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Financial Incentives for Care Gaps

M

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Status

Completed

Conditions

Delivery of Health Care

Treatments

Behavioral: Financial Incentives
Behavioral: Information

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT03715907
1805348624

Details and patient eligibility

About

This project seeks to understand how individuals respond to financial incentive programs for wellness care. In a randomized controlled trial among customers with care gaps, the investigators will experimentally compare the impacts of incentives for gap closure (gift cards), information on existing gaps (mailers), and no intervention. The research objectives are to assess how responsive individuals are to incentives for, and to information about, existing care gaps; and to assess spillovers from incentives onto other care. In addition, impacts on downstream utilization will be studied, which may be impacted if financial incentives are effective at increasing wellness visits.

Full description

Setting and sample:

The study will be conducted among individuals enrolled in an insurance plan offered by an insurance company in the state of Nebraska.

The sample will include a subset of individuals eligible for a program designed to improve delivery of care by incentivizing individuals and their dependents to fill "care gaps" - gaps in recommended care.

Interventions:

The design will entail two overarching interventions for each incentivized care gap: Incentives, and Information Only. In addition, there will be a control that receives neither.

  • Incentives. Individuals receiving the Incentives intervention for a given care gap will receive a mailer informing them of that gap, and that they are eligible for a gift card if they close that care gap.
  • Information Only. Individuals receiving the Information Only intervention for a given care gap will receive a mailer informing them of that gap, but without information on the incentives available.
  • Control. Individuals receiving the Control intervention for a given care gap will not receive a mailer.

All individuals will be made whole following the intervention period, regardless of treatment status; i.e. members will be compensated for closing incentivized care gaps regardless of whether they were informed of their eligibility to do so.

The specific Incentivized Care Gaps include: W34, LSC, IMA, CDC Eye Exam and/or CDC Hba1c Screening, CCS, and AWC.

Randomization:

A separate letter is sent for each care gap, so that individuals may receive more than one letter. The investigators will randomize which letters are sent.

The process will be as follows: every individual with a care gap in the sample (a care-gap, beneficiary pair) will be randomly assigned a study status: financial incentive, information only, or no letter. When it comes time to send mailers for each care gap, mailers will be sent according to the intersection of eligibility and care gap-specific treatment assignment. E.g. if at mailing time a participant is eligible for only cervical cancer screening (CCS), that participant will receive the CCS intervention (Control, Information Only, or Incentives) as pre-assigned. If the participant is also eligible for an adolescent well-visit (AWC) incentive based on her dependent's age and visit status, the participant will also receive the AWC intervention as pre-assigned; this intervention may be the same or different from her CCS intervention.

Analysis:

The investigators will compare the number and rate of care-gap closure at 6 and 18 months following the initial mailing. The investigators will also conduct heterogeneity analysis according to baseline characteristics of the population.

Enrollment

8,042 patients

Sex

All

Ages

21+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • Is a partner organization member in the region of study
  • Has a care gap in one of the six target areas

Exclusion criteria

  • Participating in another select high-intensity wellness intervention provided by the partner organization

Trial design

Primary purpose

Prevention

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Factorial Assignment

Masking

Single Blind

8,042 participants in 18 patient groups

Control: W34
No Intervention group
Description:
Members receiving the Control intervention for the W34 (3- to 6-year-old well visit) gap will not receive a mailer.
Information only: W34
Experimental group
Description:
Members receiving the Information Only intervention for the W34 care gap will receive a mailer informing them of that gap, but not of financial incentives for closing the care gap.
Treatment:
Behavioral: Information
Incentives: W34
Experimental group
Description:
Informational W34 mailer and incentive to close gap
Treatment:
Behavioral: Financial Incentives
Behavioral: Information
Control: LSC
No Intervention group
Description:
Members receiving the Control intervention for the LSC (lead screening in children) gap will not receive a mailer.
Information only: LSC
Experimental group
Description:
Informational LSC mailer and incentive to close gap
Treatment:
Behavioral: Information
Incentives: LSC
Experimental group
Description:
Members receiving the Incentives intervention for the LSC care gap will receive a mailer informing them of the gap and eligibility for a gift card if they close the gap.
Treatment:
Behavioral: Financial Incentives
Behavioral: Information
Control: IMA
No Intervention group
Description:
No mailer for IMA (immunizations) gap
Information only: IMA
Experimental group
Description:
Informational IMA mailer
Treatment:
Behavioral: Information
Incentives: IMA
Experimental group
Description:
Informational IMA mailer and incentive
Treatment:
Behavioral: Financial Incentives
Behavioral: Information
Control: CDC
No Intervention group
Description:
No mailer for CDC (clinical diabetes care) gap
Information only: CDC
Experimental group
Description:
Informational CDC mailer
Treatment:
Behavioral: Information
Incentives: CDC
Experimental group
Description:
Informational CDC mailer and incentive
Treatment:
Behavioral: Financial Incentives
Behavioral: Information
Control: CCS
No Intervention group
Description:
No mailer for CCS (cervical cancer screening)
Information only: CCS
Experimental group
Description:
Informational CCS mailer
Treatment:
Behavioral: Information
Incentives: CCS
Experimental group
Description:
Informational CCS mailer and incentive
Treatment:
Behavioral: Financial Incentives
Behavioral: Information
Control: AWC
No Intervention group
Description:
No mailer for AWC (adolescent well-care visit) gap
Information only: AWC
Experimental group
Description:
Informational AWC mailer
Treatment:
Behavioral: Information
Incentives: AWC
Experimental group
Description:
Informational AWC mailer and incentive
Treatment:
Behavioral: Financial Incentives
Behavioral: Information

Trial contacts and locations

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Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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