Can financial incentives steer patients toward lower-cost providers?

Financially rewarding patients to seek lower-cost medical providers can make a modest dent in cutting health care costs, according to a new study. Here's a quick look at the findings:

• The program: Researchers looked at a Blue Cross/Blue Shield rewards program during 2017 across five states with 270,000 enrollees. Patients were paid between $25 and $500 for using a lower-cost provider for any of 131 elective procedures.
• The savings: Of the 8 percent of enrollees that used the program, there was a $2.3 million total — or $8 per enrollee — drop in health spending over the year. MRIs saw the greatest decrease in the price paid for a service at nearly 5 percent, followed by ultrasounds at close to 2 percent. 
• The caveats: The study did not take into account the cost of making patients aware of such an incentive program, which could skew the actual savings to payers. Other programs such as reference pricing — in which insurers put a limit on the price they'll pay for services — would likely still work better to reduce costs, the authors say.