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

Overview

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.

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.