The Cleveland Clinic is a multispecialty academic hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, that is owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921. In addition to its flagship hospital in Cleveland, the Cleveland Clinic operates affiliated facilities in Florida, Nevada, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates.
History
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Beginnings
The Cleveland Clinic grew out of the surgical practice of Frank J. Weed (died 1891), at 16 Church Street on the near west side of Cleveland. The practice was purchased by his two assistants, Frank E. Bunts and George Washington Crile. In 1892 they brought Crile's cousin, William E. Lower into the practice. In 1897 they moved to the Osborn Building on Prospect Avenue in downtown Cleveland.
A four-story outpatient building was constructed, and the Cleveland Clinic was dedicated at a private ceremony on February 26, 1921. It opened its doors two days later to the public and registered 42 patients. In April 1921, the Cleveland Clinic had 60 employees, including 14 physicians and four nurses.
In 1922 the founders purchased four private homes nearby for hospitalization, radiation treatment, and administration. A fifth house was acquired as a residence for patients with diabetes receiving insulin treatments. To meet rising patient volume, a 184-bed hospital was built in 1924, located at East 90th Street and Carnegie Avenue. A power plant, laundry, and ice plant were also built. A research laboratory was constructed in 1928.
Cleveland Clinic fire
On May 15, 1929, nitrocellulose x-ray films stored in the basement of the outpatient building ignited. An explosion sent a cloud of toxic oxides of nitrogen and carbon though the building. One hundred and twenty-three people lost their lives, including John Phillips, one of the founders. A dozen investigating agencies were not able to determine what had caused the fire. The Cleveland Clinic's own inquiry narrowed the possible causes down to spontaneous combustion caused by heat; a discarded cigarette or match; and contact with an extension cord light hung over a stack of films.
Philanthropist Samuel Mather formed a committee of 36 community leaders to help the Cleveland Clinic reestablish itself in temporary quarters across the street. Patient care services resumed five days later. The 1921 building was completely renovated, and a new three-story clinic building, with a new main entrance, was added in 1931. All debts were repaid by 1941.
Growth of specialization
The Cleveland Clinic built new operating rooms in the early 1970s to accommodate the growth of cardiac surgery. The Martha Holden Jennings Education Building opened in 1964, with an auditorium named for Dr. Bunts. A new hospital building (currently home to Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital) opened in 1966, and a research building opened in 1974 (demolished in 2007). A pathology and laboratory medicine building was constructed on Carnegie Avenue in 1980.
Willian S. Kiser, chairman of the board 1977â€"1989, led the development of a strategic plan to accommodate growing patient volumes in the late 1970s. This resulted in a group of buildings known as the Century Project. Completed in 1985, the Century Project includes a 14-story outpatient building (now known as the Crile Building) designed by architect Cesar Pelli.
Research and education
The Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute conducts biomedical research in a building that opened in 1999. The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM) of Case Western Reserve University opened in 2004. It is a 5-year medical school in the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine with 32 students per class, each receiving a scholarship for full tuition and fees. While most MD-granting medical schools in the U.S. are four-year programs, the fifth year of CCLCM is dedicated to a year of research.
The Cleveland Clinic publishes the peer-reviewed Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine monthly, focusing on internal medicine, endocrinology, and diabetes.
The Top 10 Medical Innovations is an annual list (since 2007) selected in October each year by a panel of Cleveland Clinic physicians and scientists. For consideration on the list, the development must be considered likely to be available to the public in the upcoming year and to be expected to have a significant impact on a large part of the population.
Reputation
The Cleveland Clinic is nationally recognized as one of the top medical centers in the US and the world, particularly in technological and management systems and in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. For high acuity conditions requiring special expertise or the latest technology, it is ranked as the #2 hospital by U.S. News & World Report (USNWR), with individual rankings as follows:
The U.S. News & World Report ratings stand in contrast to rankings that feature a safety emphasis. In a Kaiser Family Foundation review of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data for hospital acquired conditions in 2014, the Cleveland Clinic received a 8.7 score (1â€"10 possible, with 10 being the worst), in the bottom 7% of hospitals. In 2012 Consumer Reports rated the Cleveland Clinic 98th among 105 rated hospitals in the State of Ohio for overall safety. In 2015 the rating was 60th among 161 hospitals, with a score of 49 out of 100 possible points. (Nationwide, the top and bottom scores were 79 and 21.)
Leapfrog Group ranked the Cleveland Clinic in 2012 as one of 121 hospitals (out of 2,618) with a "barely passing" D rating for safety (25 hospitals had F scores), which Leapfrog described as among the "most hazardous environments for patients in need of care." The different emphases and methodologies of the U.S. News & World Report and other ranking systems explain why teaching hospitals collectively score prominently on one system but rarely feature highly on others. The main Clinic hospital received Leapfrog grades of "C" in fall and spring of 2013, 2014, and 2015, a "B" in spring of 2016, and an "A" in fall 2016. Other hospital facilities in the system received Leapfrog grades ranging from A to B in fall 2016.
Between 2010 and 2013, CMS undertook an extensive series of investigations into the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, with at least a dozen inspections and follow-up visits triggered by patient complaints. An analysis of Medicare inspection data between 2011 and 2014 found that the Cleveland Clinic Foundation was one of at least 230 instances in which validated serious incidentsâ€"dubbed "immediate jeopardy" complaintsâ€"led CMS to threaten loss of ability to serve Medicare patients unless the problems were fixed immediately. Due to numerous serious ongoing safety violations, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation was on payment termination track for 19 months, placing at stake $1B in annual Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement. The citations were reported and analyzed in detail by Modern Healthcare, which posted some of the safety documents.
Locations
The Cleveland Clinic's main campus consists of 41 buildings on 160 acres (65Â ha) near University Circle, in Fairfax, Cleveland. The Cleveland Clinic operates 18 family health and ambulatory surgery centers in surrounding communities, a multispecialty hospital and family health center in Weston, Florida, and an outpatient clinic in Toronto, Ontario.
In May, 2010, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health opened in a unique structure designed by architect Frank Gehry in Las Vegas, Nevada.
An overseas location, the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, opened in 2015.
In August 2015, the Akron General Health System in Akron, Ohio, joined the Cleveland Clinic system. Akron General includes Akron General Hospital, Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, Hospice of VNS, Lodi Community Hospital, Edwin Shaw Rehabilitation Institute, and three health and wellness centers. In May 2017, the Cleveland Clinic reached an agreement to acquire 150-bed Union Hospital in Dover, Ohio.
The organization began work renovating an historic building at 33 Grosvenor Place in central London, UK in 2018. Demolition of the interior of the six-story, 198,000-square-foot building has begun with a construction completion date of late 2020.
Finances
In 2011, the Cleveland Clinic was second on the Becker's Hospital Review list of top-grossing hospitals in the United States, with total patient revenue of $9.14 billion. The hospital posted $243 million operating income on $8 billion revenue in 2016. Operating income fell about 50 percent from 2015, which it said was due to shrinking reimbursements and rising drug costs.
See also
- List of hospitals in the United States
- Medical centers in the United States
Notes
References
Further reading
- Cosgrove, Toby (2014). The Cleveland Clinic Way: Lessons in Excellence From One of the World's Leading Healthcare Organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. ISBNÂ 9780071827249. OCLCÂ 862041447.Â