title: The effect of consumer incentives on Medicaid beneficiaries' compliance with well-child visit guidelines.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware St. SE, Box 729, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0392, USA. nyman001@umn.edu
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Nyman
authors.forename: Jean M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Riley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008484:Medicaid / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008910:Minnesota; D009042:Motivation; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States