Reminders, Cost Sharing, and Healthcare Use
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 已完成
- 发起方
- 入组人数
- 47,398
- 试验地点
- 1
- 主要终点
- Number of doctor visits (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits)
研究概览
简要总结
The investigators conduct a large-scale randomized controlled trial in Finland by sending three types of information letters to households to examine whether the reminder letters affect healthcare use. All letters remind of the importance of seeking care to treat potential health problems.
This study has two primary objectives are: to evaluate the effects of an information nudge reminding on the importance of diagnosing and treating health problems and to evaluate the effects of additionally providing information on the fact that primary care nurse visits have become exempt from copayments. Main outcomes include the number of primary care nurse visits and general practitioner (GP) visits in a six-month follow-up.
详细描述
This study has two main objectives: (i) to evaluate the effect of an information nudge reminding on the importance of diagnosing and treating health problems and (ii) to evaluate the effect of providing information on the fact that primary care nurse visits have become exempt from co-payments.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Health Services Research
- 盲法
- Triple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator)
盲法说明
This is a randomized experiment in which individuals receive different types of reminders. All outcome variables are based on administrative (secondary) data. Individuals receiving letters and care providers are not aware of the experiment. Investigators will not have any contact with the participants.
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 55 Years 至 —（Adult, Older Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •Residency in one of the 25 target municipalities as of September 15,
- •Born in 1966 or earlier (aged 55 or more at the end of 2021).
- •Living in a household with a maximum of three individuals aged 55 or above.
排除标准
- •Individuals living in households (postal address) with more than three individuals aged 55 and above.
研究组 & 干预措施
Basic letter
This reminder states that if healthcare is not consumed at the right time, health may deteriorate and diagnoses and treatment may be delayed.
干预措施: Reminder (information letter) (Other)
Co-pay
This reminder states that if healthcare is not consumed at the right time, health may deteriorate and diagnoses and treatment may be delayed AND informs recipients about a new law that abolished all co-payments for all primary care nurse visits in Finland.
干预措施: Reminder (information letter) (Other)
GP-Co-pay
This reminder states that if healthcare is not consumed at the right time, health may deteriorate and diagnoses and treatment may be delayed AND informs recipients about a new law that abolished all co-payments for all primary care nurse visits in Finland, AND informs recipients that the new law did not abolish co-payments related to general practitioner visits.
干预措施: Reminder (information letter) (Other)
Control treatment
There is no intervention in the control treatment. The entire population aged 55 and above in the treatment regions will serve as a control group.
结局指标
主要结局
Number of doctor visits (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits)
时间窗: Six months starting from the date the letters are sent
Number of nurse visits (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits)
时间窗: Six months starting from the date the letters are sent
次要结局
- Number of referrals to specialized care (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits)(Six months starting from the date the letters are sent)
- Number of drug prescriptions for newly initiated therapies (as recorded in the Finnish national register for prescribed medicines)(Six months starting from the date the letters are sent)
研究者
Lauri Sääksvuori
Associate professor
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare