Engaging the public in priorities for health through the CHAT exercise

Clinical Center

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Linked publications & trials

Abstract

This project involves the creation and and use of CHoosing All Together (formerly called 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 or have just reached completion. One recently completed project was designed to ascertain the priorities of Swiss citizens for insurance benefits in various regions of Switzerland. The latest project was conducted in cooperation with staff at the Wits School of Public Health in Johannesburg, South Africa. This project engaged members of the community of Bushbuckridge in the Agincourt Health and Population Unit in defining a package of benefits for universal health coverage in South Africa.