Mayo Health System (MHS) is a family of clinics, hospitals and healthcare facilities serving more than 60 communities in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. MHS links the expertise of Mayo Clinic with healthcare providers in local communities to offer patients a full spectrum of healthcare options.
The Mayo Health System Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) is a joint initiative of Mayo Health System and Mayo Clinic Rochester, operating under the community engagement arm of the Mayo Clinic Center for Translational Science Activities (CTSA), a support center designed to help those involved in clinical research.
A practice-based research network is a group of physicians interested in improving the quality of patient care and enhancing the practice of medicine through collaborative research with colleagues outside of their own practices.
PBRNs can help academic medical centers understand practices in surrounding communities, help those practices better understand their own patient populations and provide research opportunities to community physicians. Although PBRNs have existed for about 30 years, the National Institutes of Health has recently renewed interest in practice-based research as one way to bring the research discoveries from academic medical centers to patients in smaller communities.
The MHS PBRN integrates the research experience in Rochester with the interests of physicians throughout Mayo Health System to improve health and health care delivery.