Encouraging Patients and Employees to be

Encouraging patients and employees to be active and stay consistent.

1. Case 18.1 Encouraging Employees and Patients to Be Active

2. Background Health professionals, insurers, and policymakers are searching for ways to incentivize employees and patients to be active for various reasons including: -Reduce healthcare costs -Improve quality of life -Preventative care Firms are using financial incentives to improve health behaviors in patients. However, the incentives have proven to not the most effective way to permanently change health behaviors “Giving a nudge” has been another strategy used to change health behaviors. It includes giving constant reminders to exercise or take breaks throughout the day. There has been an improvement in mental health in employees, but not much change in fitness habits.

3. Situation/Problem Firms have found that financial incentives reward individuals who already have positive health behaviors. Firms have found that financial incentives do not permanently change health behaviors and often individuals go back to their old habits once the incentive ends. Firms must produce a way to incentivize patients and employees to be active and stay active after incentives end.

4. Why Do People Act in a time-inconsistent manner?

5.  approaches to improving fitness Provide Education and Resources: Equip individuals with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their fitness journey.  Create Accountability: Encourage individuals to share their fitness goals with friends, family, or coworkers who can provide support and accountability. Make it Enjoyable: Encourage individuals to find physical activities they enjoy and incorporate them into their fitness routine.  Adapt and Adjust: Recognize that setbacks and obstacles are a natural part of the fitness journey.

6. Encouraging Policyholders: How Insurers Can Motivate Regular Exercise Insurers recognize the mutual benefits of policyholders participating in regular physical activity, as it contributes to enhanced health outcomes and decreased healthcare expenses for both parties. Insurers can provide the following to play a role in improving their policyholder's overall health. Offering discount rates  Providing Wellness programs  Personalized recommendations based on policyholders' needs  Health education 

7. Time Inconsistency While being paid to improve fitness appears to be the best approach. Time inconsistency still seems to be a problem.  Behavioral Economics People act in a time inconsistent manner because of a changes in preferences  Often biased toward their present selves   Today's actions equals tomorrows regrets

8. Nudges Increase exercise  Digital nudges are effective at pushing us to do things  Motivational messages increase self-reported exercise  Motivating messages were most effective for those who had low physical activity Different nudges work for different people 

9. Discussion questions  Have you ever acted in a time-inconsistent manner? Why? How could you avoid paying people to do what they were going to do anyway? Why would getting a "nudge" increase exercise?

10. REFERENCES “ Benefits of Physical Activity | Physical Activity | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/pa-health/index.htm. Accessed 16 April 2024 . Lee, Robert H. Economics for Healthcare Managers . Fifth ed., American College of Healthcare Executives. Bailey, J., Shen, J., & Mattke, S. (2020).  Health and Wellness Programs for Hospital Employees.  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 62(7), e392-e396. Johnson, D., Deterding, S., Kuhn, K., Staneva , A., Stoyanov, S., & Hides, L. (2021).  Gamification for Health and Wellbeing: A Systematic Review of the Literature.  Internet Interventions, 27, 100344. Agarwal, P., castillo , A., Romero, A. S. A., Missigher -Figueira, Y., & Celis, M. (2022, February 2). Time inconsistency . Intelligent Economist. https://www.intelligenteconomist.com/time-inconsistency/   Digital nudges encourage more exercise . University of Minnesota. (2022, October 25). https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/digital-nudges-encourage-more-exercise