FAIR Health will launch a pilot that integrates cost information into a shared decision-making (SDM) tool for specific palliative care scenarios, with funding from The New York Community Trust (The Trust). In collaboration with SDM expert Professor Glyn Elwyn of the Dartmouth Institute, FAIR Health plans to implement the clinical decision aids with relevant cost data on its consumer website, fairhealthconsumer.org.
The pilot is a natural extension of the pioneering work done by FAIR Health Consumer in making healthcare cost information transparent, elevating health insurance literacy and helping consumers navigate the healthcare system. FAIR Health powers the cost information on FAIR Health Consumer with its database of billions of private healthcare claims—the largest in the nation. The same database will provide the cost data for the new SDM tool.
SDM, the discussion between patients/caregivers and healthcare providers regarding various treatment options, has been known to increase patient engagement and reduce healthcare costs. In the past, the utility of SDM tools has been limited by the absence of cost data to complement the clinical information. The pairing of decision aids, to be developed by Dr. Elwyn and made available through EBSCO Health, with a rich source of cost data will be a novel way of advancing consumer decision making.
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