title: Take the money and run? Redemption of a gift card incentive in a clinician survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clinician surveys provide critical information about many facets of health care, but are often challenging to implement. Our objective was to assess use by participants and non-participants of a prepaid gift card incentive that could be later reclaimed by the researchers if unused.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinicians were recruited to participate in a mailed or online survey as part of a study to characterize women's primary health care provider attitudes towards breast and cervical cancer screening guidelines and practices (n = 177). An up-front incentive of a $50 gift card to a popular online retailer was included with the study invitation. Clinicians were informed that the gift card would expire if it went unused after 4 months. Outcome measures included use of gift cards by participants and non-participants and comparison of hypothetical costs of different incentive strategies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  63.5% of clinicians who responded to the survey used the gift card, and only one provider who didn't participate used the gift card (1.6%). Many of those who participated did not redeem their gift cards (36.5% of respondents). The price of the incentives actually claimed totaled $3700, which was less than half of the initial outlay. Since some of the respondents did not redeem their gift cards, the cost of incentives was less than it might have been if we had provided a conditional incentive of $50 to responders after they had completed the survey.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Redeemable online gift card codes may provide an effective way to motivate clinicians to participate in surveys.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 1620 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, 02120, USA.|Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Jane S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
authors.forename: Brian L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Sprague
authors.affiliation: Office of Disease Prevention, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Carrie N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Klabunde
authors.affiliation: Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Anna N A
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Tosteson
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 1620 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, 02120, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Asaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bitton
authors.affiliation: Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Onega
authors.affiliation: University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
authors.forename: Charles D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: MacLean
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 1620 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, 02120, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Marilyn M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Schapira
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 1620 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, 02120, USA. jhaas@partners.org.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. jhaas@partners.org.|Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. jhaas@partners.org.
authors.forename: Jennifer S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Haas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D037921:Gift Giving; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009862:Online Systems; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010816:Physician Incentive Plans / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States