Impact of a patient incentive program on receipt of preventive care.

Objectives: Patient financial incentives are being promoted as a mechanism to increase receipt of preventive care, encourage healthy behavior, and improve chronic disease management. However, few empirical evaluations have assessed such incentive programs.

Study Design: In South Africa, a private health plan has introduced a voluntary incentive program which costs enrollees approximately $20 per month.

Innovative business approaches for incenting health promotion in sub-Saharan Africa: progress and persisting challenges.

Non-communicable chronic diseases related to behaviors such as tobacco use, overeating, excess alcohol intake and physical inactivity account for increasing morbidity and mortality in South Africa. Over the last 15 years, Discovery Health, the largest private health plan in South Africa, has developed a voluntary health promotion program called Vitality with over 1.5 million members.

The association between medical costs and participation in the vitality health promotion program among 948,974 members of a South African health insurance company.

Purpose: Examine the association between the levels of participation in an incentive-based health promotion program (Vitality) and inpatient medical claims among members of a major health insurer.

Design: A 1-year, cross-sectional, correlational analyses of engagement with a health promotion program and hospital claims experience (admissions costs, days in hospital, and admission rate) of members of a national private health insurer.

Setting: Adult members of South Africa's largest national private health insurer, Discovery Health.