John Wennberg

nhshistory.net

nhshistory.com

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National Health Service History

John E. Wennberg, M.D.

Peggy Y. Thomson Professor (Chair) for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences

Professor of Community and Family Medicine (Epidemiology) and of Medicine
Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire, USA

With colleague Alan Gittelsohn, Dr. Wennberg developed a method of determining population-based rates for the utilization and distribution of health-care services. This method, called small area analysis and first published in 1973, revealed large variations in health-care usage among different areas. Work to uncover the reasons behind these variations led Wennberg and his colleagues to develop techniques to document the results of common medical practices, a strategy that came to be called outcomes research. His latest work has focused on the use of interactive video technology to inform patients of the results of outcomes research so they can participate in medical decision making and on the publication of the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. Dr. Wennberg is the director of the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Services at Dartmouth Medical School.

See www.dartmouthatlas.org