Convincing patients to do an often dreaded colon cancer screening test could just take a little extra nudge—like a chance to win $50, new research finds.
Patients who were told they had a 1-in-10 chance of winning $50 were more likely to complete home stool blood tests that help screen for colon cancer, according to a study led by a researcher at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and University of Michigan. The findings appear in a special issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
“Our study is another example of how modest financial incentives may go a long way in improving health behaviors and health care quality,” says Jeffrey Kullgren, MD, MS MPH, a research scientist in the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, and a former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar.
