The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice
How well do medical and surgical procedures actually work? How are healthcare resources distributed and used? How do patients value medical interventions and their consequences?
Those are the fundamental questions the physicians, economists, researchers, and social scientists at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (TDI) have been addressing since 1988. Today, The Institute is nationally and internationally recognized for its research on health outcomes, informed choices for patients, and innovative policy solutions. Says Dr. Albert Mulley, Chief of General Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a longtime collaborator with many TDI faculty, "The work of The Dartmouth Institute and the professionals it trains offer our best chance of seeing to it that people get the care they need and no less—and the care they want and no more."
For DMS students, having TDI and its joint-degree programs here allows them to participate in cutting-edge research that ranges from the widely-
Dr. John Wennberg, Founder and Director Emeritus of The Dartmouth Institute, received the 2008
Gustav O. Lienhard Award from the Institute of Medicine for "reshaping the US health care system"
to focus on objective evidence and outcomes rather than physician preference as the basis for treatment
decisions, and for his efforts to empower patients with greater input on decisions about their own care.
quoted Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care,
which documents how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States,
to numerous studies showing that more health care often leads,
paradoxically, to poorer health outcomes. TDI research and policy
recommendations were at the foundation of a number of provisions
included in the health reform law.
"In a country that spends 17 percent of its
gross domestic product on health care,
nothing could be more important."
Founded in 1988, TDI is home to the nation's first graduate program of its kind • The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care is the first comprehensive documentation of patterns and differences of medical care around the U.S.