CHIBE’s research uses behavioral economics to improve health.

Behavioral economic principles can help us promote healthy eating. Investigators at CHIBE uncover the factors that influence decisions related to our food choices, whether through choice architecture, incentives, taxes, food labeling, or other interventions. Our food and drink-related research has made an impact in the real world; our researchers have demonstrated the impact of sugary-beverage taxes in Philadelphia and informed national requirements that calorie labels on restaurant menus include a statement that places that information in the context of an adult’s recommended daily caloric intake.

Around 1 in 5 adults in the United States live with a mental illness, according to the National Institute for Mental Health. Mental health and physical health have a close relationship, with poor mental health being linked with poor physical health and physical issues increasing one’s risk of developing mental health issues. 

The advent of digital health, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and wearables has put more health information than ever at the fingertips of clinicians and their patients. How can new technology be most effectively leveraged to deliver high value care and achieve wellness goals?

Behavioral economic principles can help us to understand what makes individuals more or less likely to get vaccinated. CHIBE researchers have conducted studies and provided guidance related to COVID-19, HPV, flu, childhood vaccines, and more both in the United States and globally.

While over 4 billion prescriptions are written each year in the United States (according to Statista), research has consistently shown that many patients do not take their medications according to their clinicians’ instructions. At CHIBE, researchers use principles of behavioral economics, such as incentives, social comparisons and remote monitoring, to better understand how to improve medication adherence. With cost being one of the biggest barriers to adherence, our researchers have also advocated to make prescription medications more affordable for Americans.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, with cigarette use causing 480,000 deaths per year in the United States. For every person who dies because of smoking, 30 individuals live with a serious smoking-related illness like cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Millions of Americans suffer from illnesses that can be prevented or improved through regular exercise. In fact, some of the leading causes of illness and death in the United States—such as heart disease, colon cancer and diabetes—can be avoided by performing physical activity on most days of the week.

Recognizing our institutional power and collective talents and resources, CHIBE examines how to use our research to remake the status quo and improve population health, especially among Black Americans who have suffered from racist policies and systems.

How are health systems, clinics, and clinicians compensated for their services that they deliver to patients, and what incentives are created by the various payment methods? This issue of provider payment—whether through bundled payments, value-based care, fee-for-service, or other models—is an area that CHIBE faculty have conducted extensive research in.

Despite rapidly increasing medical advancements, chronic disease management continues to be a major public health concern in the United States and abroad. Patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and asthma often fail to take advantage of the treatments available to them, or they behave in ways that contribute to the worsening of symptoms.

Since our Center was founded in 2008, CHIBE’s research has provided policymakers and clinicians with scalable evidence to drive health behavior and health policy change. Our faculty work collaboratively with institutions and investigators abroad to test behavioral economics interventions in diverse populations and settings.

The ways in which physicians, nurses and other clinicians make choices affects the quality and value of patient care. CHIBE’s clinician behavior team works with insurance providers and policymakers to test and implement behavioral economics interventions in a clinical setting. Investigators look at how new and innovative models of physician payment, combined with social and financial incentives, can optimize the value and quality of health care for patients. The work of CHIBE’s researchers has informed large and small-scale health care policy, including the design of the Affordable Care Act.

No decisions in health care are as complex, and few are as important, as the end-of-life decisions made by patients, their family members, and their clinicians. It’s crucial to understand and improve upon the ways in which end-of-life decisions are made. Our researchers believe that end-of-life decisions often are influenced by the ways in which choices are presented and the environments in which decisions are made.

CHIBE-affiliated faculty members are involved in a variety of behavioral science research—some of which is directly tied to increasing healthy behaviors—while other research revolves around diverse topics such as insurance, leadership, ethics, taxation, climate change, marketing, motivation, and decision-making in general.