015- Chiropractic and Value in Spine Care with William Weeks, MD, PhD, MBA

William Weeks MD, PhD, MBA and I discuss topics such as: how doctors of chiropractic supply health care services, how patients use such services, and how best to integrate chiropractic with other health care providers; health care delivery science; value in spine care and; opioid overuse in back pain. Dr. Weeks is Professor of Psychiatry and of Community and Family Medicine at The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. There, he works at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice as a Senior Research Scientist, where he teaches in Masters programs and conducts research on health economics, healthcare value, the complementary and alternative medicine market, and geographic variation in health services utilization in France.  Dr. Weeks has published over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts examining economic and business aspects of health care services utilization and delivery, physicians’ return on educational investment, health care delivery science, and healthcare value. He received his MD from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, his MBA from Columbia University, and his PhD in Economics from the Aix-Marseille School of Economics and Management. Dr. Weeks has been honored with the 2009 National Rural Health Association Outstanding Researcher Award and the 2016 Jerome F McAndrews award for excellence in research from the National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Corporation Group. During 2016, Dr. Weeks holds the Fulbright-Toqueville Distinguished Chair at Aix-Marseille University.

Areas of Expertise:

Healthcare delivery science; healthcare value; health economics; physician incomes; the complementary and alternative medicine market

Awards:

2015-16 Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair 2015-2016 at Aix-Marseille University
2009 Researcher of the Year, National Rural Health Association

Professional Achievements:

Consulting
•Provided strategic consultative services, partnering opportunities, to a variety of healthcare organizations
•Reviewed operations and provided strategic advice to Maine Medical Center, Dupont/Nemours Children’s Hospital, and Christiana Care around enhancing value, leveraging research efforts, and moving toward becoming an Accountable Care Organization
•Conducted analytics and provided strategic advice to Community Health Network of Washington around performance variation, identification of best practices, and the development of a comprehensive plan to improve quality and reduce costs.
•Provided consulting services and policy updates to Amerinet, a group purchasing organization around accountable care and organization of healthcare services.
•Provided on-site and distance quality improvement and research education followed by ongoing coaching teams at Eastern Maine Medical Center and Central Maine Medical Center.

Professor and Senior Research Scientist
•Wrote research proposals, obtained grant funding, conducted original research, and published findings
•For The High Value Healthcare Collaborative, a CMMI ($26.1 million) and member funded (approximately $2.5 million per year) effort to examine and leverage variation in care quantity, understand and reduce healthcare costs, and enhance value of care delivered across 15 US healthcare systems, with considerable work focused on bundled payments.
•On the performance of physician practices and medical groups in the United States, funded by Commonwealth Fund and Kaiser Foundation ($536,254)
•Examining the association between public reporting of quality of care on care quality in Wisconsin, funded by Commonwealth Fund ($295,889)
•On chiropractic and alternative medicine care markets in the US, funded by NIH, Bernard Osher Foundation, and National Chiropractic Medicine Insurance Corporation ($1,170,451).
•In an effort to examine and select patient safety indicators for emerging and developing countries, funded by WHO ($35,000)
•Between 1992 – 2008 obtained over $10 million in grant funding as PI or Co-PI while working within the VA system.

Core Faculty and Course Director
•Designed, developed, directed, and taught masters level courses
•Leveraging Data to Inform Decision Making, Dartmouth’s Master in Healthcare Delivery Science program. Provides methods for examining, understanding, and using data from a variety of sources to inform managerial decision-making. 50 students per year.
•Critical Issues in Health and Health Care, Geisel School of Medicine’s MS and MPH programs. Required survey course designed to provide a foundation in and overview of current healthcare issues. 60-70 students per year.
•Strategic and Financial Management of Health Care Organizations, Geisel School of Medicine’s MS and MPH programs. Provided an overview of managerial and financial accounting practices and strategic frameworks in order to prepare students for managerial roles in healthcare environments. 50-60 students per year. Required course for MPH.
•Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers, TDI’s Office for Professional Education and Outreach. Online course providing basic financial and managerial accounting practices in healthcare settings.

http://tdi.dartmouth.edu/faculty/william-weeks-md-mba

Discover more of Dr. Hartvigsen’s publications on researchgate.

Links to articles mentioned in the podcast: