Incentives for Preventative Health Care: Increasing Completion of Health Risk Assessments

January 31, 2018 updated by: George Loewenstein, Carnegie Mellon University

The purpose of this study is to understand using incentives to encourage employees to increase participation in an aspect of a corporate wellness program - filling out health risk assessments. This study will test whether lottery-linked incentives are more effective than guaranteed incentives in encouraging people to fill out health risk assessments.

This study will be run in an employer setting in which rates of health risk assessment completion are suboptimal. This study would be conducted within a workplace setting in which the firm is divided into a number of geographically situated and functionally related subunits. The investigators will run a "complete your health risk assessment now!" program for 4 weeks. Each work unit will obtain a symbol. Every week, one symbol will be randomly drawn, publicly announced, and anyone in that work unit at the firm who has received their preventive screening would receive a $100 prize. In addition, if all of employees in that unit have completed their forms, then the prize will be increased to $125.

The investigators expect this condition to result in greater compliance compared to a control condition in which employees would receive weekly reminders and a direct payment of a $25 gift card for completing the form at anytime during the 4 weeks of the study. This is analogous to direct payments that have been used by insurers to encourage completion of such forms in other contexts.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The purpose of this study is to apply concepts from behavioral economics to increase the effectiveness of incentives for preventative health care.

Health risk assessments are an important part of preventative healthcare. Employees fill out these forms and are given feedback about their health risks and steps they can take to improve their health. This study will be run in an employer setting in which rates of health risk assessment completion are suboptimal. This study would be conducted within a workplace setting in which the firm is divided into a number of geographically situated and functionally related subunits. We will run a "complete your health risk assessment now!" program for 4 weeks. Each work unit will obtain a symbol. Every week, one symbol will be randomly drawn, publicly announced, and anyone in that work unit at the firm who has received their preventive screening would receive a $100 prize. In addition, if all of employees in that unit have completed their forms, then the prize will be increased to $125.

This program plays on a number of psychological factors: 1) avoidance of regret, which one will experience if the number/symbol of the unit one is a member of is drawn and one does not win a prize because one is not participating in the wellness program 2) amplification of such regret by social means - because other people around you who are participating will receive cash prizes 3) mild social pressure, because high enrollments will yield benefits for all participants.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

634

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Connecticut
      • Shelton, Connecticut, United States
        • Med3000
    • Florida
      • Pensacola, Florida, United States
        • Med 3000
      • Tampa, Florida, United States
        • Med3000
    • Illinois
      • Tinley Park, Illinois, United States
        • Med3000
    • North Carolina
      • Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
        • Med3000
    • Ohio
      • Dayton, Ohio, United States
        • Med3000
    • Pennsylvania
      • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
        • Med3000
    • Texas
      • Dallas, Texas, United States
        • Med3000

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Full time employees

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Direct Payment
Direct Payment: Employees receive a $25 gift card upon completion of a Health Risk Assessment
Behavioral: Direct Payment
$25 gift card given upon completion of Health Risk Assessment
Experimental: Regret Lottery
Regret Lottery: Employees are divided into work units of about 5 employees. Employees in the lottery-linked incentive condition will be eligible for a weekly lottery drawing only if they have already completed their health risk assessment. The lotteries will work as follows. Participants will be assigned to work units of about 10 people. Each week, one work group is drawn at random. If a participants group was drawn and that participant already completed the health risk assessment, then that person will win a $100 cash prize. If all of the members of his or her work group also filled out the health risk assessment, then the prize will be boosted.
Behavioral: Regret Lottery
Entered into a lottery upon completion of Health Risk Assessment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Percent of people in each condition who complete their health risk assessment
Time Frame: 4 weeks
4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Carnegie Mellon University

Collaborators

University of Pennsylvania
Yale University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: George Loewenstein, PhD, Carnegie Mellon University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 30, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 30, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

May 1, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 5, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 31, 2018

Last Verified

January 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CMUHS08613

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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