Patient financial incentives for preventive care

Evidence Rating  
Evidence rating: Scientifically Supported

Strategies with this rating are most likely to make a difference. These strategies have been tested in many robust studies with consistently positive results.

Health Factors  
Date last updated

Financial incentives such as payments and vouchers are often used to encourage patients to undergo preventive care such as screenings, vaccinations, and other brief interventions. Incentives are often focused on women of low socio-economic status1, 2, 3, immigrants, and high risk individuals such as those who are homeless3 or use drugs4, 5, 6.

What could this strategy improve?

Expected Benefits

Our evidence rating is based on the likelihood of achieving these outcomes:

  • Increased preventive care

Potential Benefits

Our evidence rating is not based on these outcomes, but these benefits may also be possible:

  • Increased adherence to treatment

  • Improved prenatal care

What does the research say about effectiveness?

There is strong evidence that financial incentives increase preventive care among low income and high-risk populations1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Patients are most likely to attend appointments or receive services such screenings or testing if incentives include reduced out-of-pocket costs, free services1, 2, 10, 11, or a large reward7, 1293.  

Financial incentives can improve patients’ use of primary care7. Incentives can also increase participation in vaccination programs3, 4, 10, 11, screening for colorectal cancer, cervical cancer2, 10, and breast cancer1, 10, and testing for tuberculosis3, 6, 9. Financial incentives have also been shown to improve adherence to treatments for tuberculosis3, 5, 13 and sexually transmitted infections9, 12, 14.

Financial incentives can increase the number of prenatal appointments pregnant teens attend3, 9, and reduce smoking during pregnancy15, 16.

Experts suggest that by increasing the likelihood that low income adults visit primary care providers, incentive programs may improve health outcomes and lower overall costs of care7

Implementation Examples

In 2011, the Affordable Care Act created the Medicaid Incentives for the Prevention of Chronic Disease grant program (MIPCD), which awarded five year grants to ten states to provide incentives to Medicaid beneficiaries who participated in prevention programs, adopted healthier behaviors, and improved their health. The ten states included California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin; each state selected focus areas to help beneficiaries quit using tobacco, lose weight, lower cholesterol or blood pressure, or avoid or manage diabetes. Early evaluations of the individual programs became available in 201717, 18.

Implementation Resources

CMS-MIPCD - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Medicaid incentives program for the prevention chronic diseases model.

RTI-Hoerger 2017 - Hoerger T, Boland E, Acquah JK, et al. Medicaid incentives for prevention of chronic diseases: Final evaluation report. Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI International for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); 2017.

Footnotes

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1 Slater 2005 - Slater JS, Henly GA, Ha CN, et al. Effect of direct mail as a population-based strategy to increase mammography use among low-income underinsured women ages 40 to 64 years. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. 2005;14(10):2346-2352.

2 Jepson 2000 - Jepson R, Clegg A, Forbes C, et al. The determinants of screening uptake and interventions for increasing uptake: A systematic review. Health Technology Assessment. 2000;4(14).

3 Giuffrida 1997 - Giuffrida A, Torgerson DJ. Should we pay the patient? Review of financial incentives to enhance patient compliance. BMJ. 1997;315(7110):703-707.

4 Seal 2003 - Seal KH, Kral AH, Lorvick J, et al. A randomized controlled trial of monetary incentives vs. outreach to enhance adherence to the hepatitis B vaccine series among injection drug users. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2003;71(2):127-131.

5 Malotte 2001 - Malotte CK, Hollingshead JR, Larro M. Incentives vs outreach workers for latent tuberculosis treatment in drug users. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;20(2):103-107.

6 Perlman 2003 - Perlman DC, Friedmann P, Horn L, et al. Impact of monetary incentives on adherence to referral for screening chest x-rays after syringe exchange- based tuberculin skin testing. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. 2003;80(3):428-437.

7 Bradley 2017 - Bradley CJ, Neumark D. Small cash incentives can encourage primary care visits by low-income people with new health care coverage. Health Affairs. 2017;36(8):1376-1384.

8 Mehrotra 2014 - Mehrota A, Brannen T, Sinaiko AD. Use patterns of a state health care price transparency web site: What do patients shop for? The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing. 2014:1-3.

9 Kane 2004 - Kane RL, Johnson PE, Town RJ, Butler M. A structured review of the effect of economic incentives on consumers’ preventive behavior. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2004;27(4):327-352.

10 Stone 2002 - Stone EG, Morton SC, Hulscher ME, et al. Interventions that increase use of adult immunization and cancer screening services: A meta-analysis. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2002;136(9):641.

11 Briss 2000 - Briss PA, Rodewald LE, Hinman AR, et al. Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to improve vaccination coverage in children, adolescents, and adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2000;18(1 Suppl 1):97-140.

12 Haukoos 2005 - Haukoos JS, Witt MD, Coil CJ, Lewis RJ. The effect of financial incentives on adherence with outpatient human immunodeficiency virus testing referrals from the emergency department. Academic Emergency Medicine. 2005;12(7):617-621.

13 Kominski 2007 - Kominski GF, Varon SF, Morisky DE, et al. Costs and cost-effectiveness of adolescent compliance with treatment for latent tuberculosis infection: Results from a randomized trial. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2007;40(1):61-68.

14 Carey 2005 - Carey MP, Vanable PA, Senn TE, Coury-Doniger P, Urban MA. Recruiting patients from a sexually transmitted disease clinic to sexual risk reduction workshops: Are monetary incentives necessary? Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. 2005;11(6):516-521.

15 Cochrane-Lumley 2004 - Lumley J, Oliver S, Chamberlain C, Oakley L. Interventions for promoting smoking cessation during pregnancy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2004;(4):CD001055.

16 Cochrane-Chamberlain 2017 - Chamberlain C, O’Mara-Eves A, Porter J, et al. Psychosocial interventions for supporting women to stop smoking in pregnancy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2017;(2):CD001055.

17 CMS-MIPCD - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Medicaid incentives program for the prevention chronic diseases model.

18 RTI-Hoerger 2017 - Hoerger T, Boland E, Acquah JK, et al. Medicaid incentives for prevention of chronic diseases: Final evaluation report. Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI International for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); 2017.

Date last updated