Public Comment for U.S. Health Care Plan Competition

Posted by on May 4, 2009

X Prize Foundation Seeks Public Comment on Competition for Plans to Improve U.S. Health Care
Deadline: Open

The X Prize Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to drive innovation through large incentive competitions, in collaboration with the WellPoint Foundation, a private foundation, and WellPoint, Inc., a major health benefits, have announced the initial competition design for a $10 million Healthcare X Prize.

The Grand Challenge for the Healthcare X Prize will be “to create an optimal health paradigm that empowers and engages individuals and communities in a way that dramatically improves health value.”

An overview of the initial prize design and guidelines are available for public comment at the X Prize Foundation Web site. The public is invited to comment on the approach and provide feedback to ensure that the competition results in affordable, high-quality healthcare for all communities.

The proposed Healthcare X Prize is designed to improve health value by more than 50 percent in a community during a three year trial. A competition around value measures and compares health outcomes against the total cost of care for a community. Health outcomes would be measured by a “community health index,” which combines functional health (e.g., reduced sick days, improved ability to climb stairs) and clinical events (e.g., visit to ER, rehospitalization). Total cost would include direct costs incurred across health benefits, payroll (sick and disability pay), coupled with out-of-pocket health care.

Under the proposed competition framework, teams would have 18 months to conceive, model, and submit plans to create a new paradigm that can impact the health status of individual participants as well as the overall health status of communities. A later pilot phase will be used to demonstrate that the models can successfully be applied on a small scale.

To select finalists, the competitive field will be narrowed to approximately the top five performers as judged by an objective process currently under development. During the competition stage, the five finalists will be matched to a test community of 10,000 individuals and compared against a control group during a three year real-world trial.

Visit the X Prize Foundation Web site for further information and to participate in the competition design process.

Link to Complete RFP: http://www.xprize.org/media-center/press-release/x-prize-foundation-wellpoint-inc-unveil-initial-design-for-revolutionary-