Nudging populations toward better health

Kevin Volpp understands how behavioral health interventions can address public health challenges in ways that are scalable and sustainable. Volpp, Mark V. Pauly President’s Distinguished Professor at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and Health Care Management at the Wharton School and director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, discusses how behavioral economics can inform the design of interventions to promote healthier decision-making and improve population health outcomes. Volpp is also the co-creator of the Penn Way to Health platform, which has been used to support behavioral interventions in more than 420 studies across the United States. Volpp was also a key figure in launching the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit, “the world’s first behavioral design team embedded within a health system.”

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Preventable deaths in the U.S. have continued to rise over the past decade. Globally, experts estimate that preventable chronic diseases account for more than 60% of all deaths. By 2030, the global “cost of chronic diseases” is projected to reach $47 trillion. In the U.S. alone, 90% of the $4.5 trillion spent annually on health care is directed toward addressing chronic diseases and mental health conditions.

Drawing on decades of experience, Volpp describes how health systems can leverage behavioral “tools”—financial incentives, social norms, and “choice architecture”—to improve rates of medication adherence, vaccination rates, and nutrition. These tools can also reduce harmful behaviors such as smoking and distracted driving.

“I think behavioral economics can help shape how we address or think about public health problems. We know that people often have difficulty behaving in their best interests. For example, we know that smoking is bad for your health, but having that knowledge doesn’t make quitting smoking easier,” he says.

“That’s why behavioral economics can be so useful in tackling pernicious health problems. It allows us to preserve people’s choices and autonomy while nudging them toward better choices, such as opting for healthier food or using social norms to discourage clinicians from prescribing antibiotics to patients who probably don’t need them.”

“It’s also important to see how interventions work in different contexts,” Volpp says. “Helping patients navigate a chronic health condition in California may look different from doing so in Alabama. An intervention designed to increase uptake of a vaccine in the United States may not work in Kenya, or vice versa. Addressing public health problems requires looking at issues from multiple perspectives. In the end, we are just trying to use behavioral economics to help people improve their health.”

Read more at The Regulatory Review.