Validation & Impact
Health Worth separates what is published, what has been reviewed, and what still needs validation. This page documents how people and experts have contributed and what changed after review.
How lived experience shaped Health Worth
Health Worth's shared framework was informed by five qualitative survey responses and twenty-five quantitative survey responses. Findings informed revisions to the framework and the site before condition-specific patient review began.
The shared framework currently powers 33 published condition journeys. 5 journeys have structured public lived-experience review records; additional validation records are being added as documentation becomes available. Review across five substantially different conditions supported reuse of the shared framework for additional condition journeys. New journeys reuse its structure, evidence categories, cost dimensions and presentation system. Condition-specific terminology, care pathways, clinical assumptions, evidence and patient burdens may still benefit from targeted review.
Framework-level review does not automatically validate every condition-specific model.
Patient review assessed the journey's relevance and lived-experience representation. It did not validate clinical probabilities or cost calculations.
This was formative product research and patient review. It is not clinical research, clinical validation, health-economic validation, or evidence of improved clinical or financial outcomes, and it is not representative of all patients.
Research details and limitations
- Qualitative survey responses
- 5
- Quantitative survey responses
- 25
- Approximate timing
- August 2026 (approximate)
- Recruitment
- External research agency
- Compensation
- Participants were compensated through the external research agency.
- Purpose
- Inform development of the Health Worth framework and experience
- Sequence
- Research findings informed revisions before condition-specific patient review
Limitations
- These are response counts, not necessarily counts of unique people.
- Participant overlap between activities has not been documented.
- Detailed survey instruments and quantitative results are not currently published.
- The activities were formative product research, not clinical research.
- The findings are not presented as representative of all patients or of the U.S. population.
- Improved clinical or financial outcomes were not evaluated.
From research to product
- 1. Initial qualitative and quantitative survey responsesComplete
- 2. Framework and site revisionsComplete
- 3. Condition-specific patient reviewComplete for five condition journeys
- 4. Further journey revisionsOngoing
- 5. Site-wide multidisciplinary expert feedbackComplete for the stages reviewed; ongoing
- 6. Continuing evidence, clinical and economic reviewOngoing - not yet documented
Feedback and recommendations were evaluated and incorporated where appropriate. Not every recommendation was adopted.
Multidisciplinary site-wide expert feedback
- Status
- Expert design and communication review completed
- When
- Mid-to-late August 2026 (approximate)
- Areas of expertise
- Healthcare user experience, Human-centered design, Cost transparency, Health education, Health insurance
- Reviewer count
- Not documented
People with expertise in healthcare user experience, human-centered design, cost transparency, health education and health insurance gave feedback on the overall site at various stages. Feedback and recommendations were evaluated and incorporated where appropriate. This is multidisciplinary site-wide expert feedback - an expert design and communication review. It is not a clinical review and not a health-economic review of the cost models, both of which remain undocumented.
Reviewers provided feedback on the overall experience, communication, education, insurance context and cost-transparency presentation. This record does not establish review of every individual condition, clinical assumption, probability, formula or dollar estimate.
Providing feedback does not imply that any reviewer endorses Health Worth or its estimates. No reviewer count is published, because none is documented.
Validation status by condition
| Condition | Lived-experience review | Clinical review | Health-economic review | Usability testing | Model version | Last reviewed | Overall status | Patient-review contributions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asthma | Lived-experience review completed | Clinical review not documented | Health-economic review not documented | Usability testing not documented | v1.0 | 2026-09-01 | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending | 4 |
| Depression | Lived-experience review completed | Clinical review not documented | Health-economic review not documented | Usability testing not documented | v1.0 | 2026-09-01 | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending | 6 |
| Type 2 Diabetes | Lived-experience review completed | Clinical review not documented | Health-economic review not documented | Usability testing not documented | v1.0 | 2026-09-01 | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending | 3 |
| Migraine | Lived-experience review completed | Clinical review not documented | Health-economic review not documented | Usability testing not documented | v1.0 | 2026-09-01 | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending | 3 |
| Throat Cancer | Lived-experience review completed | Clinical review not documented | Health-economic review not documented | Usability testing not documented | v1.0 | 2026-09-01 | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending | 2 |
Validation status describes review of the model, separate from the evidence-confidence rating shown with each estimate. Counts are patient-review contributions, not verified unique individuals.
Which burden categories each journey represents
Presence in the same framework does not mean that dollar estimates can be directly compared across conditions. Evidence strength, populations and modeled components differ.
| Condition | Medical care | Patient out-of-pocket costs | Work and income | Transportation | Caregiving | Daily function | Quality of life | Cost of waiting | Financial assistance | Current validation status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asthma | Public-data-derived | Modeled | Modeled | Modeled | Not yet modeled | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Public-data-derived | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending |
| Depression | Public-data-derived | Modeled | Modeled | Modeled | Modeled | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Public-data-derived | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending |
| Type 2 Diabetes | Public-data-derived | Modeled | Modeled | Modeled | Modeled | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Public-data-derived | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending |
| Migraine | Public-data-derived | Modeled | Modeled | Modeled | Not yet modeled | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Public-data-derived | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending |
| Throat Cancer | Public-data-derived | Modeled | Modeled | Modeled | Modeled | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Literature-derived | Public-data-derived | Lived-experience reviewed; clinical and economic review pending |
- Asthma: Recurring treatment, medication and episodic escalation
- Depression: Behavioral healthcare, work effects and quality of life
- Type 2 Diabetes: Continuous management and long-term complications
- Migraine: Episodic disability, treatment and work disruption
- Throat Cancer: Intensive treatment, recovery, transportation and caregiving
Impact evidence
Lived-experience input and site-wide expert feedback are documented above. No formal usability testing, comprehension testing, clinical review, health-economic review, external pilot, partner review, or published adoption has been documented for publication.
Health Worth has not yet demonstrated improved clinical or financial outcomes. Current evaluation focuses on model transparency, comprehension, usability and decision preparedness.
Potential applications—not demonstrated policy outcomes
- Comparing categories of hidden burden across conditions
- Identifying gaps in public pricing data
- Examining differences between total medical spending and patient-level burden
- Understanding work, transportation and caregiving effects
- Informing future patient-centered cost-of-illness research
None of these applications has been carried out. Any aggregate policy analysis would use public, research-derived, or appropriately de-identified information, and would require additional validation before its results could be relied on.
Cross-condition demonstration
Explore what the shared framework reveals across published condition journeys.