Tucson Medical Center will officially become part of the Mayo Clinic Care Network on Friday, giving local patients access to Mayo doctors’ expertise.
The collaboration, expected to be announced Friday morning, is not an ownership change, a name change or a merger. TMC remains independent and locally owned — the only locally owned community hospital in Tucson.
Rather, the affiliation means that TMC will become a member of the Mayo network by paying a subscription fee and in return, be able to consult with Mayo Clinic doctors on an as needed basis. TMC officials would not disclose how much they paid for the subscription.
Mayo Clinic in Arizona chief executive officer Dr. Wyatt Decker says the network was formed about five years ago in reaction to hospital mergers and acquisitions that have been occurring nationwide in recent years.
“We did a lot of soul searching and thought, do we want to own and operate a lot of medical centers?” Decker said.
“We decided to take a different path, not to own and operate, but to affiliate and share like-minded knowledge. What is exciting is that they can remain independent, which is very important to a lot of medical centers.”
Other Arizona hospitals in the Mayo network include ASU Health Services, Kingman Regional Medical Center and Yuma Regional Medical Center. TMC is the 32nd hospital to join the network.
TMC also has a special connection for the Mayo clinic. Clinic co-founder Dr. Will Mayo built a house in Tucson in 1936 and used to do occasional rounds at TMC, which was then known as the Desert Sanatorium,Decker said.
“The foundation for this relationship is a shared treatment philosophy that is focused on best practices and evidence-based medical care,” TMC’s chief medical officer Dr. Rick Anderson said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to the resources that this collaboration will bring to the high-value care we already provide our patients.”
