What We Do

What we’re doing to improve health and healthcare

Healthier people are happier and more productive. They are better able to take care of their families and contribute to their communities. At Dartmouth, we recognize that with the right tools, information, and healthcare partners, people can dramatically improve their health! Similarly, with the right tools and information, we can re-design healthcare delivery and ensure that the care given aligns with an individual’s needs, goals, and preferences.

With the right tools, information—and the will—we can transform our health systems, providing higher-quality care while reducing costs by 50% or more.  

Achieving such a dramatic transformation will not be easy. But we believe strongly that with hard work, a certain fearlessness, and willingness to ask difficult questions and ‘go’ where the evidence takes us, we can achieve the necessary revolution in health and health care. We can improve our care today, and we can spare future generations the waste and harm that plague our healthcare systems in the United States and around the world.

Applying Systems Thinking to Healthcare

Healthcare providers and hospitals cannot improve health and healthcare on their own. Radical change requires examining and understanding the whole system that produces health— from how healthcare is paid for, to how information on treatment outcomes is communicated, to how integration with social services affects health outcomes. At The Geisel School of Medicine, our research on health systems and new and existing medical interventions is helping us to understand how the most expensive healthcare systems in the world too often produce poor or uneven health outcomes. Using data from diverse sources, we can rapidly evaluate delivery system innovations and state and federal policy challenges. Our goal is to create agile, equitable health systems that rely on timely information flow and collaboration. 

Empowering patients

There is a growing recognition that much of the work of improving health and treating chronic disease is done by patients and their loved ones—and only if care focuses on what matters most to them will they be willing to do this work. At Dartmouth, our shared decision-making and co-production research teams are working with patient partners, specialty societies, and foundations to engage and empower patients and strengthen the information environment. They are developing tools and measures to increase patient engagement and facilitate communication between patients and healthcare providers. They are developing and improving clinical processes that allow patients, caregivers, and clinical teams to continuously update goals, adapt treatment choices, and track outcomes. By fully engaging patients as partners in their health and healthcare, we can create a model for others to follow, and we can achieve dramatic improvements in public health and healthcare delivery.

Educating healthcare innovators and change agents

To achieve the dramatic health improvements we need, the entire healthcare workforce must learn new ways of thinking and working. At Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine, students become part of a close-knit community of scholars, researchers, and thought leaders. They learn how to assess health system performance, develop and test new models of healthcare delivery, and enact change at the community, regional, and national levels. Through applied learning projects, community service, and internships in the Upper Valley, across the United States, and in locations around the world, Dartmouth's Geisel students are having an immediate impact on health and healthcare.