management help only a small proportion of people?
• What real-world skills work to decrease our stress levels and enhance our resiliency?
• How can we apply these skills to goals for weight loss, smoking cessation and other behavior changes?

The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living encapsulates these concepts, techniques and personal stories into a way that will bring you closer to a state of personal fulfillment and a stress-free existence — and much more likely to stick to those resolutions this year. The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living will be available wherever books are sold Jan. 1, 2014 ($19.99, Paperback Original, 288 Pages, ISBN: 978-0-7382-1712-3).

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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit www.mayoclinic.com and www.mayoclinic.org/news.

About Amit Sood, M.D., M.Sc.
Dr. Sood is a professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic and is the director of Research and Practice for the Mayo Clinic Complementary and Integrative Medicine (CIM) Program. He chairs the Mayo Clinic Mind-Body Medicine Initiative and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He develops and teaches innovative approaches to improve stress and wellness. Dr. Sood has received several National Institutes of Health (NIH) and foundation grants for research in integrative and mind-body approaches to promote well-being. He provides mind-body consults to patients at Mayo Clinic and, with his programs, has helped over 50,000 people in the past five years. Dr. Sood has received numerous awards and has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed original articles, as well as editorials, abstracts, book chapters and books. He has developed award-winning patient education DVDs as well as the first Mayo Clinic iPhone app (an introductory meditation training program), and is a highly sought-after speaker, teaching over 50 workshops a year.

MEDIA CONTACT: Ginger Plumbo, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, Email: newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post The Key to Reaching Personal Goals in 2014: Conquer Stress First appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.