Reminders, Cost Sharing, and Healthcare Use

Health Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title:

Reminders, Cost Sharing, and Healthcare Use

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05117333
• Other study ID #: THL/3181/6.02.01/2021
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 1, 2021
• Est. completion date: April 1, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: August 2022
• Source: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The investigators conduct a large-scale randomized controlled trial in Finland by sending three types of information letters to households to examine whether the reminder letters affect healthcare use. All letters remind of the importance of seeking care to treat potential health problems.

This study has two primary objectives are: to evaluate the effects of an information nudge reminding on the importance of diagnosing and treating health problems and to evaluate the effects of additionally providing information on the fact that primary care nurse visits have become exempt from copayments. Main outcomes include the number of primary care nurse visits and general practitioner (GP) visits in a six-month follow-up.

Description:

This study has two main objectives: (i) to evaluate the effect of an information nudge reminding on the importance of diagnosing and treating health problems and (ii) to evaluate the effect of providing information on the fact that primary care nurse visits have become exempt from co-payments.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 47398
• Est. completion date: April 1, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: April 1, 2022
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 55 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Residency in one of the 25 target municipalities as of September 15, 2021.

• Born in 1966 or earlier (aged 55 or more at the end of 2021).

• Living in a household with a maximum of three individuals aged 55 or above.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Individuals living in households (postal address) with more than three individuals aged 55 and above.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Health Behavior
• Health Care Seeking Behavior
• Health Care Utilization

Intervention

Other:
• Reminder (information letter)
Reminders

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Finland	Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare	Helsinki

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Finland, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Number of nurse visits (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits)		Six months starting from the date the letters are sent
Primary	Number of doctor visits (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits)		Six months starting from the date the letters are sent
Secondary	Number of referrals to specialized care (as recorded in the Finnish National Register of Primary Health Care Visits)		Six months starting from the date the letters are sent
Secondary	Number of drug prescriptions for newly initiated therapies (as recorded in the Finnish national register for prescribed medicines)		Six months starting from the date the letters are sent