Effect of Cash Benefits on Health Care Utilization

Health Care Utilization Clinical Trial

Official title:

Effect of Cash Benefits on Health Care Utilization

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05622903
• Other study ID #: 2022P000093
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 27, 2020
• Est. completion date: August 31, 2023

Study information

• Verified date: November 2022
• Source: Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM)
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Using data from the Chelsea Eats program, we propose to study a randomized controlled trial in which the City of Chelsea, Massachusetts held a lottery to allocate cash benefits to its residents for ten months during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will analyze the impact of the cash benefit on health care utilization and health.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 3615
• Est. completion date: August 31, 2023
• Est. primary completion date: December 31, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Resident of Chelsea, Massachusetts

• Household income at or below 30% of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Area Median Income

Exclusion Criteria:

• See inclusion criteria

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Health Care Utilization

Intervention

Other:
• Cash Benefit
Spending from the cards was not restricted to food but could be spent on anything and anywhere Visa was accepted. The debit cards were credited with the first payment on November 18th, 2020 and the second payment on December 18th, 2020. The program continued with monthly credits through August 2021.
• No Cash Benefit
No monthly cash benefit.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Harvard Medical School	Boston	Massachusetts

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM)	Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Emergency department use	Count of visits to the emergency department (ED) using the electronic health record	10 months
Secondary	Behavioral health-related ED visit	Visits to the ED with a behavioral health-related diagnosis code	10 months
Secondary	Substance use disorder-related ED visit	Visits to the ED with a substance use disorder-related diagnosis code	10 months
Secondary	Potentially avoidable ED visit	Visits to the ED that are potentially avoidable, categorized as avoidable according to the previously validated New York University algorithm	10 months
Secondary	ED visit resulting in admission to the hospital	Visits to the ED that result in a hospitalization	10 months
Secondary	Outpatient service use	Office visits and visits for other types of outpatient care such as imaging and procedures	10 months
Secondary	COVID vaccination	Binary variable for having received at least one dose of any COVID vaccine by the end of the trial period	10 months
Secondary	Hemoglobin A1c	Continuous measure of diabetes, using the latest available reading or result during trial period	10 months
Secondary	Blood pressure	Continuous measure of blood pressure, using the latest available reading or result during trial period	10 months
Secondary	Weight	Continuous measure of weight, using the latest available reading or result during trial period	10 months
Secondary	Cholesterol	Continuous measure of cholesterol, using the latest available reading or result during trial period	10 months