Analyzing the Impact of the Now iKnow Health Care Price Transparency Tool

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This project aims to assess the impact of a web-based health care cost and quality tool that is being implemented by a health plan for its members. The study will focus on members working for medium to large employers that have more than 90% of employees enrolled in deductible and tiered network health plans. The study will use an interrupted time series (ITS) design that includes random allocation of half of these employers to a study arm that will receive enhanced promotion of the tool and a $500 lottery incentive for its use in order to increase take-up. With these two study groups (a high-dose group receiving enhanced promotion and a lottery, and a low-dose group receiving routine promotion of the tool), the study will be able to evaluate whether access to a price transparency tool leads to reduced costs and more value-driven member behavior, and whether extra promotion increases take-up. Members in the high-dose group who use the tool will be eligible to enter a monthly lottery to win a $500 prize during the 12-month intervention period. In addition to the lottery, employers in the high-dose group will receive additional promotional strategies such as a mailing and messages through the plan's member web portal to promote the tool and the lottery, and e-mails and flyers for employers to promote the tool and lottery to employees. The aims of this project are to: 1) examine take-up of the tool and factors that predict take-up; and 2) to examine the impact of the tool on total and out-of-pocket health care costs and utilization

Official Title
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Analyzing the Impact of the Now iKnow Health Care Price Transparency Tool

Conditions
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no Specific Condition Targeted, Use of a Price Transparency Tool

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: lottery for tool users to win a $500 prize
* Other: enhanced promotion of the tool to employers and members


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Health plan members from employers with at least 40 subscribers, of which at least 90% are currently in deductible plans or tiered network plans, and of which at least 80% were in deductible or tiered network plans in the prior year Exclusion Criteria: Members in non-group accounts and members in Medicare plans; members in states outside Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or Maine
Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: lottery and enhanced promotion of tool<br>tool users in the intervention arm will be eligible to enter a monthly lottery to win one of two monthly drawings of a $500 gift card, and will receive enhanced promotion of the tool (mailed promotion, promotional message on the member web portal, and promotion through employers to employees) | Other: lottery for tool users to win a $500 prize<br>* Intervention group is eligible to enter a monthly lottery to win a $500 gift card if they use the tool each month.<br>Other: enhanced promotion of the tool to employers and members<br>* Intervention group also receives extra promotion of the tool through mailings, employer outreach, and automated phone calls<br>|
| No Intervention: usual promotion of the tool<br>Routine promotion of the tool through newsletter and on health plan web site | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| mean per-member-per-month total health care costs | employer level per-member-per-month total costs based on claims data | monthly for 12 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| percent of subjects using the tool | Based on tool usage tracking data | measured quarterly for 12 months | 
| mean per-member-per-month out-of-pocket costs | employer level per-member-per-month out-of-pocket costs based on claims data | monthly for 12 months | 
| per-member-per-month utilization of health care services | Employer-level utilization of health services based on claims data, including emergency department visits, encounters, lab services, radiology services, inpatient hospitalizations, MRIs, prescriptions | monthly for 12 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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health care costs, quality of health care