HCFO Releases a New Findings Brief

The driving assumptions behind consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) are that consumers—faced with greater information and financial incentives—will make cost-effective decisions about their health care. To test whether these assumptions were true, Judith H. Hibbard, Dr.P.H., professor at the University of Oregon, and colleagues took advantage of a natural experiment, examining the behavior of employees at a large manufacturing company that began offering employees CDHPs in addition to preferred provider organization (PPO) plans. The researchers examined whether the employees newly enrolled in a CDHP became more active consumers and made cost-effective decisions about health care utilization relative to employees enrolled in the PPO.

[back to top]