no Specific Condition Targeted, Use of a Price Transparency Tool
Conditions
Keywords
health care costs, quality of health care
Brief summary
This project aims to assess the impact of a web-based health care cost and quality tool that is being implemented by a health plan for its members. The study will focus on members working for medium to large employers that have more than 90% of employees enrolled in deductible and tiered network health plans. The study will use an interrupted time series (ITS) design that includes random allocation of half of these employers to a study arm that will receive enhanced promotion of the tool and a $500 lottery incentive for its use in order to increase take-up. With these two study groups (a high-dose group receiving enhanced promotion and a lottery, and a low-dose group receiving routine promotion of the tool), the study will be able to evaluate whether access to a price transparency tool leads to reduced costs and more value-driven member behavior, and whether extra promotion increases take-up. Members in the high-dose group who use the tool will be eligible to enter a monthly lottery to win a $500 prize during the 12-month intervention period. In addition to the lottery, employers in the high-dose group will receive additional promotional strategies such as a mailing and messages through the plan's member web portal to promote the tool and the lottery, and e-mails and flyers for employers to promote the tool and lottery to employees. The aims of this project are to: 1) examine take-up of the tool and factors that predict take-up; and 2) to examine the impact of the tool on total and out-of-pocket health care costs and utilization
Interventions
OTHERlottery for tool users to win a $500 prize
Intervention group is eligible to enter a monthly lottery to win a $500 gift card if they use the tool each month.
OTHERenhanced promotion of the tool to employers and members
Intervention group also receives extra promotion of the tool through mailings, employer outreach, and automated phone calls
Sponsors
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alison Galbraith
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Health plan members from employers with at least 40 subscribers, of which at least 90% are currently in deductible plans or tiered network plans, and of which at least 80% were in deductible or tiered network plans in the prior year
Exclusion criteria
Members in non-group accounts and members in Medicare plans; members in states outside Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or Maine
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| mean per-member-per-month total health care costs | monthly for 12 months | employer level per-member-per-month total costs based on claims data |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| percent of subjects using the tool | measured quarterly for 12 months | Based on tool usage tracking data |
| mean per-member-per-month out-of-pocket costs | monthly for 12 months | employer level per-member-per-month out-of-pocket costs based on claims data |
| per-member-per-month utilization of health care services | monthly for 12 months | Employer-level utilization of health services based on claims data, including emergency department visits, encounters, lab services, radiology services, inpatient hospitalizations, MRIs, prescriptions |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| reasons for using the tool | measured with each use of the tool, over 12 months | based on survey report |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed