Dartmouth Health's HOBSCOTCH Institute for Cognitive Health and Well-Being was selected for a $1,875,000 five-year federal grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Institute will use this grant to implement the HOBSCOTCH program (Home Based Self-Management and Cognitive Training Changes Lives), an evidence-based self-management program, across the country to help improve the lives of people living with epilepsy.
An estimated 3.4 million Americans live with epilepsy, and up to three-quarters of them suffer with cognitive issues related to their disease and the treatments used to control seizures. Dartmouth Health's program helps patients learn skills to better manage their memory and thinking problems and the effects these challenges have on daily life. Currently, the HOBSCOTCH Institute, based at Dartmouth Health's Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), is able to offer its telehealth deliverable services to hundreds of epilepsy patients across the United States, but this grant will allow for the Institute to significantly expand its impact both regionally and nationally over the next five years.
"The goals of this project are based in the science of public health, with this effort aiming to increase healthcare system capacity to provide people and communities with equitable access to quality epilepsy care that includes evidence based self-management.The Institute aims to make improving cognitive function and quality of life a reality for all people with epilepsy, regardless of their location or status," said Elaine T. Kiriakopoulos, MD, MPH, MSc, co-founder and director of the Institute and principal investigator on this effort. "By implementing a 'hub-and-spoke' approach with outposts of HOBSCOTCH referral and delivery centers spread throughout the United States, providers and epilepsy patients nationwide can benefit. Providers will have support from an expert multidisciplinary team at the Institute's central hub and patients will receive one-on-one support from skilled and trained Cognitive Coaches to learn valuable strategies for managing their disease and improving well-being."
Regionally, the Institute will collaborate with the Northern New England CO-OP Practice and Community Based Research Network to streamline the referral process to the program, with a goal of improving access and better supporting people with epilepsy in rural and underserved communities. Nationally, a network of 19 epilepsy centers—including the Mayo Clinic, Yale New Haven Health, and the University of California San Francisco Weil Institute for Neurosciences—were recruited to participate in this five-year project, forming the HOBSCOTCH Institute Translational Network. This network consists of epilepsy centers that have demonstrated strong and consistent interest in collaborating with the Institute over the past two years with early program adoption and patient referral.
"Working with our partners at some of the country's highest-caliber medical centers, we are confident this five-year effort will make our program a best practice standard of care for people with epilepsy and cognitive challenges," said Barbara C. Jobst, MD, Dr.med., FAAN, FAES, chair of neurology and neurocritical care at DHMC, creator of the HOBSCOTCH program, co-founder of the Institute and co-principal investigator. "Dartmouth Health has long been a leader in epilepsy care, and this federal funding will enable us to share HOBSCOTCH, which has been so helpful to countless epilepsy patients in our region, on the national stage."
Funding for this project will begin on September 30.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and largest private employer, serves patients across New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,300 providers in nearly every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. Its network of hospitals, outpatient centers, clinics and home care facilities, spans a broad geographical area. Year after year, DHMC is named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is consistently recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, northern New England’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of less than than 60 total nationally; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital (Children’s Hospital at DHMC/CHaD) and more than 20 locations around the region; eight member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont, Hampstead, and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Dartmouth Health Home Care; Dartmouth Health Connected Care Center for Telehealth, serving patients as far away as Texas; and more than 30 primary and multi-specialty clinics across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its partnership with Dartmouth College, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the White River Junction VA Medical Center, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials with international impact. Dartmouth Health and its more than 16,000 employees are committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in the communities it serves and to providing every patient with exceptional, state-of-the-art, personalized care. Learn more at dartmouth-health.org.