A Decision Support System for People with Disabilities

We will develop a decision support system to help people with disabilities choose amongalternative health care plans resulting from national health care reform. The decision support systemwill include "low-tech" material such as brochures, shopper guides, workbooks, and videotapedinterviews with consumers describing why they choose a given health plan and their satisfaction withtheir choice, and a "high-tech" interactive computer based/videodisc program linking user health careservice utilization profiles to interviews with individuals with similar service utilization pasterns who haveactually enrolled in various health care plans. This project will address (1) the lack of standardized healthcare plans, (2) the lack of information about what would happen if the consumer does not enroll in agiven plan compared with what would happen if the consumer does enroll, and (3) the need forconsumers to make their own decisions rather than relinquish control to agents who are sellers andproviders of health care coverage. The interactive component will based on CD-ROM technology usinga videodisc player linked to a personal computer and a printer. The noninteractive but user-friendlybrochures and shopper guides will be provided in alternative formats including audiotape, traille, andcomputer diskette.