Engaging the public in priorities for health through the CHAT exercise

Clinical Center

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

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.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.In 2016 we reported the priorities of low income communities in Michigan and Missouri regarding patient-centered outcomes research. A number of CHAT projects are in progress and reaching completion. One is a project designed to ascertain the priorities of Swiss citizens for insurance benefits in various regions of Switzerland.