Paying Patients To Switch: Impact Of A Rewards Program On Choice Of Providers, Prices, And Utilization.

ABSTRACT: Employers and insurers are experimenting with benefit strategies that encourage patients to switch to lower-price providers. One increasingly popular strategy is to financially reward patients who receive care from such providers. We evaluated the impact of a rewards program implemented in 2017 by twenty-nine employers with 269,875 eligible employees and dependents. For 131 elective services, patients who received care from a designated lower-price provider received a check ranging from $25 to $500, depending on the provider's price and service. In the first twelve months of the program we found a 2.1 percent reduction in prices paid for services targeted by the rewards program. The reductions in price resulted in savings of $2.3 million, or roughly $8 per person, per year. These effects w

SUBMITTER: Whaley CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7610174 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature