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A program to improve the value of health care by addressing uneven quality
and excess costs was unveiled recently by the Brookings Institution and Dartmouth. The
initiative will link population-based research programs at the newly created
Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (TDI) with the
health policy research and development expertise of scholars at the Brookings
Institution.
The initiative will focus on bringing researchers, lawmakers, and regulators
together to develop and implement policies to address major failings in the
U.S. health care system. An exchange program for Brookings scholars and
Dartmouth students and faculty will allow collaboration between the two
institutions.
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"Over the last several years, Elliott Fisher and his colleagues at Dartmouth
have demonstrated the tremendous variations in health care practice and
spending across the United States," says President James Wright. "The Brookings-Dartmouth
initiative is a wonderful opportunity to translate Dartmouth's health
research into innovative policy reform. We are delighted to be entering into a
relationship with Brookings to address one of the most critical domestic issues
facing our nation today."
The program will be directed by Brookings Senior Fellow Mark B. McClellan
and Elliott S. Fisher, director of the Center for Health Care Research and
Reform within the Dartmouth institute. McClellan is the former commissioner of
the Food and Drug Administration and administrator of the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services. Fisher, a professor of medicine and of family and
community medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, is the primary investigator for
the Dartmouth Atlas Project and lead author on a series of papers highlighting
the paradoxical relationship between spending and quality in the U.S. health
care system.
"Among the many challenges facing U.S. health care, one of the most
important is how we translate good ideas into practical solutions and get them
implemented," says Fisher. "Mark McClellan and his colleagues at Brookings are
uniquely qualified and have an outstanding track record of success in this
area."
Much of the work to be undertaken in the joint project will rely on the
extensive population-based health care databases maintained by Dartmouth.
Research from these databases has provided the basis for the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, now a
standard reference for anyone studying U.S. health policy and reform. Initial
projects will model approaches to modifying current Medicare physician and
other provider payments, as a means for assessing the impact of potential
reforms on providers and the Medicare Trust Funds.
McClellan states, "Dartmouth is leading the way in identifying shortfalls in
quality and cost in the current health care system, as well as in identifying
and evaluating ways to fix the problems. With all the Congressional attention
around improving Medicare's payment systems, now is the time to turn these
ideas into policy action."
By DEBORAH KIMBELL
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