Jun 22 2020
0
Benefits Pro logo

Benefits Pro: Website Design Affects 401(k) Participants’ Decisions

By | In the News

Website design isn’t about making things look pretty—it can be a powerful tool to help employees make better decisions about benefits. Design is not just a “visual garnish,” but instead is “an integral part of any product or service offering. And it’s possible to navigate a path to behaviorally informed designs,” wrote Shlomo Benartzi, a professor of behavioral decision making at UCLA Anderson School of Management and Saurabh Bhargava, an associate professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University. Their goal was to find a website design that induced employees to contribute more than the default rate, since that’s often not enough for people…

Read More
May 28 2020
0

401KTV: Digital Design Improvements Benefit Plan Participants

By | In the News

“Professor Shlomo Benartzi, of the Behavioral Decision Making Department at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and Saurabh Bhargava, Associate Professor of Economics at Carnegie Mellon University worked in a collaboration with Voya Financial to explore how digital design improvements of online enrollment interfaces influence a participant’s  initial contribution decisions of employees in 401(k) plans.” “The researchers wanted to learn the significance the digital design improvements would have on employees’ initial enrollment decisions.  For that reason, they randomized employees to one of the two versions: an original commercial design, or an “enhanced” design that included three small changes…” Read more at…

Read More
Apr 09 2020
0

GRIST: No News Or Bad News? Many People Choose Ignorance Over Staying Informed, Study Finds

By | In the News

“Would you rather hear bad news that could help you in the long run, or remain blissfully ignorant?” “That’s the question that researchers recently posed to thousands of people in over a dozen variations — including asking whether they’d want to know how badly climate change could impact their zip code. Other topics included personal health, finances, and how others perceive you. The researchers found that for every subject, there was a substantial chunk of people who preferred to not learn unpleasant information, even when they knew the information could help them over time.” Regarding climate change, Herbert A. Simon University…

Read More
Feb 24 2020
0

US News & World Report: Penn Med Finds Patients More Likely To Track Steps with Smartphones than Wearable Devices

By | In the News

“Smartphones appear to be more effective than wearable fitness devices in helping doctors track patients’ physical activity, researchers say.” The study was conducted by Dr. Mitesh Patel, who discovered that the habit of carrying a smartphone makes tracking activity level more effective. His research was published in the JAMA Network Open Journal. Read more on U.S. News and World Report    

Read More
Feb 17 2020
0

Penn Today: Patients Stick with Smartphone Activity Trackers Longer than Wearable Devices

By | In the News

“Six months after discharge, smartphone users were 32 percent more likely to continue sending health data to the research team than those using wearables.” “Most people with smartphones take them everywhere they go. Since carrying the phone is already a built-in habit, it makes it much easier to use the device to track activity levels,” says the study’s lead author, Mitesh Patel. Dr. Patel’s study was published in the JAMA Network Open journal. Read more at PennToday

Read More
Dec 31 2019
0

KUOW: Start Fresh: 6 Tips For Mental Health In 2020

By | In the News

“Milkman, now a professor at the Wharton School of Business who specializes in human decision-making, says that when it comes to making a behavioral change, the trick is to pair the thing you dread with something you love. Looking for more tips like these to make your New Year’s resolution stick? Whatever your goals, we have insights that can make it a little easier for you to achieve them. Here are six “life recipes” for good mental health from research that NPR reporters covered this year” Read more at KUOW

Read More
Oct 29 2019
0

Medscape: California Tightens Scrutiny of Medical Vaccine Exemptions

By | In the News

In a paper in Health Affairs last year, Alison Buttenheim, PhD, MBA, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia, and coauthors concluded that California’s mandatory counseling approach worked. Increasing “the opportunity cost of vaccine exemptions” by requiring the signature of a healthcare provider did reduce these opt-outs, they wrote. Buttenheim told Medscape Medical News that clinicians face challenges in working with parents who have concerns about vaccines. This is only one topic that may be covered in short visit. Parents may notice physicians getting impatient due to time constraints and misinterpret it as a dismissive attitude about…

Read More
Sep 26 2019
0

Livestrong: Do Apps That Pay You to Lose Weight Really Work?

By | In the News

They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. But what about a healthy lunch you get paid to eat? That’s more or less the premise of weight-loss apps like DietBet and HealthyWage. Users place bets on losing X pounds in Y months, and those who achieve their goal win money or at least, don’t lose money. Can Money Motivate People to Lose Weight? Do the financial incentives these apps offer actually motivate people? Research says yes — as long as you keep using them. An August 2019 study published in JAMA found that Achievement users increased their physical…

Read More