Health Behavior, Health Care Seeking Behavior, Health Care Utilization
Conditions
Keywords
Cost-sharing, primary care, health care utilization
Brief summary
The investigators conduct a large-scale randomized controlled trial in Finland by sending three types of information letters to households to examine whether the reminder letters affect healthcare use. All letters remind of the importance of seeking care to treat potential health problems. This study has two primary objectives are: to evaluate the effects of an information nudge reminding on the importance of diagnosing and treating health problems and to evaluate the effects of additionally providing information on the fact that primary care nurse visits have become exempt from copayments. Main outcomes include the number of primary care nurse visits and general practitioner (GP) visits in a six-month follow-up.
Detailed description
This study has two main objectives: (i) to evaluate the effect of an information nudge reminding on the importance of diagnosing and treating health problems and (ii) to evaluate the effect of providing information on the fact that primary care nurse visits have become exempt from co-payments.
Interventions
OTHERReminder (information letter)
Reminders
Sponsors
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator)
Masking description
This is a randomized experiment in which individuals receive different types of reminders. All outcome variables are based on administrative (secondary) data. Individuals receiving letters and care providers are not aware of the experiment. Investigators will not have any contact with the participants.
Intervention model description
This is a randomized controlled trial with three active treatment arms and a control group (not assigned to any treatment, information and services as usual).
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
55 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Residency in one of the 25 target municipalities as of September 15, 2021. * Born in 1966 or earlier (aged 55 or more at the end of 2021). * Living in a household with a maximum of three individuals aged 55 or above.
Exclusion criteria
* Individuals living in households (postal address) with more than three individuals aged 55 and above.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Number of nurse visits (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits) | Six months starting from the date the letters are sent |
| Number of doctor visits (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits) | Six months starting from the date the letters are sent |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Number of referrals to specialized care (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits) | Six months starting from the date the letters are sent |
| Number of drug prescriptions for newly initiated therapies (as recorded in the Finnish national register for prescribed medicines) | Six months starting from the date the letters are sent |
Countries
Finland
Outcome results
None listed