Often, we assume that we can inspire people to change their behavior by convincing them that if they take certain actions or make certain choices, they will achieve the result they desire. But people don’t always act rationally. Why else would so many of us skip medications our doctor has prescribed?
Behavioral economics seeks to understand how we make decisions, and what motives and incentives influence decision-making. With support from RWJF’s Pioneer Portfolio, the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the Leonard Davis Institute (CHIBE) at University of Pennsylvania is applying behavioral economics to health and health care to better understand how and why doctors and patients make the decisions they do.
Eight experiments testing a variety of motivators--from financial incentives to the way choices are presented--to encourage healthy behavior are currently underway. Read more.
Five experiments to test what can reduce the use of low-value services in health care—services that provide little or no benefit to patients and can even cause harm—will begin this fall.
Philadelphia, PA
Lori Melichar, senior program officer
By understanding what drives decision-making in health we can better influence these decisions. Our grantees are shedding light on how to remove barriers to the provision of high value healthcare, and make it easier for individuals to improve their own health," says Lori Melichar, senior program officer for RWJF's Pioneer Portfolio.
Behavioral economics and the science of how we decide could help make America healthier.
Listen to our Pioneering Ideas podcast for perspective on the types of innovations the Pioneer team funds, from investigations into placebo studies to behavioral economics to a platform that puts health outcomes in patients’ hands.
Behavioral economics is one of a range of disciplines and research fields RWJF is exploring to shed new insight on persistent, perplexing health and health care problems.
Lori Melichar spoke with Drs. Kevin Volpp and David Asch, co-directors of the Foundation’s Behavioral Economics Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, to talk about low-value health care.
Lori Melichar Gadkari, PhD, MA, a labor economist and senior program officer in the Foundation’s Research and Evaluation team shares information on Pioneer's newest CFP in the field of behavioral economics.
