Health Care Management Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
5-28-2014
Publication Source
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
Volume
311
Issue
20
Start Page
2065
Last Page
2066
DOI
10.1001/jama.2014.3485
Abstract
Unhealthy behaviors are responsible for a large proportion of health care costs and poor health outcomes.1 Surveys of large employers regularly identify unhealthy behaviors as the most important challenge to affordable benefits coverage. For this reason, employers increasingly leverage incentives to encourage changes in employees’ health-related behaviors. According to one survey, 81% of large employers provide incentives for healthy behavior change.2 In this Viewpoint, we discuss the potential and limitations of an approach that behavioral science research has shown can be used to influence health behaviors but that is distinct from incentives: the use of commitment devices (Table).3
Copyright/Permission Statement
Copyright ©2014 American Medical Association
Recommended Citation
Rogers, T., Milkman, K. L., & Volpp, K. G. (2014). Commitment Devices: Using Initiatives to Change Behavior. JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), 311 (20), 2065-2066. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2014.3485
Date Posted: 27 November 2017
This document has been peer reviewed.