John E. Wennberg papers

Collection

Identifier: HMD MS ACC 2019-017

Abstract

People and meeting files and research data analysis output makes up the bulk of the collection. Important are his records and data analysis outputs that underpin his seminal 1973 article "Small area variations in health care delivery" in Science magazine. Also sent/received faxes, Codman Co. consulting files and reports, Tracking Medicine book drafts, subject files, presentations. Very little rich correspondence - Wennberg communicated mainly in person-to-person meetings, conversations, phone calls.

Dates

1960s-2018

Extent

206.25 Linear Feet (165 boxes)

Creator

Wennberg, John E. (Person)

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English

Access Restrictions

Unprocessed collection. Access is not restricted. See Reference Librarian for information regarding access.

Copyright Information

Donor's copyrights were transferred to the public domain. Archival collections often contain mixed copyrights; while NLM is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. It is the user's responsibility to research and understand any applicable copyright and re-publication rights not allowed by fair use. NLM does not grant permissions to publish.

Privacy Information

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Biographical/Historical Note

John (Jack) Wennberg is the founder and director emeritus of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and the Peggy Y. Thomson Professor in the Evaluative Clinical Sciences Emeritus at the Geisel School of Medicine. Wennberg’s breakthrough insights are most notably represented in the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, which examines the patterns of medical resource intensity and utilization in the United States. Since its founding by Wennberg in 1996, the Atlas project has reported on patterns of end-of-life care, inequities in the Medicare reimbursement system, and the underuse of preventative medicine, among other topic areas. Using Vermont's population as a research microcosm for his seminal small area study analyses, he coined the term "unwarranted variation" in the context of health care delivery and outcomes research. He is known as a health care delivery reformer and important critic of traditional medical delivery and insurance reimbursement practices, a proponent for evaluative science in biomedical research and health services research at a national scale.