As pharmaceutical companies try to figure out new ways to improve adherence, some are researching the feasibility of developing innovative incentives with a behavioral economics firm.
Speaking at the ePatient Connections conference this week, Jordan Goldberg, CEO and co-founder of Stickk, said in the past three to six months he has been approached by pharmaceutical companies that are interested in using incentives to encourage adherence as part of a healthy lifestyle. The idea is that pharmaceutical companies can drive the message that having a healthy lifestyle such as eating the right foods, exercise, etc. can improve a drug’s effectiveness. That could, in turn, improve refill rates.
Stickk was started five years ago by two Yale University professors Dean Karlan and Ian Ayres along with Goldberg who was an MBA student in the Yale School of Management at the time.
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It helps customers create binding contracts for people to achieve their goals with greater accountability through incentives it refers to as “nudges.”
The majority of its customers are individuals and employer health plans. On its retail side, it offers contracts for people to achieve their weight loss or exercise goal, although goals are not limited to these. Users agree to put a certain amount of money on the line that they will lose if they don’t achieve their goal over a certain timeframe. The money could go to a friend or to a charity of the user’s choose — one he supports or one that he vehemently opposes — an anti-charity.
Goldberg noted that one of the biggest recipients of money was the George W Bush Library, though he didn’t say which category it belonged to.
