Dartmouth studies influence administration, even in choice of venue

When President Obama chose Green Bay, Wis., to talk about the need for health reform, he did so in part because the area has achieved a high level of quality, and compared with other parts of the country, succeeded in restraining health care costs, National Public Radio reports.

"They're certainly spending a lot less money, and they are providing care that is equal or better than the care that is provided in many other communities around the country," Elliot Fisher, a researcher at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice told NPR in an interview. NPR says: "Some of the research the administration is relying on comes from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice," which focuses on variations in health quality and costs around the country.

Fisher attributed the success of Green Bay's health care providers to coordinated, systematic thinking about patient care, a conscious focus on quality improvement and a dependence on data for analyzing their outcomes. One key finding Fisher shared with NPR is, "There's very little relationship between the overall quality of care, and the overall cost of care" (All Things Considered, 6/11).