Clinician Behavior

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 clinician behavior team has informed large and small-scale health care policy, including the design of the Affordable Care Act.

Here's some of our work in the area of clinician behavior

If you'd like to partner with CHIBE on a clinician behavior project, email us here

Time of Day and Cancer Screenings

In this study, our researchers discovered that clinician ordering of cancer screening tests decreases as the day progresses, signaling that clinicians may provide suboptimal care later in the day – perhaps because they fall behind schedule or experience decision fatigue.

Read the JAMA Network Open paper here

Serious Illness Conversations

Using behavioral nudges and machine learning mortality predictions, CHIBE researchers were able to influence clinician behavior and spur serious illness conversations among patients with cancer.

Read the JAMA Oncology paper here

Population-Based Payments for Primary Care

Was the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii capitation-based primary care payment system, Population-based Payments for Primary Care, associated with improvement in quality measures in its first year? This study found small improvements in quality and a reduction in PCP visits but no significant difference in total cost of care.

Read the JAMA paper here

Social Pressure and Loss Aversion

Our researchers looked at the effects of social pressure and loss aversion on physician behaviors related to pay-for-performance (P4P) reimbursement programs. While those in the loss aversion arm saw little change in clinician behavior, those in the increased social pressure arm reported increased group cohesiveness and individual empowerment that was linked with changes in behavior.