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NH Senators Tour Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Lebanon, New Hampshire - August 9, 2009

New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen toured the Spine Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center this morning as the debate over healthcare heats up. Adam Sullivan reports.

NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen and a colleague from Minnesota-- Senator Amy Klobuchar-- got a first hand look at how "shared decision making" works at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

((Dr. James Weinstein/DHMC: "we started the first in the nation center for shared decision making at Dartmouth-Hitchcock about 12 years ago."))

Weinstein says the premise of shared decision making is rather simple-- informing patients to make their own decisions.

((Weinstein: "depending on what patients believe, their values and preferences, and when there is more than one treatment option."))

He says that informed choices-- more often than not-- get better outcomes and end up saving money. Noah Hano is a living testament. He suffers from a herniated disk in is back and was invited to share his story.

((Noah Hano/Patient: "I think understanding what my options were really helped me make the decision in the end. Whether that was the right decision, all I can tell you is that my back is a lot better than it was."))

The Senators want to incorporate the work being done at DHMC into the healthcare reform bill. It's a controversial bill that's making its way thru Congress in Washington. The Senators say cutting costs in healthcare is one of the biggest concerns.

((Senator Jeanne Shaheen: "it is important to be here because of the ground breaking research that they are doing here and it is an issue that people are very concerned about because healthcare affects literally everybody."))

((Sen. Amy Klobuchar/Minnesota: "we have to figure out how to make it more affordable and one of the sways we do that is by getting patients more informed in the decision. Creating incentives for high quality care at lower costs and that is why we are here today."))

The Senators' visit Monday comes a day before president Obama is scheduled to arrive in the Granite State continuing the conversation on healthcare at a town hall meeting in Portsmouth.

Sen. Klobuchar is vacationing in New Hampshire and asked to be a part of today's tour. She says that some of the work being done DHMC is similar to that at Mayo Clinic in her home state of Minnesota.

Adam Sullivan -- WCAX