Mayo Clinic Medical School

Mayo Medical School

Statewide Outcome(s):

Mayo Medical School supports the following statewide outcome(s).

Minnesotans are health.

Minnesotans have the education and skills needed to achieve their goals.

Context:

The mission of the Mayo Medical School is to use the patient-centered focus and strengths of the Mayo Clinic to educate physicians to serve society by assuming leadership roles in medical practice, education and research. The curriculum is designed to foster the individual strengths and talents of each student and to take full advantage of the unique integrated research, education and practice resources of the Mayo Clinic. The school seeks to provide access to a medical education to all students regardless of socioeconomic background. The school strives to eliminate barriers that may inhibit students from entering the historically lower paying primary care specialties.

Mayo Medical School was founded in 1972. The small class size, 50 students per class, facilitates a personalized course of instruction characterized by extensive clinical interaction and integration of basic and clinical science throughout all segments of the curriculum. A balance is sought to produce physicians interested in medical subspecialties as well as primary care disciplines of general internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics/gynecology.

The Medical School’s 2011 operating expenses were $15.5 million which covered the costs associated with educating the medical students. That year, the Mayo Clinic supported 96 percent of the medical school. The state appropriation of $665,000 supported four percent of the overall expenses.

Strategies:

The state capitation funds are used in direct support for the Minnesota residents attending Mayo Medical School. As of July 2012 47 percent of the matriculants to Mayo Medical School were Minnesota residents. In the past five years, 34 percent of Mayo Medical School graduates have chosen careers in primary care.

Results:

Mayo Medical School takes active measures to mitigate the educational debt of its graduates. In doing so, Mayo works to mitigate tuition increases and provides significant financial resources in the form of scholarships. In addition, Mayo Medical School offers a variety of educational programs and information on wise borrowing. The efforts have resulted in Mayo Medical School graduates having less than half the national average in total educational debt.

Performance Measures Notes:

*All Previous Data from FY 2009 / All Current Data from FY 2011.