The Uncertain Effect of Financial Incentives to Improve Health Behaviors

Self-management behavior strategy based on behavioral economics in patients with hypertension: a scoping review

Hypertensive patients often do not make the most favorable choices and behaviors for managing disease. Behavioral economics strategies offer new ideas for guiding patients toward health behavior. The scoping review aimed to summarize behavioral economics strategies designed to improve hypertension self-management behaviors. A literature search was conducted in September 2022 using the following electronic databases: Embase, Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wan Fang Database for Chinese Periodicals, and CBM-SinoMed. We screened the literature for experimental studies written in Chinese or English reporting on BE strategies designed to improve self-management behavior in hypertension. We searched 17 820 records and included 18 articles in the final scoping review. We performed qualitative synthesis by the categories of choice architecture. The most common BE strategies were those targeting decision information and decision assistance, such as changing the presentation of information, making information visible, and providing reminders for actions. Most strategies targeted BP, diet, medication adherence, and physical activity behavior. Ten out of 18 studies reported statistically significant improvement in self-management behavior. Further research on BE strategies should focus on addressing the challenges, including changing the decision structure, encompassing a more comprehensive range of target behaviors, and examining the long-term effects of BE strategies.

What Happens When Payments End? Fostering Long-Term Behavior Change With Financial Incentives

Financial incentives are widely used to get people to adopt desirable behaviors. Many small landholders in developing countries, for example, receive multiyear payments to engage in conservation behaviors, and the hope is that they will continue to engage in these behaviors after the program ends. Although effective in the short term, financial incentives rarely lead to long-term behavior change because program participants tend to revert to their initial behaviors soon after the payments stop. In this article, we propose that four psychological constructs can be leveraged to increase the long-term effectiveness of financial-incentive programs: motivation, habit formation, social norms, and recursive processes. We review successful and unsuccessful behavior-change initiatives involving financial incentives in several domains: public health, education, sustainability, and conservation. We make concrete recommendations on how to implement the four above-mentioned constructs in field settings. Finally, we identify unresolved issues that future research might want to address to advance knowledge, promote theory development, and understand the psychological mechanisms that can be used to improve the effectiveness of incentive programs in the real world.

The Effect of Financial Incentives on Adherence to Glucose Self-Monitoring during Pregnancy among Patients with Insulin-Requiring Diabetes: A Randomized Clinical Trial

OBJECTIVE

 Glucose self-monitoring is critical for the management of diabetes in pregnancy, and increased adherence to testing is associated with improved obstetrical outcomes. Incentives have been shown to improve adherence to diabetes self-management. We hypothesized that use of financial incentives in pregnancies complicated by diabetes would improve adherence to glucose self-monitoring.

STUDY DESIGN

 We conducted a single center, randomized clinical trial from May 2016 to July 2019. In total, 130 pregnant patients, <29 weeks with insulin requiring diabetes, were recruited. Participants were randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to one of three payment groups: control, positive incentive, and loss aversion. The control group received $25 upon enrollment. The positive incentive group received 10 cents/test, and the loss aversion group received $100 for >95% adherence and "lost" payment for decreasing adherence. The primary outcome was percent adherence to recommended glucose self-monitoring where adherence was reliably quantified using a cellular-enabled glucometer. Adherence, calculated as the number of tests per day divided by the number of recommended tests per day×100%, was averaged from time of enrollment until admission for delivery.

RESULTS

 We enrolled 130 participants and the 117 participants included in the final analysis had similar baseline characteristics across the three groups. Average adherence rates in the loss aversion, control and positive incentive groups were 69% (SE=5.12), 57% (SE = 4.60), and 58% (SE=3.75), respectively (p=0.099). The loss aversion group received an average of $50 compared with $38 (positive incentive) and $25 (control).

CONCLUSION

 In this randomized clinical trial, loss aversion incentives tended toward higher adherence to glucose self-monitoring among patients whose pregnancies were complicated by diabetes, though did not reach statistical significance. Further studies are needed to determine whether use of incentives improve maternal and neonatal outcomes.

KEY POINTS

· Self-glucose monitoring is a critical part of diabetes management in pregnancy.. · Loss aversion financial incentives may increase adherence to glucose self-monitoring in pregnancy.. · The impact of testing incentives on maternal and neonatal outcomes requires further investigation..

Long-Term Effects of Incentives for HIV Viral Suppression: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Achieving viral suppression in people living with HIV improves their quality of life and can help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, few interventions have successfully promoted HIV viral suppression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of financial incentives for viral suppression in people living with HIV. People living with a detectable HIV viral load (≥ 200 copies/mL) were randomly assigned to Usual Care (n = 50) or Incentive (n = 52) groups. Incentive participants earned up to $10 per day for providing blood samples with an undetectable or reduced viral load. During the 2-year intervention period, the percentage of blood samples with a suppressed viral load was significantly higher among Incentive participants (70%) than Usual Care participants (43%) (OR = 7.1, 95% CI 2.7 to 18.8, p < .001). This effect did not maintain after incentives were discontinued. These findings suggest that frequent delivery of large-magnitude financial incentives for viral suppression can produce large and long-lasting improvements in viral load in people living with HIV. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02363387.

Less stick more carrot? Increasing the uptake of deposit contract financial incentives for physical activity: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Financial incentives are a promising tool to help people increase their physical activity, but they are expensive to provide. Deposit contracts are a type of financial incentive in which participants pledge their own money. However, low uptake is a crucial obstacle to the large-scale implementation of deposit contracts. Therefore, we investigated whether (1) matching the deposit 1:1 (doubling what is deposited) and (2) allowing for customizable deposit amounts increased the uptake and short term effectiveness of a deposit contract for physical activity.

METHODS

In this randomized controlled trial, 137 healthy students (age M = 21.6 years) downloaded a smartphone app that provided them with a tailored step goal and then randomized them to one of four experimental conditions. The deposit contract required either a €10 fixed deposit or a customizable deposit with any amount between €1 and €20 upfront. Furthermore, the deposit was either not matched or 1:1 matched (doubled) with a reward provided by the experiment. During 20 intervention days, daily feedback on goal progress and incentive earnings was provided by the app. We investigated effects on the uptake (measured as agreeing to participate and paying the deposit) and effectiveness of behavioral adoption (measured as participant days goal achieved).

FINDINGS

Overall, the uptake of deposit contracts was 83.2%, and participants (n = 113) achieved 14.9 out of 20 daily step goals. A binary logistic regression showed that uptake odds were 4.08 times higher when a deposit was matched (p = .010) compared to when it was not matched. Furthermore, uptake odds were 3.53 times higher when a deposit was customizable (p = .022) compared to when it was fixed. Two-way ANCOVA showed that matching (p = .752) and customization (p = .143) did not impact intervention effectiveness. However, we did find a marginally significant interaction effect of deposit matching X deposit customization (p = .063, ηp2 = 0.032). Customization decreased effectiveness when deposits were not matched (p = .033, ηp2 = 0.089), but had no effect when deposits were matched (p = .776, ηp2 = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

We provide the first experimental evidence that both matching and customization increase the uptake of a deposit contract for physical activity. We recommend considering both matching and customization to overcome lack of uptake, with a preference for customization since matching a deposit imposes significant additional costs. However, since we found indications that customizable deposits might reduce effectiveness (when the deposits are not matched), we urge for more research on the effectiveness of customizable deposit contracts. Finally, future research should investigate which participant characteristics are predictive of deposit contract uptake and effectiveness.

PRE-REGISTRATION

OSF Registries, https://osf.io/cgq48.

Encouraging adherence in adolescents with asthma using financial incentives: An RCT

BACKGROUND

Medication adherence in adolescents remains a significant management challenge and innovative strategies are needed to improve medication adherence. Financial incentives have been used to improve outcomes for health behaviors among adults, but have not been well-studied among adolescents. The objective of this study was to test if a modest financial incentive improved medication adherence in adolescents with asthma compared with a control group.

METHODS

Participants were randomized to either control (electronic medication monitoring [EMM] with App reminders/feedback for 4 months) or intervention (EMM + $1 per day for perfect medication adherence for 3 months [maximum $84] followed by 1 month of EMM only). A repeated measures mixed model, with a first order autoregressive correlation structure between errors, was used to test the null hypothesis for an interaction of treatment group and week.

RESULTS

Fifty-two participants were enrolled, and 48 completed primary analysis. Mean adherence rates declined in both groups over time, and there was no significant difference in the change in adherence rates between the groups (F-statistic = 0.72, ndf = 15, ddf = 625, p = 0.76). Adherence rates (during the 12 weeks when incentives were given) declined from 80% to 64% in the control group, and from 90% to 58% in the incentive group. There was no significant change in the slope of decline in the incentives group in the month following payment discontinuation.

CONCLUSION

A modest financial incentive did not lead to significantly different medication adherence rates in adolescents with asthma who were receiving a monitoring and reminder intervention. Further study is needed to determine viable interventions to optimize medication use in this group.

Financial incentives to improve adherence: more clarity about their purpose may help the debate

Financial incentives for medication adherence have been controversial in mental healthcare. Much of the debate, however, may be based on a misconception of what financial incentives are and what their purpose is. Financial incentives are not meant to influence informed consent about treatment decisions, but to bridge the gap between intentions and behaviour and help patients achieve adherence to a treatment that they have agreed to. In this context, patients' positive views may reflect that the use of financial incentives can support a good therapeutic relationship rather than undermine it.

Promoting Sleep Duration in the Pediatric Setting Using a Mobile Health Platform: A Randomized Optimization Trial

Objective

Determine the optimal combination of digital health intervention component settings that increase average sleep duration by ≥30 minutes per weeknight.

Methods

Optimization trial using a 25 factorial design. The trial included 2 week run-in, 7 week intervention, and 2 week follow-up periods. Typically developing children aged 9-12y, with weeknight sleep duration <8.5 hours were enrolled (N=97). All received sleep monitoring and performance feedback. The five candidate intervention components (with their settings to which participants were randomized) were: 1) sleep goal (guideline-based or personalized); 2) screen time reduction messaging (inactive or active); 3) daily routine establishing messaging (inactive or active); 4) child-directed loss-framed financial incentive (inactive or active); and 5) caregiver-directed loss-framed financial incentive (inactive or active). The primary outcome was weeknight sleep duration (hours per night). The optimization criterion was: ≥30 minutes average increase in sleep duration on weeknights.

Results

Average baseline sleep duration was 7.7 hours per night. The highest ranked combination included the core intervention plus the following intervention components: sleep goal (either setting was effective), caregiver-directed loss-framed incentive, messaging to reduce screen time, and messaging to establish daily routines. This combination increased weeknight sleep duration by an average of 39.6 (95% CI: 36.0, 43.1) minutes during the intervention period and by 33.2 (95% CI: 28.9, 37.4) minutes during the follow-up period.

Conclusions

Optimal combinations of digital health intervention component settings were identified that effectively increased weeknight sleep duration. This could be a valuable remote patient monitoring approach to treat insufficient sleep in the pediatric setting.

Effectiveness of Incentives for Improving Diabetes-Related Health Indicators in Chronic Disease Lifestyle Modification Programs: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction

We examined the effectiveness of providing incentives to participants in lifestyle modification programs to improve diabetes-related health indicators: body weight, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol, and hemoglobin A_1C (HbA_1C). We also examined the potential effect of 4 different incentive domains (ie, type, monetary value, attainment certainty, and schedule) on those indicators.

Methods

We searched Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library to identify relevant studies published from January 2008 through August 2021. We used a random-effects model to pool study results and examine between-study heterogeneity by using the I² statistic and the Cochran Q test. We also conducted moderator analyses by using a mixed-effects model to examine differences between subgroups of incentive domains (eg, incentive type [cash vs other types]).

Results

Our search yielded 10,965 articles, of which 19 randomized controlled trials met our selection criteria. The random-effects model revealed that, relative to the control group, the incentive group had significant reductions in weight (−1.85kg; 95% CI, −2.40 to −1.29; P < .001), BMI (−0.47kg/m²; 95% CI, −0.71 to −0.22; P < .001), and both systolic blood pressure (−2.59 mm HG; 95% CI, −4.98 to −0.20; P = .03) and diastolic blood pressure (−2.62 mm Hg; 95% CI, −4.61 to −0.64; P = .01). A reduction in cholesterol level was noted but was not significant (−2.81 mg/dL; 95% CI, −8.89 to −3.28; P = .37). One study found a significant reduction in hemoglobin A_1c (−0.17%; 95% CI, −0.30% to −0.05%; P < .05). The moderator analyses showed that the incentive effect did not vary significantly between the subgroups of the incentive domains, except on weight loss for the attainment certainty domain, suggesting that a variety of incentive subgroups could be equally useful.

Conclusion

Providing incentives in lifestyle modification programs is a promising strategy to decrease weight, BMI, and blood pressure.

Exploring Why Financial Incentives Fail to Affect At-home Colorectal Cancer Screening: a Mixed Methods Study

BACKGROUND

Despite success in increasing other health behaviors, financial incentives have shown limited to no effect on colorectal cancer (CRC screening. Little is known about the factors shaping why and for whom incentives improve screening.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the perspective of participants enrolled in a larger, four-arm pragmatic trial at urban family medicine practices which assessed and failed to detect significant effects of financial incentives on at-home CRC screening completion.

DESIGN

We performed a mixed methods study with a subset of randomly selected patients, stratified by study arm, following completion of the pragmatic trial.

PARTICIPANTS

Sixty patients (46.9% enrollment rate) who were eligible and overdue for colorectal cancer screening at the time of trial enrollment and who continued to receive care at family medicine practices affiliated with an urban academic health system completed the interview and questionnaire.

MAIN MEASURES

Using Andersen's behavioral model, a semi-structured interview guide assessed motivators, barriers, and facilitators to screening completion and the impact of incentives on decision-making. Participants also completed a brief questionnaire evaluating demographics, screening beliefs, and clinical characteristics.

KEY RESULTS

The majority of patients (n = 49; 82%) reported that incentives would not change their decision to complete or not complete CRC screening, which was confirmed by qualitative data as largely due to high perceived health benefits. Those who stated financial incentives would impact their decision (n = 11) were significantly less likely to agree that CRC screening is beneficial (72.7% vs 95.9%; p < 0.05) or that CRC could be cured if detected early (63.6% vs 98.0%; p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Financial incentives are likely not an effective behavioral intervention to increase CRC screening for all but may be powerful for increasing short-term benefit and therefore completion for some. Targeting financial incentive interventions according to patient screening beliefs may prove a cost-effective strategy in primary care outreach programs to increase CRC screening.

Understanding the role of incentives for achieving and sustaining viral suppression: A qualitative sub-study of a financial incentives trial in Uganda

Background

Viral suppression among people living with HIV (PLHIV) is essential for protecting health and preventing HIV transmission, yet globally, rates of viral suppression are sub-optimal. Interventions to improve HIV prevention and care cascade outcomes remain vital. Financial incentives hold promise for improving these outcomes, yet to date, clinical trial results have been mixed.

Methods

This qualitative sub-study, embedded in a trial (NCT02890459) in Uganda to test whether incentives are effective for achieving viral suppression in PLHIV, sought to enhance our understanding of the factors that influence this outcome. Forty-nine (n = 49) PLHIV, purposely sampled to balance across gender, study arm, and viral suppression status, were interviewed to explore barriers and motivations for care engagement, adherence, and viral suppression, and attributions for decision-making, including perceived influence of incentives on behaviors.

Results

While many participants with undetectable viral load (VL) who received incentives said the incentives motivated their ART adherence, others expressed intrinsic motivation for adherence. All felt that incentives reduced burdens of transport costs, lost income due to time spent away from work, and food insecurity. Incentives may have activated attention and memory for some, as excitement about anticipating incentives helped them adhere to medication schedules. In comparison, participants who were randomized to receive incentives but had detectable VL faced a wider range, complexity and severity of challenges to care engagement. Notably, their narratives included more accounts of poor treatment in clinics, food insecurity, and severe forms of stigma. With or without incentives, adherence was reinforced through experiencing restored health due to ART, social support (especially from partners), and good quality counseling and clinical care.

Conclusions

In considering why incentives sometimes fail to achieve behavior change, it may be helpful to attend to the full set of factors- psychological, interpersonal, social and structural- that militate against the behavior change required to achieve behavioral outcomes. To be effective, incentives may need to be combined with other interventions to address the spectrum of barriers to care engagement.

Female Patient Perceptions on Financial Incentives to Promote Follow-Up After Bariatric Surgery

INTRODUCTION

Financial incentives to promote recommended behaviors have been applied in many healthcare settings, but to our knowledge, have never been tested as a strategy to improve patient follow-up after bariatric surgery. Given that females make up majority of bariatric surgery patients, our goal was to explore female patient perceptions on the effects of a financial incentive program designed to increase follow-up after bariatric surgery.

METHODS

This was an exploratory qualitative study of patient participants in a pilot program investigating financial incentives. We performed qualitative interviews with female patients to include personal experiences with bariatric surgery, progress toward goals, and concerns related to post-surgical behaviors. The data was analyzed iteratively through inductive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Twenty-one female patients who had undergone bariatric surgery and enrolled in the financial incentive program participated in this study. Participants had generally positive impressions of the financial incentive program. Participants described the utility of the program in helping to pay for expenses associated with bariatric surgery; feeling that participation was their way of demonstrating that they were compliant with post-surgical recommendations; and that it provided additional motivation. All patients stated that even without the financial incentive they would have continued to follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

While financial incentives can provide additional motivation for patients following bariatric surgery, they are not the primary reason that patients choose to follow-up. Understanding the motivation of patients who choose to follow-up (or not) may better inform investigations intended to improve follow-up rates after bariatric surgery.

Providing vouchers and value information for already free eye exams increases uptake among a low-income minority population: A randomized trial

We study whether vouchers without and with value information encourage attendance of already free follow-up appointments among low-income minority individuals referred for evaluation of possible eye disease. Between May 2017 and September 2018, 821 individuals referred from 114 screening events across Baltimore City were offered (1) standard referral for a free follow-up appointment and prescription glasses, (2) a paper voucher described as redeemable for free follow-up and prescription glasses, or (3) an otherwise identical paper voucher which also indicated the monetary value of the appointment ($250). Under all three conditions, all referred individuals received the same patient education, counseling, and appointment reminders. We find that vouchers without and with value information increase follow-up by 12.5 and 20.3 percentage points, respectively, corresponding to a 36% and 58% increase compared to the standard referral for free follow-up (i.e., without a voucher). We conclude that using vouchers is a promising, low-cost approach to increase uptake of already free health services, particularly when the vouchers also provide value information.

Promoting Healthy Childhood Behaviors With Financial Incentives: A Narrative Review of Key Considerations and Design Features for Future Research

In the last decade, there has been a robust increase in research using financial incentives to promote healthy behaviors as behavioral economics and new monitoring technologies have been applied to health behaviors. Most studies of financial incentives on health behaviors have focused on adults, yet many unhealthy adult behaviors have roots in childhood and adolescence. The use of financial incentives is an attractive but controversial strategy in childhood. In this review, we first propose 5 general considerations in designing and applying incentive interventions to children. These include: 1) the potential impact of incentives on intrinsic motivation, 2) ethical concerns about incentives promoting undue influence, 3) the importance of child neurodevelopmental stage, 4) how incentive interventions may influence health disparities, and 5) how to finance effective programs. We then highlight empirical findings from randomized trials investigating key design features of financial incentive interventions, including framing (loss vs gain), timing (immediate vs delayed), and magnitude (incentive size) effects on a range of childhood behaviors from healthy eating to adherence to glycemic control in type 1 diabetes. Though the current research base on these subjects in children is limited, we found no evidence suggesting that loss-framed incentives perform better than gain-framed incentives in children and isolated studies from healthy food choice experiments support the use of immediate, small incentives versus delayed, larger incentives. Future research on childhood incentives should compare the effectiveness of gain versus loss-framing and focus on which intervention characteristics lead to sustained behavior change and habit formation.

Examining Ways to Improve Weight Control Programs' Population Reach and Representativeness: A Discrete Choice Experiment of Financial Incentives

BACKGROUND

Both theoretical and empirical evidence supports the potential of modest financial incentives to increase the reach of evidence-based weight control programs. However, few studies exist that examine the best incentive design for achieving the highest reach and representativeness at the lowest cost and whether or not incentive designs may be valued differentially by subgroups that experience obesity-related health disparities.

METHODS

A discrete choice experiment was conducted (n = 1232 participants; over 90% of them were overweight/obese) to collect stated preference towards different financial incentive attributes, including reward amount, program location, reward contingency, and payment form and frequency. Mixed logit and conditional logit models were used to determine overall and subgroup preference ranking of attributes. Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data sample weights and the estimated models, we predicted US nationally representative participation rates by subgroups and examined the effect of offering more than one incentive design. External validity was checked by using a completed cluster randomized control trial.

RESULTS

There were significant subgroup differences in preference toward incentive attributes. There was also a sizable negative response to larger incentive amounts among African Americans, suggesting that higher amounts would reduce participation from this population. We also find that offering participants a menu of incentive designs to choose from would increase reach more than offering higher reward amounts.

CONCLUSIONS

We confirmed the existence of preference heterogeneity and the importance of subgroup-targeted incentive designs in any evidence-based weight control program to maximize population reach and reduce health disparities.

Adaptive Goals and Reinforcement Timing to Increase Physical Activity in Adults: A Factorial Randomized Trial

INTRODUCTION

Potent lifestyle interventions to increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity are urgently needed for population-level chronic disease prevention. This trial tested the independent and joint effects of a mobile health system automating adaptive goal setting and immediate financial reinforcement for increasing daily walking among insufficiently active adults.

STUDY DESIGN

Participants were randomized into a 2 (adaptive versus static goal setting) X 2 (immediate versus delayed financial incentive timing) condition factorial trial to increase walking.

SETTINGS/PARTICIPANTS

Participants (N=512 adults) were recruited between 2016 and 2018 and were 64.5% female, aged 18-60 years, 18.8% Hispanic, 6.1% African American, and 83% White.

INTERVENTION

Principles of reinforcement and behavioral economics directed intervention design.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Participants wore accelerometers daily (133,876 day-level observations) that remotely measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity bout minutes of ≥3 minutes/day for 1 year. Primary outcomes were between-condition differences in (1) engaging ≥1 bout of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on each day and (2) on days with ≥1 bout, daily total moderate-to-vigorous physical activity minutes.

RESULTS

Mixed-effects hurdle models tested treatment group X phase (time) interactions using an intent-to-treat approach in 2021. Engaging in any ambulatory moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was greater for Adaptive than for Static Goal groups (OR=2.34, 95% CI=2.10, 2.60 vs OR=1.66, 95% CI=1.50, 1.84; p<0.001) and for Immediate than for Static Reinforcement groups (OR=2.16 95% CI=1.94, 2.40 vs OR=1.77, 95% CI=1.59, 1.97; p<0.01). The Immediate Reinforcement group increased by 16.54 moderate-to-vigorous physical activity minutes/day, whereas the Delayed Reinforcement group increased by 9.91 minutes/day (p<0.001). The combined Adaptive Goals + Immediate Reinforcement group increased by 16.52 moderate-to-vigorous physical activity minutes/day, significantly more than that of either Delayed Reinforcement group.

CONCLUSIONS

This study offers automated and scalable-behavior change strategies for increasing walking among adults most at-risk for chronic diseases attributed to sedentary lifestyles.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02717663).

Attitudes towards and experiences with economic incentives for engagement in HIV care and treatment: Qualitative insights from a randomized trial in Kenya

Growing literature has shown heterogenous effects of conditional cash incentives (CCIs) on HIV care retention. The field lacks insights into reasons why incentives impact various patients in different ways-differences that may be due to variations in psychological and social mechanisms of effect. A deeper understanding of patients' perceptions and experiences of CCIs for retention may help to clarify these mechanisms. We conducted a qualitative study embedded in the ADAPT-R trial (NCT#02338739), a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) that evaluated economic incentives to support retention in HIV care among persons living with HIV (PLHIV) initiating antiretroviral therapy in Kenya. Participants who attended their scheduled clinic visits received an incentive of approximately $4 each visit. Interviews were conducted between July 2016 and June 2017 with 39 participants to explore attitudes and experiences with economic incentives conditional on care engagement. Analyses revealed that incentives helped PLHIV prioritize care-seeking by alleviating transport barriers and food insecurity: "I decided to forgo [work] and attend clinic […] the voucher relieved me". Patients who borrowed money for care-seeking reported feeling relieved from the burden of indebtedness to others: "I borrow with confidence that I will pay after my appointment." Incentives fostered their autonomy, and enabled them to support others: "I used the money to buy some clothes and Pampers for the children." Participants who were intrinsically motivated to engage in care ("my life depends on the drugs, not the incentive"), and those who mistrusted researchers, reported being less prompted by the incentive itself. For patients not already prioritizing care-seeking, incentives facilitated care engagement through alleviating transport costs, indebtedness and food insecurity, and also supported social role fulfillment. Conditional cash incentives may be an important cue to action to improve progression through the HIV treatment cascade, and contribute to better care retention.

Strategies to increase downloads of COVID-19 exposure notification apps: A discrete choice experiment

Exposure notification apps have been developed to assist in notifying individuals of recent exposures to SARS-CoV-2. However, in several countries, such apps have had limited uptake. We assessed whether strategies to increase downloads of exposure notification apps should emphasize improving the accuracy of the apps in recording contacts and exposures, strengthening privacy protections and/or offering financial incentives to potential users. In a discrete choice experiment with potential app users in the US, financial incentives were more than twice as important in decision-making about app downloads, than privacy protections, and app accuracy. The probability that a potential user would download an exposure notification app increased by 40% when offered a $100 reward to download (relative to a reference scenario in which the app is free). Financial incentives might help exposure notification apps reach uptake levels that improve the effectiveness of contact tracing programs and ultimately enhance efforts to control SARS-CoV-2. Rapid, pragmatic trials of financial incentives for app downloads in real-life settings are warranted.

Design of financial incentive interventions to improve lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes: A systematic review

Background: Financial incentives may improve the initiation and engagement of behaviour change that reduce the negative outcomes associated with non-communicable diseases. There is still a paucity in guidelines or recommendations that help define key aspects of incentive-oriented interventions, including the type of incentive (e.g. cash rewards, vouchers), the frequency and magnitude of the incentive, and its mode of delivery.  We aimed to systematically review the literature on financial incentives that promote healthy lifestyle behaviours or improve health profiles, and focused on the methodological approach to define the incentive intervention and its delivery. The protocol was registered at PROSPERO on 26 July 2018 ( CRD42018102556). Methods: We sought studies in which a financial incentive was delivered to improve a health-related lifestyle behaviour (e.g., physical activity) or a health profile (e.g., HbA1c in people with diabetes). The search (which took place on March 3 rd 2018) was conducted using OVID (MEDLINE and Embase), CINAHL and Scopus. Results: The search yielded 7,575 results and 37 were included for synthesis. Of the total, 83.8% (31/37) of the studies were conducted in the US, and 40.5% (15/37) were randomised controlled trials. Only one study reported the background and rationale followed to develop the incentive and conducted a focus group to understand what sort of incentives would be acceptable for their study population. There was a degree of consistency across the studies in terms of the direction, form, certainty, and recipient of the financial incentives used, but the magnitude and immediacy of the incentives were heterogeneous. Conclusions: The available literature on financial incentives to improve health-related lifestyles rarely reports on the rationale or background that defines the incentive approach, the magnitude of the incentive and other relevant details of the intervention, and the reporting of this information is essential to foster its use as potential effective interventions.

Effect of Financial Incentives and Environmental Strategies on Weight Loss in the Healthy Weigh Study: A Randomized Clinical Trial

IMPORTANCE

Modest weight loss can lead to meaningful risk reduction in adults with obesity. Although both behavioral economic incentives and environmental change strategies have shown promise for initial weight loss, to date they have not been combined, or compared, in a randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE

To test the relative effectiveness of financial incentives and environmental strategies, alone and in combination, on initial weight loss and maintenance of weight loss in adults with obesity.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This randomized clinical trial was conducted from 2015 to 2019 at 3 large employers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A 2-by-2 factorial design was used to compare the effects of lottery-based financial incentives, environmental strategies, and their combination vs usual care on weight loss and maintenance. Interventions were delivered via website, text messages, and social media. Participants included adult employees with a body mass index (BMI; weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) of 30 to 55 and at least 1 other cardiovascular risk factor. Data analysis was performed from June to July 2021.

INTERVENTIONS

Interventions included lottery-based financial incentives based on meeting weight loss goals, environmental change strategies tailored for individuals and delivered by text messages and social media, and combined incentives and environmental strategies.

MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES

The primary outcome was weight change from baseline to 18 months, measured in person.

RESULTS

A total of 344 participants were enrolled, with 86 participants each randomized to the financial incentives group, environmental strategies group, combined financial incentives and environmental strategies group, and usual care (control) group. Participants had a mean (SD) age of 45.6 (10.5) years and a mean (SD) BMI of 36.5 (7.1); 247 participants (71.8%) were women, 172 (50.0%) were Black, and 138 (40.1%) were White. At the primary end point of 18 months, participants in the incentives group lost a mean of 5.4 lb (95% CI, -11.3 to 0.5 lb [mean, 2.45 kg; 95% CI, -5.09 to 0.23 kg]), those in the environmental strategies group lost a mean of a 2.2 lb (95% CI, -7.7 to 3.3 lb [mean, 1.00 kg; 95% CI, -3.47 to 1.49 kg]), and the combination group lost a mean of 2.4 lb (95% CI, -8.2 to 3.3 lb [mean, 1.09 kg; 95% CI, -3.69 to 1.49 kg]) more than participants in the usual care group. Financial incentives, environmental change strategies, and their combination were not significantly more effective than usual care. At 24 months, after 6 months without an intervention, the difference in the change from baseline was similar to the 18-month results, with no significant differences among groups.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

In this randomized clinical trial, across all study groups, participants lost a modest amount of weight but those who received financial incentives, environmental change, or the combined intervention did not lose significantly more weight than those in the usual care group. Employees with obesity may benefit from more intensive individualized weight loss strategies.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02878343.

Influence of Incentive Design and Organizational Characteristics on Wellness Participation and Health Outcomes

OBJECTIVE

To explore how changing incentive designs influence wellness participation and health outcomes.

METHODS

Aggregated retrospective data were evaluated using cluster analysis to group 174 companies into incentive design types. Numerous statistical models assessed between-group differences in wellness participation, earning incentives, and over-time differences in health outcomes.

RESULTS

Four incentive design groups based on requirements for earning incentives were identified. The groups varied in support for and participation in wellness initiatives within each company. All four design types were associated with improved low density lipoprotein (LDL) (P < 0.01), three with improved blood pressure (P < 0.001), and two with improved fasting glucose (P < 0.03). No incentive plan types were associated with improved body mass index (BMI), but designs predominantly focused on health outcomes (eg, Outcomes-Focused) exhibited a significant increase over time in BMI risk.

CONCLUSION

Incentive design and organizational characteristics impact population-level participation and health outcomes.

Breastfeeding, Personal Responsibility and Financial Incentives

Should financial incentives be offered to mothers for breastfeeding? Given the significant socioeconomic and sociodemographic differences in breastfeeding in the USA, researchers and policymakers are exploring the role of financial incentives for breastfeeding promotion with the objective of increasing uptake and reducing disparities. Despite positive outcomes in other health domains, the acceptability of financial incentives is mixed. Financial incentives in the context of infant feeding are particularly controversial given the complex obligations that characterize decisions to breastfeed. After situating the specific ethical tensions related to personal responsibility, fairness, and intrusiveness, we argue that exploring carefully designed financial incentives can be ethically justified to support breastfeeding uptake particularly given (i) established medical guidelines that support breastfeeding benefits, (ii) wide socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities and (iii) notable influences in the broader choice architecture of infant feeding in the USA. Additional empirical research is warranted to better understand effectiveness, cost and specific ethical concerns related to free and informed choice.

Brief Report: Financial Incentives and Real-Time Adherence Monitoring to Promote Daily Adherence to HIV Treatment and Viral Suppression Among People Living With HIV: A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND

Interventions to promote medication adherence and viral suppression are needed among HIV-positive individuals. We aimed to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of daily financial incentives linked to real-time adherence monitoring among treatment-experienced individuals.

METHODS

At an HIV clinic in Philadelphia, we conducted a pilot randomized trial among treatment-experienced HIV-positive adults with unsuppressed viral loads (>400 copies/mL). Participants randomized to the intervention group were eligible for daily lottery-based financial rewards dependent on antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, measured by a wireless-enabled electronic pill bottle. Participants also received a financial incentive for achieving viral suppression at 3 months. The control group received the standard of care. We measured acceptance and feasibility through follow-up survey at 3 months, viral suppression at 3 months, and adherence.

RESULTS

Among 29 participants, 28 (93%) completed 3-month follow-up, and 24 (83%) completed a 3-month laboratory visit. Electronic pill bottles were highly acceptable to participants, with most strongly agreeing that they worked well, were reliable, and easy to use. Among those who received the intervention, 77% were very satisfied with their experience. Among those who completed the 3-month laboratory visit, viral suppression was achieved by 40% in the intervention group and 29% in the control group. ART adherence ≥80% was achieved by 36% and 25% in the intervention and control groups, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Daily financial incentives coupled with real-time adherence monitoring are a promising strategy to support ART adherence among HIV-positive individuals who are not virally suppressed. This novel approach warrants testing in a larger trial.

Uncovering a behavioral strategy for establishing new habits: Evidence from incentives for medication adherence in Uganda

Incentives are used to improve many health-related behaviors, but evidence is mixed for their effectiveness both during the incentivization period and, even more so, on the persistence of the behavior after incentives are withdrawn. In this paper, we present the results of a randomized controlled trial that successfully uses incentives to improve medication adherence among HIV-infected patients in Uganda over 20 months, and follows the sample for another 6 months to measure the persistence of these behavioral improvements. Our study contributes to the literature on habit formation by identifying a behavioral strategy that is associated with persistently high medication adherence after controlling for observable individual-level characteristics and the receipt of incentives. We find evidence supporting a psychological theory of habits as reflexive context-behavior associations, which suggests new ways of designing incentive-based interventions for better promoting persistent, healthier behaviors.

Where to Next for Optimizing Adherence in Large-Scale Trials of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure?

Large-scale randomized trials of positive airway pressure (PAP) efficacy have been largely negative but PAP adherence was notably suboptimal across the trials. To address this limitation, evidence-based PAP adherence protocols embedded within the larger trial protocol are recommended. The complexity of such protocols depends on adequacy of resources, including funding and inclusion of behavioral scientist experts on the scientific team, and trial-specific considerations (eg, target population) and methods. Recommendations for optimizing PAP adherence in large-scale trials are set forth that address rigor and reproducibility.

Using Clinical Trial Data to Estimate the Costs of Behavioral Interventions for Potential Adopters: A Guide for Trialists

Behavioral interventions involving electronic devices, financial incentives, gamification, and specially trained staff to encourage healthy behaviors are becoming increasingly prevalent and important in health innovation and improvement efforts. Although considerations of cost are key to their wider adoption, cost information is lacking because the resources required cannot be costed using standard administrative billing data. Pragmatic clinical trials that test behavioral interventions are potentially the best and often only source of cost information but rarely incorporate costing studies. This article provides a guide for researchers to help them collect and analyze, during the trial and with little additional effort, the information needed to inform potential adopters of the costs of adopting a behavioral intervention. A key challenge in using trial data is the separation of implementation costs, the costs an adopter would incur, from research costs. Based on experience with 3 randomized clinical trials of behavioral interventions, this article explains how to frame the costing problem, including how to think about costs associated with the control group, and describes methods for collecting data on individual costs: specifications for costing a technology platform that supports the specialized functions required, how to set up a time log to collect data on the time staff spend on implementation, and issues in getting data on device, overhead, and financial incentive costs.

"It gets people through the door": a qualitative case study of the use of incentives in the care of people at risk or living with HIV in British Columbia, Canada

Background

There has been growing interest in the use of incentives to increase the uptake of health-related behaviours and achieve desired health outcomes at the individual and population level. However, the use of incentives remains controversial for ethical reasons. An area in which incentives have been not only proposed but used is HIV prevention, testing, treatment and care—each one representing an interconnecting step in the "HIV Cascade."

Methods

The main objective of this qualitative case study was to document the experiences of health care and service providers tasked with administrating incentivized HIV testing, treatment, and care in British Columbia, Canada. A second objective was to explore the ethical and professional tensions that arise from the use of incentives as well as strategies used by providers to mitigate them. We conducted interviews with 25 providers and 6 key informants, which were analyzed using applied thematic analysis. We also collected documents and took field notes.

Results

Our findings suggest that incentives target populations believed to pose the most risk to public health. As such, incentives are primarily used to close the gaps in the HIV Cascade by getting the "right populations" to test, start treatment, stay on treatment, and, most importantly, achieve (and sustain) viral suppression. Participants considered that incentives work because they "bring people through the door." However, they believed the effectiveness of incentives to be superficial, short-lived and one-dimensional—thus, failing to address underlying structural barriers to care and structural determinants of health. They also raised concerns about the unintended consequences of incentives and the strains they may put on the therapeutic relationship. They had developed strategies to mitigate the ensuing ethical and professional tensions and to make their work feel relational rather than transactional.

Conclusions

We identify an urgent need to problematize the use of incentives as a part of the "HIV Cascade" agenda and interrogate the ethics of engaging in this practice from the perspective of health care and service providers. More broadly, we question the introduction of market logic into the realm of health care—an area of life previously not subject to monetary exchanges.

Text messaging and lottery incentive to improve colorectal cancer screening outreach at a community health center: A randomized controlled trial

Efforts to boost colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates in underserved populations have been limited by effectiveness and scalability. We evaluate the impact of adding a lottery-based financial incentive to a text messaging program that asks patients to opt-in to receive mailed fecal immunochemical testing (FIT). This is a two-arm pragmatic randomized controlled trial at a community health center in Southwest Philadelphia from April to July 2017. We included CRC screening-eligible patients between ages 50-74 years who had a mobile phone, active health insurance, and at least one visit to the clinic in the past 12 months. Patients received a text message about CRC screening with the opportunity to opt-in to receive mailed FIT. They were randomized 1:1 to the following: (1) text messaging outreach alone (text), or (2) text messaging with lottery for a 1-in-5 chance of winning $100 after FIT completion (text + lottery). The primary outcome was the percentage of patients completing the mailed FIT within 3 months of initial outreach. 281 patients were included in the intent-to-treat analysis. The FIT completion rate was 12.1% (95% CI, 6.7%-17.5%) in the text message arm and 12.1% (95% CI, 6.7%-17.5%) in the lottery arm, with no statistical difference between arms. The majority of post-intervention interview respondents found text messaging to be acceptable and convenient. Opt-in text messaging is a feasible option to promote the uptake of mailed FIT screening, but the addition of a lottery-based incentive did not improve completion rates. Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03072095).

Association of patient preferences on medication discussion in hypertension: Results from a randomized clinical trial

Patient-centered care has received significant attention and is an integral component of high-quality healthcare. While it is often assumed that most prefer a patient-centered role orientation, such preferences exist along a continuum with some patients preferring a more provider-centered role. The present study examines patient preference data from a randomized clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of a patient activation intervention to promote thiazide prescribing for veteran patients with uncontrolled hypertension. Patient preferences for involvement in healthcare were assessed using the 9-item Sharing subscale of the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS). The primary aim was to examine differences in discussion of thiazide use in the clinical encounter by those scoring high versus low on the PPOS. Five hundred ninety-five veteran patients were randomized to either one of three intervention groups or a usual care control group. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) for the three intervention groups relative to the control group indicated that thiazide discussion increased as a function of intervention intensity across both high and low PPOS groups. ORs for the most intensive intervention group were 3.72 (95% CI = 1.61-8.65, p < .01) for high PPOS patients and 6.71 (95% CI = 2.59-10.67, p < .001) for low PPOS patients. Results suggest that this patient activation intervention is effective for veteran patients representing a range of preferred involvement. Consideration of such preferences may be useful in tailoring future interventions in the healthcare context.

Adding Financial Incentives to Online Group-Based Behavioral Weight Control: An RCT

INTRODUCTION

Internet-delivered behavioral weight control is promising for expanding the reach and availability of weight management, but online programs produce lower weight losses than typically achieved in person. Financial incentives have been shown to increase weight losses. This study examined whether adding financial incentives for self-monitoring and achieving target weight losses increases weight losses attained in a fully online, group-based behavioral weight management program compared with the same program alone.

STUDY DESIGN

This study was an RCT.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS

Adults with overweight and obesity (n=418; 91% female; 28% minority) were recruited from 2 clinical centers.

INTERVENTION

The intervention was a 24-session online group-based behavioral weight control program with weekly synchronous chat sessions (Internet-only) or the same program with weekly financial incentives for self-monitoring body weight and dietary intake daily and for achieving target weight losses at 2 and 6 months (Internet + incentives).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

This study measured weight loss at 6 months and treatment engagement (attendance, self-monitoring of body weight, dietary intake, and physical activity). Data were collected between February 2016 and August 2018, and analyses were completed in 2019.

RESULTS

Participants randomized to the Internet + incentives group lost more weight (-6.4 [SD=5.5] kg) than those in the Internet-only group (-4.7 [SD=6.6] kg; p<0.01). Further, a higher proportion of the Internet + incentives group achieved ≥5% weight loss (55%) than those in the Internet-only group (40%; p<0.05). Treatment engagement was higher in the Internet + incentives condition, with greater self-monitoring of behaviors targeted by incentives, as well as higher rates of behaviors not targeted and higher self-reported physical activity. Study retention was higher among those in the Internet + incentives condition (91%) than those in the Internet-only condition (81%; p=0.003).

CONCLUSIONS

Adding financial incentives to a program delivered fully online increases weight losses compared with the program alone and can achieve weight losses comparable to in-person programs, offering potential for substantial geographic reach.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT02688621.

Lottery incentives have short-term impact on ART initiation among men: results from a randomized pilot study

INTRODUCTION

Among people living with HIV in South Africa, viral suppression is lower among men than women. The study aim was to test the impact of lottery incentives, which reward positive health choice (e.g. antiretroviral therapy (ART) linkage) with a chance to win a prize, on strengthening the HIV care continuum including ART initiation and viral suppression for men.

METHODS

We conducted a randomized, prospective trial of lottery incentives in the context of HIV testing and linkage to ART in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Men living with HIV were randomly allocated to: lottery incentives and motivational text messages or motivational text messages only. Lottery prize eligibility was conditional on clinic registration, ART initiation, or viral suppression by one, three and six months respectively. After completing each continuum step, participants in the lottery group were notified whether they had won and were encouraged to continue in care. Lottery prizes were either a mobile phone, data or a gift card (valued at R1000/$100). Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted to determine time to ART initiation by study group. The primary outcome was viral suppression at six months.

RESULTS

Between November 2017 and December 2018, we tested 740 men for HIV and enrolled 131 HIV-positive men who reported not being on ART. At baseline, 100 (76%) participants were 30 years and older, 95 (73%) were unemployed and the median CD4 count was 472 cells/μL. At study exit, 84% (110/131) of participants had visited a clinic and 62% (81/131) were virally suppressed. Compared to motivational text messages, lottery incentives decreased the median time to ART initiation from 126 to 66 days (p = 0.0043, age-adjusted Cox regression) among all participants, and, from 134 days to 20 days (p = 0.0077) among participants who were not virally suppressed at baseline. Lottery incentives had an inconclusive effect on clinic registration (RR = 1.21, 95% CI: 0.83 to 1.76) and on viral suppression at six months (RR = 1.13, 95% CI: 0.73 to 1.75) compared to motivational text messages.

CONCLUSIONS

Conditional lottery incentives shortened the time to ART initiation among South African men. Behavioural economics strategies strengthen linkage to ART, but the study power was limited to see an impact on viral suppression.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER

NCT03808194.

A pilot randomized trial of incentive strategies to promote HIV retesting in rural Uganda

Background

Retesting for HIV is critical to identifying newly-infected persons and reinforcing prevention efforts among at-risk adults. Incentives can increase one-time HIV testing, but their role in promoting retesting is unknown. We sought to test feasibility and acceptability of incentive strategies, including commitment contracts, to promote HIV retesting among at-risk adults in rural Uganda.

Methods

At-risk HIV-negative adults were enrolled in a pilot trial assessing feasibility and acceptability of incentive strategies to promote HIV retesting three months after enrollment. Participants were randomized (1:1:3) to: 1) no incentive; 2) standard cash incentive (~US$4); and 3) commitment contract: participants could voluntarily make a low- or high-value deposit that would be returned with added interest (totaling ~US$4 including the deposit) upon retesting or lost if participants failed to retest. Contracts sought to promote retesting by leveraging loss aversion and addressing present bias via pre-commitment. Outcomes included acceptability of trial enrollment, contract feasibility (proportion of participants making deposits), and HIV retesting uptake.

Results

Of 130 HIV-negative eligible adults, 123 (95%) enrolled and were randomized: 74 (60%) to commitment contracts, 25 (20%) to standard incentives, and 24 (20%) to no incentive. Of contract participants, 69 (93%) made deposits. Overall, 93 (76%) participants retested for HIV: uptake was highest in the standard incentive group (22/25 [88%]) and lowest in high-value contract (26/36 [72%]) and no incentive (17/24 [71%]) groups.

Conclusion

In a randomized trial of strategies to promote HIV retesting among at-risk adults in Uganda, incentive strategies, including commitment contracts, were feasible and had high acceptability. Our findings suggest use of incentives for HIV retesting merits further comparison in a larger trial.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT:02890459

Iowa's Medicaid Healthy Behaviors Program Associated With Reduced Hospital-Based Care But Higher Spending, 2012-17

Health behavior incentive programs are increasingly common in Medicaid programs nationwide. Iowa's Healthy Behaviors Program (HBP) requires Medicaid expansion enrollees to complete an annual wellness exam and health risk assessment or pay monthly premiums to avoid disenrollment. The extent to which the program reduces the use of hospital-based care and lowers health care spending is unknown. Using data for 2012-17 from Medicaid and for 2014-17 from HBP, we evaluated changes in use and spending associated with HBP participation. Compared to nonparticipants, HBP participants were less likely to have an emergency department visit or be hospitalized (by 9.6 percentage points and 2.8 percentage points, respectively) but had higher total health care spending ($1,594). Meanwhile, Iowa's Medicaid expansion was associated with increased use and spending independent of HBP participation-that is, applying to both participants and nonparticipants. Overall, our findings suggest that the HBP was associated with substantial reductions in hospital-based care but increased health care spending.

The Longitudinal Influence of Social Determinants of Health on Glycemic Control in Elderly Adults With Diabetes

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to understand the longitudinal relationship between financial, psychosocial, and neighborhood social determinants and glycemic control (HbA_1c) in older adults with diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Data from 2,662 individuals with self-reported diabetes who participated in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were used. Participants were followed from 2006 through 2014. Financial hardship, psychosocial, and neighborhood-level social determinant factors were based on validated surveys from the biennial core interview and RAND data sets. All social determinant factors and measurements of HbA_1c from the time period were used and treated as time varying in analyses. SAS PROC GLIMMIX was used to fit a series of hierarchical linear mixed models. Models controlled for nonindependence among the repeated observations using a random intercept and treating each individual participant as a random factor. Survey methods were used to apply HRS weighting.

RESULTS

Before adjustment for demographics, difficulty paying bills (β = 0.18 [95% CI 0.02, 0.24]) and medication cost nonadherence (0.15 [0.01, 0.29]) were independently associated with increasing HbA_1c over time, and social cohesion (-0.05 [-0.10, -0.001]) was independently associated with decreasing HbA_1c over time. After adjusting for both demographics and comorbidity count, difficulty paying bills (0.13 [0.03, 0.24]) and religiosity (0.04 [0.001, 0.08]) were independently associated with increasing HbA_1c over time.

CONCLUSIONS

Using a longitudinal cohort of older adults with diabetes, this study found that financial hardship factors, such as difficulty paying bills, were more consistently associated with worsening glycemic control over time than psychosocial and neighborhood factors.

BWHealthy Weight Pilot Study: A randomized controlled trial to improve weight-loss maintenance using deposit contracts in the workplace

Objective

Deposit contracts, where participants “bet” on achieving a goal and get their money back only if successful, have been shown to be effective for short-term weight-loss. This pilot study examined their effect on weight-loss maintenance.

Methods

From 2016 to 2018, we conducted a pilot, 50-week randomized controlled trial among 42 hospital employees (19 intervention and 23 control), in Boston, Massachusetts, who lost ≥10 lb (4.5 kg) in the two years prior to enrollment. Participants were recruited primarily in-person. Both control and intervention participants were asked to attend a weigh in weekly and received weekly email communication. Intervention participants also entered into a deposit contract to maintain baseline weight within ≤2 lb (0.9 kg). We examined weight change from baseline to 50 weeks (primary outcome) and maintenance of baseline weight at 50 weeks (secondary outcome; binary – yes v. no). Participants completed baseline and follow-up surveys and received incentives for completion.

Results

At baseline, mean (SD) weight was 83.2 (15.5 kg) among intervention and 80.7 (14.5 kg) among control participants. After 50 weeks, intervention participants had slightly less but non-significant weight gain (adjusted β −1.12 kg; 95% CI −5.28, 3.05) than control participants; 73.7% of intervention v. 39.1% of control participants met their weight-loss maintenance goal by study end (adjusted OR 4.78; 95% CI 1.01, 22.71).

Conclusions

A deposit contract was not associated with differences in weight but led to more participants meeting their weight-loss maintenance goals; a deposit contract for weight-loss maintenance should be tested in a full-scale intervention. Most intervention participants viewed the deposit contract as acceptable.

Workplace Well-Being Factors That Predict Employee Participation, Health and Medical Cost Impact, and Perceived Support

Purpose:

This study tested relationships between health and well-being best practices and 3 types of outcomes.

Design:

A cross-sectional design used data from the HERO Scorecard Benchmark Database.

Setting:

Data were voluntarily provided by employers who submitted web-based survey responses.

Sample:

Analyses were limited to 812 organizations that completed the HERO Scorecard between January 12, 2015 and October 2, 2017.

Measures:

Independent variables included organizational and leadership support, program comprehensiveness, program integration, and incentives. Dependent variables included participation rates, health and medical cost impact, and perceptions of organizational support.

Analysis:

Three structural equation models were developed to investigate the relationships among study variables.

Results:

Model sample size varied based on organizationally reported outcomes. All models fit the data well (comparative fit index > 0.96). Organizational and leadership support was the strongest predictor ( P < .05) of participation (n = 276 organizations), impact (n = 160 organizations), and perceived organizational support (n = 143 organizations). Incentives predicted participation in health assessment and biometric screening ( P < .05). Program comprehensiveness and program integration were not significant predictors ( P > .05) in any of the models.

Conclusion:

Organizational and leadership support practices are essential to produce participation, health and medical cost impact, and perceptions of organizational support. While incentives influence participation, they are likely insufficient to yield downstream outcomes. The overall study design limits the ability to make causal inferences from the data.

Impact of a Patient-Centered Behavioral Economics Intervention on Hypertension Control in a Highly Disadvantaged Population: a Randomized Trial

BACKGROUND

Uncontrolled hypertension contributes to disparities in cardiovascular outcomes. Patient intervention strategies informed by behavioral economics and social psychology could improve blood pressure (BP) control in disadvantaged minority populations.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the impact on BP control of an intervention combining short-term financial incentives with promotion of intrinsic motivation among highly disadvantaged patients.

DESIGN

Randomized controlled trial.

PARTICIPANTS

Two hundred seven adults (98% African American or Latino) aged 18 or older with uncontrolled hypertension attending Federally Qualified Health Centers.

INTERVENTION

Six-month intervention, combining financial incentives for measuring home BP, recording medication use, BP improvement, and achieving target BP values with counseling linking hypertension control efforts to participants' personal reasons to stay healthy.

MAIN MEASURES

Primary outcomes: percentage achieving systolic BP (SBP) < 140 mmHg, percentage achieving diastolic BP (DBP) < 90 mmHg, and changes in SBP and DBP, all after 6 months. Priority secondary outcomes were SBP < 140 mmHg, DBP < 90 mmHg, and BP change at 12 months, 6 months after the intervention ended.

KEY RESULTS

After 6 months, rates of achieving target BP values for intervention and control subjects respectively was 57.1% vs. 40.2% for SBP < 140 mmHg (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.53 (1.13-5.70)), 79.8% vs 70.1% for DBP < 90 mmHg (AOR 2.50 (0.84-7.44)), and 53.6% vs 40.2% for achieving both targets (AOR 2.04 (0.92-4.52)). However, at 12 months, the groups did not differ significantly in these 3 measures: 39.5% vs 35.0% for SBP (AOR 1.20 (0.51-2.83)), 68.4% vs 75.0% for DBP (AOR 0.70 (0.24-2.09)), and 35.5% vs 33.8% for both (AOR 1.03 (0.44-2.42)). Change in absolute SBP and DBP did not differ significantly between the groups at 6 or 12 months. Exploratory post hoc analysis revealed intervention benefit only occurred among individuals whose providers intensified their regimens, but not among those with intensification but no intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

The intervention achieved short-term improvement in SBP control in a highly disadvantaged population. Despite attempts to enhance intrinsic motivation, the effect was not sustained after incentives were withdrawn. Future research should evaluate combined patient/provider strategies to enhance such interventions and sustain their benefit.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT01402453; http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01402453.

Financial incentives and proactive calling for reducing barriers to tobacco treatment among socioeconomically disadvantaged women: A factorial randomized trial

Improved strategies and scalable interventions to engage low-socioeconomic status (SES) smokers in tobacco treatment are needed. We tested an intervention designed to connect low-SES smokers to treatment services, implemented through Minnesota's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (Sage) in 2017; the trial was designed to last 3 months (July through October). Participants were female smokers who were 250% below the federal poverty level (randomized N = 3723; analyzed N = 3365). Using a factorial design, participants were randomized to six intervention groups consisting of a proactive call (no call vs call) and/or a financial incentive offered for being connected to treatment services ($0 vs $10 vs $20). Simple randomization was conducted using Stata v.13. All individuals received direct mail. Participants and staff were blinded to allocation. The outcome was connection via phone to QUITPLAN Services®, Minnesota's population-based cessation services. Groups that received $10 or $20 incentives had higher odds of treatment engagement compared to the no incentive group [respectively, OR = 1.94; 95% CI (1.19-3.14); OR = 2.18; 95% CI (1.36-3.51)]. Individuals that received proactive calls had higher odds of treatment engagement compared to individuals not called [OR = 1.59; 95% CI (1.11-2.29)]. Economic evaluation revealed that the $10 incentive, no call group had the best cost-benefit ratio compared to the no incentive, no call group. Direct mail with moderate incentives or proactive calling can successfully encourage connections to population-based tobacco treatment services among low-SES smokers. The intervention could be disseminated to similar programs serving low-SES populations. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03760107).

Financial Incentives May Influence Health Behaviors, But Do We End Up With Less Than We Paid For? A Self-determination Theory Perspective

Paying people to make healthier choices produces inconsistent and sometimes harmful results. Considering how payments can feel coercive is important for promoting long-term, holistic well-being.

Changing health behaviors using financial incentives: a review from behavioral economics

BACKGROUND

Incentives are central to economics and are used across the public and private sectors to influence behavior. Recent interest has been shown in using financial incentives to promote desirable health behaviors and discourage unhealthy ones.

MAIN TEXT

If we are going to use incentive schemes to influence health behaviors, then it is important that we give them the best chance of working. Behavioral economics integrates insights from psychology with the laws of economics and provides a number of robust psychological phenomena that help to better explain human behavior. Individuals' decisions in relation to incentives may be shaped by more subtle features - such as loss aversion, overweighting of small probabilities, hyperbolic discounting, increasing payoffs, reference points - many of which have been identified through research in behavioral economics. If incentives are shown to be a useful strategy to influence health behavior, a wider discussion will need to be had about the ethical dimensions of incentives before their wider implementation in different health programmes.

CONCLUSIONS

Policy makers across the world are increasingly taking note of lessons from behavioral economics and this paper explores how key principles could help public health practitioners design effective interventions both in relation to incentive designs and more widely.

Advantages of Continuous-Valued Risk Scores for Predicting Long-Term Costs: The Framingham Coronary Heart Disease 10-Year Risk Score

Background:

The few studies that have examined the relationship between midlife cardiovascular disease risk and longer-term costs have differentiated risk using a small number of risk categories. In this paper, we illustrate the advantages of a continuous-valued score to examine the relationship between risk and longer-term costs: the Framingham 10-year coronary heart disease risk score.

Methods:

Our study cohort consisted of 1333 Second Generation Framingham Heart Study participants enrolled in fee-for-service Medicare for at least 8 quarters and who had a risk score assessment between age 40 and 50 years. We used generalized linear models to examine the relationships between quarterly Medicare costs and risk scores.

Results:

Using risk categories defined by the Framingham score, the cost differences between a low and high risk group were 40% to over 200% greater than differences in comparable studies using a small number of risk categories. A continuous-valued score facilitates comparison of the cost consequences of impacting risk score changes. For example, an intervention that is able to reduce a person’s score change between midlife and later-life from the 75th percentile to the 25th percentile would result in almost a 20% reduction in longer-term costs. In contrast, an intervention that is able to reduce a person’s midlife score from the 75th percentile to the 25th percentile would result in a 38% reduction in costs.

Conclusions:

A continuous-valued risk score has advantages compared to defining risk based on a small number of risk categories.