Despite national healthcare challenges that “are unprecedented in their size, speed and scope,” Cleveland Clinic had a “very successful year” in 2016, President and CEO Toby Cosgrove, M.D., said during the annual State of the Clinic address Wednesday.

Healthcare in the United States is in the midst of major transformations, including rising pharmaceutical costs, a growing patient population using government insurance instead of commercial insurance, an increasing number of reporting measurements, and a fundamental change in how hospitals are paid.

Still, Cleveland Clinic saw an increase in new patients; a decline in hospital readmissions and infections; the opening of a new hospital in Avon and six new Express Care locations throughout northeast Ohio; a 12 percent increase in operating revenue to $8 billion; and acknowledgment as the No. 2 hospital in the nation by US News & World Report.
Cleveland Clinic improved access in multiple ways in 2016. Express Care visits increased 76 percent to 133,000 due to the opening of six new sites – Wadsworth, Solon, Broadview Heights, downtown Cleveland, Mentor and Olmsted Township. Same-day appointments increased 10 percent to almost 1.3 million. Virtual visits accounted for 9,700 visits, including Express Care Online and postop visits, Telestroke acute stroke response, neurological inpatient consults, dermatology tele-triage, patient-requested second opinions and nutrition consults. And shared medical appointments grew 40 percent to over 17,700 visits.

In all, outpatient visits increased 7 percent to 7.1 million, including 128,000 new patients (up 2 percent).

Other 2016 highlights outlined by Dr. Cosgrove included:

Sones Innovation Award: Michael Kattan, Ph.D., chair of Quantitative Health Services in Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, was named the 2016 Sones Innovation Award recipient, for his work in pioneering mathematical models (nomograms) that predict risk of disease recurrence or progression in prostate cancer and other conditions. He holds two patents for risk calculators, and he developed online calculators that address 34 different diseases. Dr. Kattan is a financial risk modeler and former stage IV cancer patient. The award – named for F. Mason Sones, M.D., the Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who performed the world’s first coronary angiogram – honors the Cleveland Clinic tradition of innovation for better patient care. It comes with a $25,000 prize.
Quality improvements:
Readmissions decreased to 13.2 percent.

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