Jayant Talwalkar, M.D., the medical director of the Value Analysis Program in the Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery.

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We’ve all experienced prices rising on items while the quality has not changed and perhaps even declined – clothes made with less expensive fabrics for increased prices, foods packaged in smaller amounts at the same price or prices going through the roof without a change in the product. Increases are undoubtedly due to business pressures, but the results are that the consumer pays more and gets less.

In the midst of serious challenges facing health care, Mayo is working hard to actually improve the quality of its patient care, while making things more affordable for patients in addition to reducing costs for health care providers.  This seemingly daunting task is being done through the Value Analysis Program in the Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery.  In the Kern Center, our value analysis researchers are studying ways to provide improved patient outcomes at lower costs for both the patient and the provider. To achieve results, the Kern Center is partnered with departments throughout Mayo and working with groups like Optum Labs.

We’ve found that:

• The least expensive, older drugs achieve better outcomes with lower costs for glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. Read study abstract.
• 67% of cardiac surgery patients can be managed in a uniform approach reducing hospital length of stay and other costs and patients have better outcomes. Read study abstract.
• New recovery protocols after gynecologic surgery reduce hospital length of stay with cost savings of more than $7,600 per patient and significantly decreased opioid use. Read study abstract.

You can read more about the Kern Center’s Value Analysis Program online. Also, if you want to get a first-hand look at what researchers are doing around the country to improve value for patients, consider attending our inaugural Delivery Science Summit 2015 – Building the Evidence Base in Health Care Delivery.

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Tags: About, Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Findings, OptumLabs