U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) got a lesson in health care science on an October 26 visit to Dartmouth and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) talks about health care spending with President Jim Yong Kim on an October 26 visit to Dartmouth. (photo by Zachary Ingbretsen ’11)
“I wanted to learn more about the important work being done at Dartmouth to deliver better quality health care at lower cost,” she said. “It’s very exciting.”
Ayotte heard from Jonathan Skinner, the John Sloan Dickey Third Century Chair of Economics and professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, and Dr. Albert Mulley Jr. ’70, director of The Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science.
“We want to become a resource for Senator Ayotte,” said Mulley.
Skinner presented an overview of the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, which tracks variations in medical care across the country, and Mulley talked about Dartmouth’s Center for Health Care Delivery Science.
President Jim Yong Kim told the senator that colleges and universities are best positioned to undertake study and education of how health care is delivered because they are the only “neutral agents.”
Ayotte agreed, saying government work in the field is seen as promoting health care rationing and study by private industry is viewed as a profit-making mechanism.
“Now is the right time to invest” in such study, Kim said. “Let us do it.”
Ayotte said it’s time to “ask questions that we haven’t been asking” about health care costs, which the senator said is “our biggest problem in terms of where we are fiscally.”
“It would be helpful for my colleagues to hear this. This is such a big challenge for us,” she said. “This is a learning experience for me. I hope it’s the beginning of a dialogue.”
Economics Professor Jonathan Skinner explains research in The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care to U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.). Talking with Ayotte on October 26 in the Treasure Room at Baker Library were, from left, Dr. Albert Mulley Jr. ’70, director of The Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science; Skinner, the John Sloan Dickey Third Century Chair of Economics and professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Annmarie Christensen, assistant director of communications at the Dartmouth Institute; Heidi Noel Peterson, Tuck ’01, of The Dartmouth Institute; Martha Austin, associate vice provost for government relations; David Spalding, chief of staff to the president; President Jim Yong Kim; and Ayotte. (photo by Zachary Ingbretsen ’11)