The Center for Connected Health at Partners HealthCare has created a secure survey tool to help medical product makers and investors get feedback from patients and customers. The new mobile app and Web-based survey tool called cHealth Compass will charge companies for the service and pay survey takers for their time.
New enrollees get a flat $50 when they register and $110 per year to take monthly surveys. Other opportunities from individual vendors could pull in between $20 to $50 per survey.
“We currently have several hundred people, and are actively enrolling more,” said Jethwani. The goal is to enroll 2,000 patients from Massachusetts by summer 2015, and then expand to include residents from other parts of the United States.
Client companies will pay a fee for the service, depending on how many questions are included in their surveys and how many patients they intend to reach.
My first reaction is that the health system has just found a new way to commoditize patients.
My second reaction is that this effort is designed only to help companies. It is not designed at all to help patients. The press release doesn't even pretend that it is otherwise.
My third reaction concerns the potential for bias that is created when responders are paid.
If there were a way for patients to find value by participating in surveys, outside of money--like in this case--that approach might lead me to a different set of conclusions.
If there were a way for patients to find value by participating in surveys, outside of money--like in this case--that approach might lead me to a different set of conclusions.