The Brookings-Dartmouth Partnership

The partnership between The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings began in 2007 in an effort to bridge the gap between health care research, policy, and implementation.

Together, the Brookings-Dartmouth team is using its findings to help develop and implement policy reforms that reduce the growth in health care costs and improve the quality of care. Projects include modeling and implementing innovative approaches to payment and delivery system reform.

One such project is the development and implementation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) based on the principles of increased accountability, performance measurement, and shared savings. The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) proposal offers an approach that rewards providers who improve the quality of care and lower projected costs, rather than promoting increased volume and higher intensity of care. This model could save money and improve health care quality by providing financial support and incentives to providers for coordinating patient care through a shared savings program. Dartmouth and Brookings are working with communities across the United States to implement the model and evaluate the results.

The Brookings-Dartmouth partnership is led by Dr. Elliott Fisher, Director of the Center for Population Health at TDI, and Dr. Mark McClellan, Director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution. For more information on the Engelberg Center please visit www.brookings.edu/health.