TMC builds strategic vision with Mayo Clinic support 

Tucson Medical Center (TMC), the flagship 600-bed hospital of TMC Health in Arizona, faced a critical inflection point. Emerging from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital needed more than just recovery—it needed a vision for sustainable growth. 

At the helm was Chief Executive Officer Mimi Coomler, who knew exactly where to turn for support: Mayo Clinic. 

Coomler reached out to Mayo Clinic’s Health Care Consulting team to gain insight into their approach to long-term planning. The result was a six-month collaboration with four Mayo Clinic subject matter experts (SMEs), where Coomler explored a proven framework to guide TMC’s future.  

 “They broke down the Mayo Clinic way of building strategy,” she said. “A big part is having a framework, so the plan grows with you. We talked about defining the process, understanding competition, and using analytics. We spent quite a bit of time on the importance of having a decision-making process for resources.”  

The Mayo Clinic consultants weren’t there to build the plan for TMC—but to sharpen the process.  

“I kept the details of TMC’s plan conceptual,” said Coomler. “We needed to do the work and own it. The consultants were incredibly helpful thought partners to help us see things we might have missed because we were in the weeds of it.” 

Among her key takeaways? The importance of leading indicators over lagging ones.  

“Hospitals notoriously focus on lagging indicators like quality indicators and patient experience indicators,” she said. “I learned it’s important to evaluate your success as early in the planning process as possible so you can build strategy based on what’s most likely to happen.”  

Another standout insight came from Mayo Clinic’s approach to capital budgeting.  

“TMC has used top-down decision making for our largest investments,” Coomler explained. “Mayo Clinic’s use of oversight committees embraces shared decision making. Essentially your peers review your capital requests and accept or reject them based on how well each request aligns with strategy. This way the budget benefits from better inputs and insights.”  

As TMC developed its three-year strategic plan, Coomler appreciated that the work could move forward without pulling focus from daily operations.  

“All of the strategy-building work was happening [while] we were recovering financially,” Coomler explained. “You can’t launch a strategy when the strategy is to recover financially. It was great to have a partner in Mayo Clinic to guide our work on the strategic plan while the hospital remained focused on working to improve margins. The ability to deliver a fresh, new plan without distracting our operational team was amazing.”  

For TMC, Coomler discovered clarity, momentum, and a shared purpose through Mayo Clinic. 

 “Hospital leadership and staff now have a great sense of confidence,” she said. “We are in control. Everyone knows the plan and what their role is. The new strategic plan has really helped provide clarity to our team.”