Impact

Our research team has conducted a number of impactful studies that have been translated into practice by a range of entities positively influencing health for millions of people. We have designed programs based on our findings that improve both the value and quality of care provided by health plans, employers and health systems. If you are looking for assistance with designing and testing solutions to improve health behavior, consumer engagement, or the value of care through provider payment interventions please contact us here.

Mitesh Patel, a CHIBE member, reaches out to shake somone's hand at an event

Health Plans & Consumer Companies

Employers

Health Systems

Government & Policy

Health Plans & Consumer Companies

Impact Story: CVS Health

Enhanced Active Choice

CVS stock photo of pharmacist handing senior woman a box containing medicine

The Issue

Despite the development of automatic refill programs to increase medication adherence, uptake rates for these programs has been low. Working with CVS Health, our team developed a solution that made the advantages and disadvantages of signing up for this type of program more salient: enhanced active choice.

Results

This new approach more than doubled the rate at which consumers enrolled in the automatic refill program. Our manuscript about this work won the Best Paper Award at the American Marketing Association Annual Conference. CVS Health has now implemented this approach across much of their business nationally and by CVS estimates, this intervention has influenced medication adherence for more than 10 million CVS Health members.

CHIBE Paper

Enhanced active choice: A new method to motivate behavior change

Impact Story: Humana

Consumer Understanding • Medication Adherence

Project: Copayments vs Deductibles

Working with Humana, our researchers investigated major consumer misunderstandings about health insurance in order to recommend a behaviorally-informed plan. We found that copayments were better understood by consumers than deductibles or coinsurance. Insights from this research were translated into practice in 2013 through the launch of Humana Simplicity, a copayment-only plan in which all health services are grouped into one of 7 categories.

Project: Refill synchronization program

In another project in collaboration with Humana, we tested the effects of a refill synchronization program – in which patients received all prescription refills at the same time – on medication adherence. We found that this program increased medication adherence by an average of three to five percent compared to a control group. This program was particularly impactful for people with low rates of baseline medication adherence, as adherence improved by about 10 to 13 percentage points relative to controls. Based on the success of our study, Humana has implemented a refill synchronization program for their members.

CHIBE Papers

Consumers’ Misunderstanding of Health Insurance

A Synchronized Prescription Refill Program Improved Medication Adherence

Impact Story: HSMA

Incentives • Value-Based Payment

blue and silver stethoscope on paper with pen

Project: New Provider Payment Initiative

Since 2017, our team has provided guidance and conducted research to inform the roll-out of a new HMSA (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii) provider payment initiative that shifted primary care provider payment from a fee-for-service model to a new value-based framework. This payment model, which incentivizes providers for both efficiency and effectiveness, has now been implemented throughout most of the state of Hawaii.

Read media coverage from HealthLeaders "New Capitation Payment Model for Primary Care Boosts Quality"

CHIBE Papers

Association Between the Implementation of a Population-Based Primary Care Payment System and Achievement on Quality Measures in Hawaii

Changes in Outpatient Imaging Utilization and Spending Under a New Population-Based Primary Care Payment Model

Impact Story: Progressive Insurance

Distracted Driving

Project: Distracted driving

Kit Delgado, MD, MS, an affiliated faculty member, and colleagues from CHIBE Scott Halpern, MD, PhD, MBE; Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD; Roy Rosin, MBA; and Dylan Small, PhD; in partnership with Progressive Insurance, launched the largest-ever randomized trial of behavioral strategies to reduce distracted driving from cell phone use.

In a span of 72 hours in May 2019, the team enrolled over 2,100 customers from across the United States in Progressive’s Snapshot smartphone usage-based auto-insurance program to participate in the trial. This line of work was launched with funding from CHIBE’s pilot grant programs.