50 Most Influential Clinical Executives - 2022

A year into the top job, Farrugia was confronted with a global pandemic that he said condensed a decade of operational change into one year at Mayo, a system that comprises 16 hospitals and 46 clinics, including mobile health units. He had been investing in preparation for that crisis even before it hit, through the organization’s 2030 strategy–a plan to transform the system from within by using technology to connect with patients and to move data onto a platform in order to extract new knowledge from it. Mayo made significant changes in its medical practice, education, research and operations, becoming stronger than before COVID-19, Farrugia said, especially in providing virtual and digital care. “It pushed us faster and further than we could have imagined,” he said in a Mayo podcast. In July 2020, the leadership team launched a home care system using digital visits and remote monitoring—not meant to replace in-person visits, but rather provide a care continuum with the goal of creating a seamless transition between in-person and virtual care. Farrugia, who has been a Mayo physician for nearly 30 years, was previously vice president of the Mayo Clinic and CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida.