Optimizing Site of Service
It is clear that prices are a major driver of the high US health care spending, particularly for commercially insured patients. The place where care is delivered heavily influences both health care prices and variation in prices. Adjusting the site of service can yield savings without sacrificing quality of care. But efforts to shift site of service have not realized these savings, largely because they fail to effectively motivate physicians to alter their existing referral practices.
HTI is collaborating with Clarify and a major insurer to develop and test the Clinician Behavior Change Model. This model provides incentives, information and infrastructure to physicians to guide them to lower cost but high quality facilities and specialists. In a pilot program, HTI is implementing this model to realistically quantify the total, net cost savings associated with changing practice patterns.
HTI is looking to collaborate with physicians to change behavior by primarily using positive financial and non-financial incentives. In conjunction with Clarify and our partnering insurer, HTI is evaluating which behavioral incentive models shift physician behavior, refining the approach to optimize behavior change, and operationalizing the new solutions at scale through a behavioral change platform.
The Behavior Change Model is provides a significant return on investment for each dollar spent on incentives. Future projects will determine the extent to which HTI’s model can be successfully scaled.