Dartmouth Health Connect—a new primary care medical practice for Dartmouth employees—began seeing patients in March. The practice, opened in conjunction with Dartmouth College, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, and Iora Health, takes a different approach to the way health care is delivered.

An extensive feature in the Valley News speaks to the inviting and casual aesthetics of the new facility, the team-centered approach the practice uses for patient care, and the new medical practice’s goal of keeping patients healthy in hopes of preventing future illness. “We’ll actually be keeping (patients) out of the downstream stuff,” said Rushika Fernandopulle, CEO of Iora Health. “This game that everyone’s been playing of ratcheting down primary care is a silly game,” he told the Valley News.

According to the article, the new practice is designed to make patients feel comfortable and relaxed. Kim Hall, one of the four health coaches at Dartmouth Health Connect, told the Valley News, “One of the best things about this practice is it allows us to find out what makes patients tick.”

Read the full story, published 4/11/12 by the Valley News.