The Effect of Consumer Incentives on Medicaid Beneficiaries' Compliance with Well-Child Visit Guidelines

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 recommends that consumer incentives be employed to increase the use of preventive care by Medicaid beneficiaries, but few evaluative studies exist. This study evaluates a Target gift card incentive employed by a Minnesota health plan serving Medicaid beneficiaries ove...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: John A. Nyman, Jean M. Abraham, William Riley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2013-02-01
Series:Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5034/inquiryjrnl_50.01.03
Description
Summary:The Affordable Care Act of 2010 recommends that consumer incentives be employed to increase the use of preventive care by Medicaid beneficiaries, but few evaluative studies exist. This study evaluates a Target gift card incentive employed by a Minnesota health plan serving Medicaid beneficiaries over the period 2002–2003. Lacking a contemporaneous control group, the proximity between the child's residence and the nearest Target store was used as the intervention variable. Using alternative specifications for the intervention variable, results of the difference-in-differences equations suggest that the incentive program significantly increased the likelihood that a Medicaid beneficiary would have a well-child visit.
ISSN:0046-9580