COVID-19 drives innovation as Dartmouth-Hitchcock reopens

Although Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health in Lebanon, N.H., saw relatively few COVID-19 patients this winter, the disease is driving change as the system resumes services put on hold during the first wave of the pandemic. Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Clinical Recovery Command Team established nine work groups to evaluate what patients need and how to reduce barriers to accessing services. Moving forward, the chief priority will be patient, staff and visitor safety. Planned measures include universal masking, use of visors during patient encounters and continued use of telehealth to reduce the number of patients in waiting rooms and other areas. Other health systems that were not overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients could use Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s reopening strategy to inform their plans. (HealthLeaders Media story, 6/3/20)