Engaged Public lands $1.1 million grant for improved medical benefit design

Engaged Public is planning to bolster its pilot program for Engaged Benefit Design with the $1.1 million grant from the Colorado Medical Society Foundation and the Colorado Health Foundation.

A statement from the company explains that "Engaged Benefit Design removes financial barriers to evidence-based chronic disease care for specific services, covers patient decision aids that help patients understand their treatment choices, and provides objective information to patients to better understand the risks and limited benefits of services that in many cases are of questionable value."

The goal is to create better health outcomes via better benefit design. "It's a strategy to democratize the patient-doctor relationship," says Dr. Dave Downs, Engaged Public's Medical Director. "People have an incentive to move to higher-value care."

The program can help employers reshape and improve their medical benefits by altering cost-sharing and providing better information to employees, Downs says.

The grant will allow the pilot program to be expanded from the current 725-employee San Luis Valley Health to three larger employers.

"The goal is, for every premium dollar put in the pool, there will be better health for everybody," says Downs.

Engaged Public has eight employees. Previously known as TAG Strategies and The Adams Group, the Capitol Hill-based public policy firm previously created Backseat Budgeter and TBDColorado.com.

Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Eric Peterson with tips and leads for future stories at eric@confluence-denver.com.