Engaging the public in priorities for health through the CHAT exercise

Clinical Center

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

This project involves the creation and and use of Choosing Healthplans All Together (CHAT), a small group decision exercise designed to give the public a voice in priority setting in efforts to make health care costs sustainable. It is intended to be used for research, policy and teaching purposes. Departments of Insurance in various states in the U.S. have used CHAT to determine public opinion about what should be included in basic health insurance packages for the uninsured. Some municipalities have used it to assess public priorities for direct service delivery to the uninsured. A number of CHAT projects are in progress and reaching completion. One involves engagement of low-income residents in Michigan and Missouri in prioritizing funding of patient-centered outcomes research. A second project is designed to ascertain the priorities of Swiss citizens for insurance benefits in various regions of Switzerland. In 2014, the results of a CHAT exercise designed to ask cancer patients and their families about priorities for Medicare-covered insurance benefits for advanced cancer patients was published.