June 15, 2012

Mayo Clinic in the News Weekly Highlights

By

June 15, 2012

Mayo Clinic in the News is a weekly highlights summary of major media coverage. If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

Thank you.

Karl Oestreich, manager enterprise media relations

NY Times
To Cut Blood Pressure, Nerves Get a Jolt
by Amanda Schaffer

…Now, doctors are experimenting with an innovative but drastic new approach that may help lessen the danger in patients for whom nothing else works. During the procedure, called renal denervation, a physician threads a catheter into the arteries leading to the kidney, then delivers pulses of radio-frequency energy that interrupt the signaling in nerves to and from that organ…“This is potentially the most exciting advance in hypertension in literally decades,” said Charanjit Rihal, chairman of the division of cardiovascular diseases at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Still, he added, there are a number of uncertainties.

Circulation:  The New York Times has the third highest circulation nationally, behind USA Today (2nd) and The Wall Street Journal (1st) with 1,150,589 weekday copies circulated and 1,645,152 circulated on Sundays.

Context: Chet Rihal, M.D., chair of  cardiovascular diseases and an interventionalist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., did an interview on renal denervation with the the New York Times reporter.

Public Affairs Contact: Traci Klein

Good Morning Arizona
Dr Sekulic's Good Morning Arizona TV interview

Dr. Alexander Sekulic appears on the show to discuss basal cell carcinoma.

Reach: Good Morning Arizona appears on KTVK-3TV, which is reportedly one of the largest independent television stations in the country.

Context: Mayo Clinic in Arizona issued a news release June 6 about an international phase 2 study headed by Mayo Clinic which led to the recent Food and Drug Administration approval of the first drug of its kind to help advanced basal cell carcinoma patients who have few treatment options. The results appear in the June 7 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Additional coverage: Arizona Republic.

Public Affairs Contact: Julie Janovsky-Mason

Quad-City Times
Moline couple bequests $10M to Mayo Clinic
by Deirdre Cox Baker

Three years ago, Lawrence Matteson of Moline received a prostate cancer diagnosis for which he was successfully treated at the Mayo Clinic. Now, he and his wife, Marilyn, have shown their gratitude by donating $10 million to make the experience for the institution’s cancer patients even better. The Mattesons decided to grant the money to the well-known clinic’s new Proton Beam Therapy Program, feeling it would benefit the most people possible, Marilyn Matteson explained during an interview Monday afternoon at the couple’s home.

Circulation: The Quad-City Times is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area (Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Island County in Illinois). According to the Iowa Newspaper Association, the Quad-City Times has a circulation of 61,366.

Context: Mayo Clinic distributed a news release June 11 that Lawrence W. and Marilyn W. Matteson of Moline, Ill., have given $10 million to help launch the Mayo Clinic Proton Beam Therapy Program. With this gift, Mayo Clinic will also use matching gift funds to establish the Lawrence W. and Marilyn W. Matteson Fund in Cancer Research.

Public Affairs Contact: Joe Dangor

Chicago Tribune
Social media a godsend for those with rare diseases
by Erin Meyer

…Thanks to efforts by McGarry and the online network of SCAD survivors, doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have launched the first large-scale research project to learn more about the disease. The study is breaking new ground by using social media to recruit SCAD patients from around the world, doctors say. The plan is to input each person's medical history into a database in the hope of identifying patterns. The Mayo Clinic also will create a biobank of blood samples from patients with SCAD, along with samples from their parents and children. The hope is that the effort may lead to answers about the role genetics plays in the disease, said Dr. Sharonne Hayes, director of the Mayo Clinic Women's Heart Clinic.

Circulation: The Tribune’s average weekday circulation is more about 425,000. Average Sunday circulation is more than 781,000. According to the Tribune, its newspaper reaches more than five million consumers while covering 76% of the market.

Context: Sharonne Hayes, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic cardiologist and founder of Mayo’s Women’s Heart Clinic. Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection, or SCAD, is a rare, life-threatening heart condition. Mayo Clinic used social media to reach out to survivors of SCAD, a poorly understood heart condition that affects just a few thousand Americans every year. Additional coverage:  KNAU Ariz

Public Affairs Contact: Traci Klein

Michigan Business Review
Lansing-based Sparrow Health System joins Mayo Clinic network
by Angela Wittrock

Health System has been selected to join the Mayo Clinic Care Network, the officials announced Friday, giving Sparrow physicians access to Mayo Clinic expertise and clinical care resources for their patients. "Access to Mayo Clinic expertise and clinical care resources will mean that our patients will receive some of the most advanced care in the nation, right here at Sparrow," John Armstrong, M.D., Sparrow's Chief of Staff said in a statement… "Mayo Clinic and Sparrow are committed to improve the delivery of healthcare through high quality, data‐driven, evidence‐based medical care and treatment," David Hayes, M.D., Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, said in a media release. Additional coverage: WKAR Mich., Stabenow.gov, News Medical, World News, Detroit Free Press, WILX Mich, Michigan Radio, Star Tribune, Lansing State Journal, WLNS Lansing.

Reach: The Michigan Business Review is puplished by MLive Media Group which also includes: MLive.com, The Grand Rapids Press, The Muskegon Chronicle, Kalamazoo Gazette, The Jackson Citizen Patriot, AnnArbor.com, The Flint Journal, The Saginaw News, The Bay City Times and the Advance Weeklies in Grand Rapids, as well as several related entities.

Context: Mayo Clinic issued held a news conference and issued a news release June 8 announcing that  Sparrow Health System, based in Lansing, Mich., as the newest member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. The network extends Mayo Clinic's knowledge and expertise to physicians and providers interested in working together in the best interest of their patients. Sparrow's physicians will have access to Mayo Clinic, including the ability to connect with Mayo Clinic physicians, who can help them care for their patients and improve their systems and the health of their communities.

Public Affairs Contact: Bryan Anderson

Post-Bulletin
Mayo Clinic adds Red Wing medical center
by Edie Grossfield

Mayo Clinic will acquire Fairview Red Wing Health Services, as the Rochester-based nonprofit continued its recent robust growth. Fairview's facilities in Red Wing, Zumbrota and Ellsworth, Wis., will become part of the Mayo Clinic Health System effective July 1, according to a tentative agreement signed Thursday by officials from Mayo and Fairview… On July 1, all of the more than 800 employees in the Fairview Red Wing system will become Mayo Clinic employees, said Tom Witt, who will become CEO for the facility. He is now CEO for Mayo's facilities in Lake City and Cannon Falls. Additional coverage: WRAL Techwire, MedCity News, Grand Forks Herald, Albert Lea Tribune, Star Tribune, Republican Eagle, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, Pioneer Press , Duluth News Tribune, MPR, KARE 11, Green Bay Press Gazette, Wahpeton Daily news, INFORUM N.D., KAAL, Bemidji Pioneer.

Previous coverage

Context: Mayo Clinic issued a news release June 7 announcing a tentative agreement today for Fairview Red Wing Health Services to become part of Mayo Clinic Health System. The parties will work to finalize the details of the agreement and acquisition during the next several weeks, targeting July 1 for Mayo Clinic Health System to assume operations.

Public Affairs Contacts: Joe O’Keefe, Nick Hanson

Pioneer Press
Mayo Clinic to offer organ transplant consultations at the Mall of America by Chris Snowbeck

Heading to the Mall of America? Feel free to put heart transplants -- or at least information about them -- on your shopping list. The Mayo Clinic is extending a small portion of its organ-transplantation service for adult patients to a storefront it operates inside the Bloomington mall… "If there are patients in the Twin Cities area that are looking for an opinion about transplantation, we should be able to deliver that type of consultation in that venue," said Dr. David Hayes, the lead physician on Mayo Clinic's operation at the mall, during an interview Friday, June 8.

Circulation: The St. Paul Pioneer Press has a daily circulation of 226,108 and its Sunday newspaper circulation is 270,811. Its TwinCities.com website had approximately 18.6 million page views (March 2011) and the Pioneer Press and TwinCities.com reaches about 3.3 million people each month.

Context: David Hayes, M.D. is the lead physician on Mayo Clinic's operation at the Mall of America. Additional coverage: Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

Public Affairs Contact: Bryan Anderson

Jacksonville Business Journal
Mayo Clinic’s brain bank drives big research finds
by Ashley Kritzer

Dr. Dennis Dickson holds half of a human brain in his hand, studying it as a graduate student reads the medical history of the 68-year-old man whose thoughts, words and movements the organ once controlled. The man’s doctors suspected he had multiple system atrophy, a rare neurodegenerative disease often confused for the more-common Parkinson’s disease. The only way to know for sure is a brain autopsy, which Dickson, a professor at Mayo Clinic in Florida, performs on a weekly basis. In this case, Dickson thinks the doctors were probably right, given the severe atrophy of the brain ... Additional coverage: Jacksonville Business Journal, Toronto Telegraph.

Circulation: The Jacksonville Business Journal is one of 63 newspapers published by American City Business Journals.

Context: Dennis Dickson, M.D., is part of the neuro-oncology program and laboratory and pathology program at Mayo Clinic in Florida.

Public Affairs Contact: Kevin Punsky

Post-Bulletin
Medica, Mayo Clinic join forces to offer new insurance plan
by Jeff Hansel

Medica, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit insurance provider, plans to offer a new type of affordable health-insurance plan with in-network access to Mayo Clinic, it was announced today. The intriguing part is that Mayo Clinic will be paid based on how well it manages the population’s health "from a clinical quality perspective as well as the overall cost of care," says an announcement… "This is a unique model — and it's maybe a trend setter," said Tom Holmes, Mayo contract administrator. More coverage: MPR, MedCity News, Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, KEYC Mankato, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, MarketWatch, Insurance News Net, Mankato Free Press, Finance & Commerce, SouthernMinn, Yahoo! Finance, Toronto Telegraph, Lebanon News

Circulation: The Post-Bulletin has a weekend readership of nearly 45,000 people and daily readership of more than 41,000 people. The newspaper serves Rochester, Minn., and southeast Minnesota.

Context: Mayo Clinic and Medica officials announced the agreement in an audio news conference June 14.

Public Affairs Contact: Karl Oestreich

To subscribe: Mayo Clinic in the News is a weekly highlights summary of major media coverage. If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

To unsubscribe: To remove your name from the global distribution list, send an email to Emily Blahnik with the subject: UNSUBSCRIBE from Mayo Clinic in the News.

Tags: Business Relations, Cancer, Cardiology, Chicago Tribune, Dr. Chet Rihal, Dr. David Hayes, Dr. Dennis Dickson, Dr. John Armstrong, Dr. Sharonne Hayes, Facilities, Fairview Red Wing Health Services, Finanical, Food and Drug Administration, Genomics, Good Morning Arizona, Jacksonville Business Journal, Lawrence Matteson, Marylin Matteson, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Mayo Clinic Care Network, Mayo Clinic Health System, Mayo Clinic in the News, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Mayo Clinic Proton Beam Therapy Program, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Mayo Clinic Women's Heart Clinic, Medica, Michigan Business Review, Neurology, Pioneer Press, Post Bulletin, Quad-City Times, renal denervation, SCAD, Social Media, Sparrow Health System, Technology, The New York Times, Tom Holmes, Tom Witt, Women's Health

Please sign in or register to post a reply.
Contact Us · Privacy Policy