Mat-Su Regional to provide distance consultations for local patients

PALMER — Mat-Su Regional Medical Center has announced their recent collaboration with the Mayo Clinic Care Network and will from now on be offering additional resources to patients with no extra costs.

“This relationship with Mayo Clinic can facilitate our endeavors to provide the highest level of care,” said Mat-Su Regional Chief of Staff, Dr. Meghan Lindstrom, who has worked at the hospital as an emergency physician for 10 years.

The goal of the Care Network is to allow patients the option to stay close to home while they receive whatever care they need, according to Dave Wallace, CEO of Mat-Su Regional.

Patients will continue with their same hospital care provider as usual, but the new collaboration will add a level of information, expertise and resources that for some Alaskans can only come with out-of-state travel.

“If a patient who is seeing their trusted local provider here at Mat-Su has a complex medical problem or a very serious diagnosis and comes to the point where they need a specialist or they need some expertise that’s not available here in the local community, the physician at Mat-Su can consult with the physician that has the appropriate expertise at Mayo Clinic,” said Keith Cannon, M.D., medical director for Mayo Clinic Care Network.

The program, titled “E-Consults,” by Cannon, allows physicians at Mat-Su Regional to send patient information to Mayo Clinic physicians at any location around the country in order to get a second opinion. The information is passed between specialists electronically for the sake of efficiency and convenience to patients.

“This gives a patient additional peace of mind at no additional cost to them,” Cannon said.

The collaboration, which was also implemented by Fairbanks Memorial Hospital a year ago, will change the face of healthcare in this region, according to Wallace.

“It’s just a major game-changer for us,” he said.

In the hospital staff meeting on Wednesday, Cannon clarified that the implementation of the Care Network is not an acknowledgement of some gap or need in the way Mat-Su Regional treats their patients.

In order for organizations to be added to the program, potential members must go through a vetting process that will assure the Mayo Clinic Care Network board that the medical team has the same patient-centered goals in mind as the Mayo Clinic.

“We were impressed by how all of the different staff from the different departments worked together to concentrate on the safety of the patient. Even today as we were setting up for this event, Dave is trying to make sure the patients can get through,” Cannon said.

Healthcare staff at the hospital will also benefit from the knowledge and expertise provided by the Mayo Clinic. Professional development opportunities and consulting services will be provided to the hospital caregivers to help them advance in their ability to offer premium services to patients, according to Wallace.

“It’s another celebration. It’s another milestone in our evolution to create that critical healthcare infrastructure that a community needs to thrive,” said Elizabeth Ripley, CEO of the Mat-Su Health Foundation.