Disqus - Latest Comments for scottshreeve

Re: 8. Teams

scottshreeve — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:45:35 -0000

As you recall from our initial announcement, we released the prize for public commentary on April 14, 2009 at the World Healthcare Congress. We were overwhelmed and encouraged by the level of interest and the quality of feedback that we received. We were able to modify the prize design on several key points based on this feedback which will help to make a more meaningful and more impactful prize. We did identify several areas that will require further evaluation and study, and some hard design choices as we prepare for the competition phase.

The public comment period wrapped up on June 30. Since that time, the Board of Trustees of the X PRIZE Foundation and WellPoint, Inc. and WellPoint Foundation have been reviewing and revising the Prize Design and Operationalization Plan. We are in late stage approvals with these organizations, and hope to be able to announce our go forward plans in the September timeframe. The Letter of Intent program is anticipated to be released around that time as well.

In the interim, we continue to encourage you to join the conversation on our blog, follow us on twitter, friend us on facebook, and keep an eye out for upcoming media events where we will be presenting or speaking. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions, comments, or innovation ideas.

Re: 3. Prize Design Approach

scottshreeve — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:41:55 -0000

Dave,

Appreciate your comments and apologize about the delay in getting back to you. You raise several great points that I hope to be able to elaborate on and continue the dialog. The "innovators dilemma" in health care has been that innovations that reduce cost also reduce revenue and therefore are self defeating. This is clearly not sustainable as you note.

However, we ARE proposing to create an entirely new economic model. We are not prescribing it either, but rather inviting health care innovators to introduce an entirely new financial model, that rewards/incents the behaviors that maximize health care value, while improving outcomes and reducing costs. We are not polyannish enough to think this is easy - but there are clearly multiple centers that are beginning to achieve the triple aim of increased quality, reduced costs, and improved outcomes which when combined can yield the 50% increase in health care value that we seek.

In order to do this we believe that 1) you will need to directly address the cost of care (physicians, equipment, devices, etc) 2) engage the employers who are the source of funds both paying for care as well as paying for "margins" in the form of rewards for improved outcomes; 3) A healthier population using reduced resources will result in flat costs as we anticipate that new payment models will reward for value not volume; 4) An improvement in overall health status of a population does not depend on clustering of care in the last two weeks of life. I am not sure how that conclusion is drawn but would be interested to understand how you connect those two.

You have some excellent comments on other posts - we hope you stay engaged and in addition to pointing out shortcomings will also contribute your suggestions on how we can overcome the challenges you identify. Looking forward to additional interaction with you!

Re: Orrville Ohio as a A "True Community" Model for Healthcare X PRIZE

scottshreeve — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:37:26 -0000

Cheryl,

You will be seeing more of our measurement framework coming out in the next couple of weeks. We are hoping to identify both medical outcomes as a point of measurement as well as health status or risk factors which give us an indication of where we can and should be spending our resources to optimize health.

I agree and share with you the opinion that community resources like "parks, schools, and churches" can have a profound effect on the culture of health and wellness and should be utilized by teams implementing solutions in a community.

The reason to select a geographically based employer population is for purposes of the competition and the data flows required to determine a prize winner. We are hoping these efforts can be replicated by others.

Re: Health Value Messaging - The Single Sentence Statement

scottshreeve — Sat, 23 May 2009 09:20:04 -0000

Dr. Raheman,

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. We appreciate your interest in helping us move through the "unassailable footslog". We have continued to work on refining the messaging - including trying to make our health value focus more tangible and media palatable.

How about this, "The WellPoint Vitality X PRIZE will award $10MM to the team can reduce hospitalizations and sick days the most for a community of 10,000 people over a three years".

Clear, measurable, and audacious but achieveable. Hospitalizations and sick days currently are responsbile for $1trillion dollars of annual spend. We believe 50% of that could be reduced through a different model of care.

Your thoughts?

Re: 9. Contact / Comment

scottshreeve — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:09:01 -0000

Advisors are serving on a voluntary basis and a shared belief that incentivized competitions can be a powerful innovation framework.

Re: 9. Contact / Comment

scottshreeve — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:07:35 -0000

BD,

Thanks for the comment. We have discussed a variant of this which would include a process by which cities "bid" to become X PRIZE host cities - much like they bid to become Olympic Cities or cities who are hosting the "Biggest Loser" contest. Promoting this idea through the use of a "reality show" could also be very interesting.

We are considering the ramifications of informed consent, privacy, and how to ensure appropriate ethics throughout all phases of the contest

Re: 4. Initial Prize Design

scottshreeve — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:45:13 -0000

Dr. Zastrow,

Thanks for your inquiry. The teen education program, like any intervention that is tried by the competing "teams", would need to be determined as part of the total cost calculation. I would imagine that this "program" would include the costs of the materials, instructions, and any administrative oversight. This would roll into the total along with other intervention programs that are included as part of direct costs.

You can see the challenge of attempting to capture this information but we will expect our teams to do this as part of the competition. We hope this methodology will have far reaching effects as others attempt to capture their total costs for various interventions as well.

Re: 1. Introduction

scottshreeve — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:42:47 -0000

Simple care coordination between the stakeholders has been shown to have dramatic impacts . . . by simply improving communications, care flow, and information sharing. When you add population or systems thinking to this, you can begin to optimize for the whole as opposed to the parts. This perspective changes incentives, which changes delivery, which leads to better outcomes.

We are also hopeful for this prize to lead to "revolutionary breakthroughs" by changing the incentives - and rewarding for results that lead to increased individual vitality and increases community health.

Re: 4. Initial Prize Design

scottshreeve — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:35:33 -0000

Good question - we anticipate that we will have the following to track costs:

DIRECT COSTS
1. Direct claims data
2. Direct access to health account card
3. Patient reported expenditures

INDIRECT COSTS
4. Employer - short / long term disability
5. Employer - unscheduled time off work
6. Patient reported time away from work

Indirect costs are very difficult to maintain . . . we would be interested in any suggestions you have.

Re: 8. Teams

scottshreeve — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:24:22 -0000

Memat,

Thanks for your concern. We have discussed at length the initial registration fee . . . it is a tricky balance between striving for legitimacy and still leaving the competition open to as many people who are seriously considering entering the contest as possible. We have to balance our idealism with the reality of managing and running a competition as well.

Unfortunately, to make an impact within health care there has to be a mechanism for the ideas to surface, for them to mature, and for them to receive enough support that they reach the light of day. Many great ideas never surface or survice under the harsh realities of the "real world", but the most relevant ones typically "find a way". If the idea is that profound, our hope is that it will be picked up by someone who can begin to sponsor this (and remember, there is a whole cost of implementing this solution as well to a population of 10,000 within the US).

If you feel $10,000 is too high, what number would you suggest that allows for widest number of entrants without overwhelming the ability to manage?

Re: 8. Teams

scottshreeve — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:18:04 -0000

Ibrahim,

Yes - we would welcome a host of different "teams" and individuals to notify us of our interest. Prior to the Official HXP Launch in 2009, teams may join our Letter of Intent (LOI) program. The LOI gives teams that plan to enter the competition a way to officially announce their intent to do so, and provides them with additional insight into the HXP rules as they are refined. Teams that sign a non-binding letter of intent and submit a refundable LOI fee will receive:

* Permission to use the official "Healthcare X PRIZE” logo on their website(s) and materials
* Priority attention to comments and questions about HXP Guidelines and a guaranteed response to those comments from the HXP Team
* Timely updates on competition developments
* Invitations to competition kick-off and other special pre-competition events

We will be further developing out the HXP Letter of Intent Program over the next several weeks.

Re: HXP Applications? Requesting Comments on Initial Prize Design First!

scottshreeve — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:53:25 -0000

Monica,

Thanks for your interest . . . we share your enthusiasm for the possibilities of the X PRIZE. We are currently asking people to comment on the Initial Prize Design. In the near future, there will be both team application as well as volunteer applications to participate.

In the meantime, please share this information with other potential interested teams, organizers, sponsors, etc.

Re: 9. Contact / Comment

scottshreeve — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:20:46 -0000

Rick,

Excellent - we would love to understand how your program can extend beyond your current family practice to involve a much larger community. We would also love to understand how comprehensive your solution is - can you impact health financing, care delivery, and the incentives in order to motivate improved health behaviors by all the actors?

We are also interested to know who you would need to add to your "team " to do this? How can we facilitate connecting with you the other point solutions to be able to create a comprehensive solution.

We look forward to your specific questions / comments as you read through the Initial Prize Design.

Re: 1. Introduction

scottshreeve — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:53:05 -0000

Todd,

We appreciate your interest . . . can you send us your full contact information to health@xprize.org. We would very much enjoy connecting with you.