Way to Health, Healthy Measures

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Completed

Conditions: Hypertension; Diabetes

Treatments: Behavioral: Financial Incentive Group I; Behavioral: Financial Incentive Group II

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT01282957

812211

RC2AG036592 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The primary objective of the study is to assess the effect of financial incentives on the use of home health monitoring devices among high-risk patients. In addition, there are three secondary objectives: (1) obtain preliminary evidence regarding whether the monetary value of incentives has a differential effect on the use of home health monitoring devices; (2) identify potential barriers that prohibit regular use of home-based health devices using qualitative data; and (3) assess the usability of a newly developed web portal and its feasibility for future randomized clinical trials aimed at changing health-related behaviors.

Full description

While home monitoring of health appears to be a promising frontier in health care, patient adherence to, and utilization of, such devices is often low, limiting the potential benefit of this technology. Financial incentives have been effective in increasing rates of weight loss, smoking cessation, and medication adherence and therefore may increase rates of utilization of home-based health monitoring devices. Therefore, in this study, we test the effects of lottery-based incentives on use of home-based health monitoring technologies.

The aim of this pilot randomized controlled trial is to evaluate whether financial incentives delivered through a novel online platform can effectively increase use of home-based health monitoring technology among overweight adults with diabetes. Our primary objective is to assess the effects of financial incentives on the use of home health monitoring devices among high-risk patients. In addition, we have three secondary objectives: (1) obtain preliminary evidence regarding whether the monetary value of incentives has a differential effect on the use of home health monitoring devices; (2) identify potential barriers that prohibit regular use of home-based health devices using qualitative data; and (3) assess the usability of a newly developed web portal and its feasibility for future randomized clinical trials aimed at changing health-related behaviors.

Participants will be randomized into each of the following three arms: (1) Financial Incentive Group I; (2) Financial Incentive Group II; (3) Control Group. Incentives for Financial Groups I and II are designed in a way that builds on the success of previous incentive-based interventions for weight loss. Both lotteries are tailored to provide infrequent large payoffs and frequent small payoffs since lottery players are motivated by both the possibility of a large reward and the opportunity for regular, immediate rewards. The average expected payoff value of Financial Incentive Group I will be $2.80 per day and $1.40 per day in Financial Incentive Group II. The interventions will run for 91 days starting at randomization. At the end of the intervention time period, each participant will be notified that the intervention period has ended and the 90-day follow-up period has begun. During the follow-up period each participant will continue to upload measurements daily, but will not receive incentives or reminders.

Enrollment: 75 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 80 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adults between 18 and 80 years of age
• Hemoglobin A1c measured in the last six weeks greater than or equal to 7.5%
• Weight less than 425lbs
• Cell phone with text messaging capabilities or email access
• Followed by Primary Care Provider at Penn Internal Medicine Associates practice at 3701 Market St

Exclusion criteria

• Lack or are unwilling to use email or cell phone for text messaging
• Are enrolled in other, ongoing clinical trials
• Suffer from an uncontrolled psychiatric disease
• Have a history or diagnosis of heart failure as confirmed by ICD-9 codes: 428.0 (congestive heart failure), 425.0 (cardiomyopathy), and 414.8 ischemic cardiomyopathy)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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75 participants in 3 patient groups

Active Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Daily use of three home-monitoring devices: glucometer, blood pressure cuff and scale for 6 months

Financial Incentive Group I

Experimental group

Description:

Daily use of three home-monitoring devices: glucometer, blood pressure cuff and scale for 3 months. If all three devices used daily, participant entered in lottery with 1 in 100 odds of winning $100 and 2 in 10 odds of winning $10. Financial incentive terminated after 3 months. Daily use of devices continues for additional 3 months. (Intervention involves the daily lottery itself along with feedback via email or text messaging to participants about the lottery results and whether or not they were included based on device adherence.)

Treatment:

Behavioral: Financial Incentive Group I

Financial Incentives Group II

Experimental group

Description:

Daily use of three home-monitoring devices: glucometer, blood pressure cuff and scale for 3 months. If all three devices used daily, participant entered in lottery with 1 in 100 odds of winning $50 and 2 in 10 odds of winning $5. Financial incentive terminated after 3 months. Daily use of devices continues for additional 3 months. (Intervention involves the daily lottery itself along with feedback via email or text messaging to participants about the lottery results and whether or not they were included based on device adherence.)

Treatment:

Behavioral: Financial Incentive Group II