Science Daily/Carnegie Mellon University: Moving beyond nudges to improve health and health care policies

Science Daily

Science news from research organizations

Moving beyond nudges to improve health and health care policies

Date:
    August 16, 2017
Source:
    Carnegie Mellon University
Summary:
    With countries around the world struggling to deliver quality health care and contain costs, a team of behavioral economists believes it's time to apply recent insights on human behavior to inform and reform health policy.
Share:

FULL STORY

With countries around the world struggling to deliver quality health care and contain costs, a team of behavioral economists led by Carnegie Mellon University's George Loewenstein believes it's time to apply recent insights on human behavior to inform and reform health policy.

A report published in Behavioral Science & Policy outlines how behavioral science could be used to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of American health care. To do this, the research team argues that policies targeting individual behaviors -- nudges -- need to be augmented with more far-reaching and systemic interventions.

The report proposes interventions based on the most promising applications of behavioral insights, including ways to encourage individuals to pursue healthier lifestyles and enroll in suitable insurance plans. Recommendations for employers feature ways in which they can design and test corporate wellness plans and what insurance plans they should offer to their employees. Advice for insurers and health practitioners focuses on promoting cost-effective treatments and dissuading the use of ineffective procedures; and policymakers will find ideas for increasing organ and other medical donations and improving end-of-life care.

Physician offices around the country are adopting electronic medical records. These offer particularly promising opportunities to discourage ineffective use of antibiotics and encourage the use of equivalent but cheaper treatments, like the use of generics.

"There can be no real progress on healthcare without tackling the problem of costs," said Loewenstein, the Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Economics and Psychology and co-founder of the behavioral economics field. "But what is often lost is that cost reduction does not mean depriving people of the care they need. In fact, many commonly performed and costly surgeries can make patients worse off."

Another major focus of the report is on how to reduce the prevalence of unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and poor diet, which collectively account for nearly 40 percent of premature deaths in the U.S. Researchers have tested behaviorally-inspired interventions, including incentive programs, but the results have often been short-lived. Responding to the lack of programs of proven effectiveness, the report outlines the kind of research that is needed to advance the science of behavior change.

"The belief that big problems require grandiose solutions can be debilitating," said David Hagmann, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences. "We do need to think big, but we should also be targeting big problems with smaller, evidence-based interventions. Cigarette taxes alone, for example, cannot explain the decline in smoking over the past decades. But they signaled that the behavior harmed the smoker and others nearby and, in combination with restrictions on advertising and smoking in public spaces, led to a cultural change in how smoking is viewed, and to major changes in behavior."

Simply increasing the share of resources devoted to health care does not guarantee better outcomes. In 2016, $1 trillion was spent on unnecessary and ineffective care. At the same time, 28 million nonelderly Americans currently lack insurance and with it access to care that could substantially improve their health. Improving the administration of health insurance -- simplifying health insurance to make it more understandable, and reducing the burden and complexities of signing up for health insurance -- is one of the many ways that behavioral insights could lead to better medical care.

"A key feature of behavioral insights is that they are often cost-neutral or cost-saving to implement. Leveraging behavioral insights as we continuously modify and create health policy can help bring the efficiency and cost savings that our healthcare system will always need," said Janet Schwartz, assistant professor of marketing and Tulane University.

Health care reform has been a vexing political issue in the United States and around the world. Costs are increasing at alarming and unsustainable rates even in countries in which the government targets cost containment. This report presents a new, evidence-based, and nonpartisan avenue for delivering effective medical care. The policy recommendations suggest ways to improve the health and wellbeing of people at the same or reduced cost, while guidance for policymakers on how to better enable research in the health domain could lead to many more insights in the years to come.

Find the report online at: https://behavioralpolicy.org/articles/the-costs-of-poor-health-plan-choices-prescriptions-for-reform/

Story Source:

Materials provided by Carnegie Mellon University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Cite This Page:

    MLA
    APA
    Chicago

Carnegie Mellon University. "Moving beyond nudges to improve health and health care policies." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 August 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170816122348.htm>.

RELATED STORIES
Better Health Care as Important as Controlling Risk Factors for Heart Health, World Study Shows
Aug. 27, 2014 — For better heart health, rich countries should continue to deliver high quality health care while trying to reduce risk factors, while poor countries need to avoid the rise of risk factors but also ... read more
Leading Health Care Executives Optimistic About Health Care Reform, Survey Shows
Dec. 18, 2013 — Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of the nation’s leading health care executives say they believe the health care system will be somewhat or significantly better by 2020 than it is today as a result ... read more
Self-Rated Health Puts Aging, Health Needs on the Agenda
Oct. 23, 2013 — Implementation of national surveys where the population can estimate and assess their own health may give policy makers important insights into the different health interventions that should be ... read more
Unintended Consequences of Emergency Department Information Systems in U.S.
June 24, 2013 — Emergency department information systems (EDIS), a significant focus of both federal legislation and US health care reform, may ultimately improve the quality of medical care delivered in hospitals, ... read more
FROM AROUND THE WEB

    Healthcare Incentives - 'Carrot' Or 'Stick'?
    Medical News Today, 2013
    When Financial Incentives Are Set Up For Doctors, Caution Is Needed
    Medical News Today
    How To Find Private Health Insurance
    Medical News Today, 2012
    Work stress 'damages health as much as secondhand smoke exposure'
    Honor Whiteman, Medical News Today, 2015

    Medicare Contractor Asks Labs to Submit NGS, Lung Cancer Patient Outcomes Data Through Registries
    360Dx, 2016
    With Rapid Uptake of Noninvasive Prenatal Screening, Many Question its Impact on Abortion
    360Dx, 2016
    At Davos, pharma gets a reminder of why pricing reform is hard
    STAT
    Developing and Evaluating Digital Interventions to Promote Behavior Change in Health and Health Care: Recommendations Resulting From an International Workshop
    Susan Michie et al., J Med Internet Res, 2017

Powered by TrendMD
Most Popular
this week
HEALTH & MEDICINE
New Way to Activate Stem Cells to Make Hair Grow
Breakthrough Device Heals Organs With a Single Touch
Blue-Eyed Humans Have a Single, Common Ancestor
Better Way to Measure Blood Pressure
MIND & BRAIN
Marijuana Associated With Three-Fold Risk of Death from Hypertension
Women Have More Active Brains Than Men
New Kinds of Brain Cells Revealed
Secret to Happiness May Include More Unpleasant Emotions
LIVING & WELL
Crank the AC, Cut in-Car Pollution
Link Between Biological Clock and Aging Revealed
Playing With Your Brain: Negative Impact of Some Action Video Games
Exposure to Antimicrobials During Development May Cause Irreversible Outcomes
Strange & Offbeat

HEALTH & MEDICINE
Scientists Use Magnetic Fields to Remotely Stimulate Brain -- And Control Body Movements
Elevated Testosterone Causes Bull Market Trading
3D Printing Living Tissues to Form Living Structures
Scientists Use Gene Editing to Eliminate Viruses in Live Pigs
MIND & BRAIN
Voter Behavior Influenced by Hot Weather
Computer Tech: 'Organismic Learning' Mimics Some Aspects of Human Thought
Novel Software Can Recognize Eye Contact in Everyday Situations
What Algae Can Tell Us About Political Strategy
LIVING & WELL
System Automatically Retouches Cellphone Images in Real-Time
To Pick a Great Gift, It's Better to Give AND Receive
'Are We There Yet?' Explaining ADHD Science to Children
Do All People Experience Similar Near-Death-Experiences?

    SD

    Health
    Tech
    Enviro
    Society
    Quirky

A-AA+
Free Subscriptions

Get the latest science news with ScienceDaily's free email newsletters, updated daily and weekly. Or view hourly updated newsfeeds in your RSS reader:

    Email Newsletters
    RSS Feeds

Follow Us

Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks:

    Facebook
    Twitter
    Google+
    LinkedIn

Mobile Apps

Get the latest news from ScienceDaily via our free mobile apps, available for download on the following platforms:

    iPhone/iPad
    Android

Have Feedback?

Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problems using the site? Questions?

    Leave Feedback
    Contact Us

About This Site  |  Editorial Staff  |  Awards & Reviews  |  Contribute  |  Advertise  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Use
Copyright 2017 ScienceDaily or by third parties, where indicated. All rights controlled by their respective owners.
Content on this website is for information only. It is not intended to provide medical or other professional advice.
Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily, its staff, its contributors, or its partners.