Dartmouth and Dartmouth Health announced September 29 that a $20 million gift from alumnus Richard Levy will establish Dartmouth Health at Home, an initiative intended to expand care outside hospitals.
The program will focus on bringing primary and palliative care into patients' homes, supporting relatives who provide care, and studying the results. A new Family Caregiver Institute will offer services including hands-on training and help navigating available resources.
Dartmouth's announcement says the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice will evaluate health outcomes, costs and patients' experiences. That work is intended to establish what can be sustained and potentially adopted by other health systems.
The New Hampshire Bulletin reported that the initiative addresses challenges in rural New Hampshire and Vermont, where a trip to a clinician or hospital can involve a substantial distance.
Levy became his wife's main caregiver after she was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. Dartmouth said his experience helped shape the gift and the emphasis on supporting caregivers alongside patients.
The initiative builds on the Susan and Richard Levy Health Care Delivery Incubator, which began in 2020. Dartmouth said the incubator has supported 22 projects redesigning the delivery of care.
The announcement describes an expansion and a plan to evaluate it. Claims that the approach will lower costs or improve outcomes are goals to be tested through that evaluation, rather than measured results from the new program.
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