A megastudy of text-based nudges encouraging patients to get vaccinated at an upcoming doctor's appointment

Katherine L. Milkman; Mitesh S. Patel; Linnea Gandhi; Heather N. Graci; Dena M. Gromet; Hung Ho; Joseph S. Kay; Timothy W. Lee; Modupe Akinola; John Beshears; Jonathan E. Bogard; Alison Buttenheim; Christopher F. Chabris; Gretchen B. Chapman; James J. Choi; Hengchen Dai; Craig R. Fox; Amir Goren; Matthew D. Hilchey; Jillian Hmurovic; Leslie K. John; Dean Karlan; Melanie Kim; David Laibson; Cait Lamberton; Brigitte C. Madrian; Michelle N. Meyer; Maria Modanu; Jimin Nam; Todd Rogers; Renante Rondina; Silvia Saccardo; Maheen Shermohammed; Dilip Soman; Jehan Sparks; Caleb Warren; Megan Weber; Ron Berman; Chalanda N. Evans; Christopher K. Snider; Eli Tsukayama; Christophe Van den Bulte; Kevin G. Volpp; Angela L. Duckworth

doi:10.1073/PNAS.2101165118

A megastudy of text-based nudges encouraging patients to get vaccinated at an upcoming doctor's appointment

Katherine L. Milkman, Mitesh S. Patel, Linnea Gandhi, Heather N. Graci, Dena M. Gromet, Hung Ho, Joseph S. Kay, Timothy W. Lee, Modupe Akinola, John Beshears, Jonathan E. Bogard, Alison Buttenheim, Christopher F. Chabris, Gretchen B. Chapman, James J. Choi, Hengchen Dai, Craig R. Fox, Amir Goren, Matthew D. Hilchey, Jillian HmurovicLeslie K. John, Dean Karlan, Melanie Kim, David Laibson, Cait Lamberton, Brigitte C. Madrian, Michelle N. Meyer, Maria Modanu, Jimin Nam, Todd Rogers, Renante Rondina, Silvia Saccardo, Maheen Shermohammed, Dilip Soman, Jehan Sparks, Caleb Warren, Megan Weber, Ron Berman, Chalanda N. Evans, Christopher K. Snider, Eli Tsukayama, Christophe Van den Bulte, Kevin G. Volpp, Angela L. Duckworth

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Abstract

Many Americans fail to get life-saving vaccines each year, and the availability of a vaccine for COVID-19 makes the challenge of encouraging vaccination more urgent than ever. We present a large field experiment (N = 47,306) testing 19 nudges delivered to patients via text message and designed to boost adoption of the influenza vaccine. Our findings suggest that text messages sent prior to a primary care visit can boost vaccination rates by an average of 5%. Overall, interventions performed better when they were 1) framed as reminders to get flu shots that were already reserved for the patient and 2) congruent with the sort of communications patients expected to receive from their healthcare provider (i.e., not surprising, casual, or interactive). The best-performing intervention in our study reminded patients twice to get their flu shot at their upcoming doctor's appointment and indicated it was reserved for them. This successful script could be used as a template for campaigns to encourage the adoption of life-saving vaccines, including against COVID-19.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	e2101165118
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	118
Issue number	20
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2101165118
State	Published - 2021

Keywords

COVID-19
Field experiment
Influenza
Nudge
Vaccination

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

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10.1073/PNAS.2101165118

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Milkman, K. L., Patel, M. S., Gandhi, L., Graci, H. N., Gromet, D. M., Ho, H., Kay, J. S., Lee, T. W., Akinola, M., Beshears, J., Bogard, J. E., Buttenheim, A., Chabris, C. F., Chapman, G. B., Choi, J. J., Dai, H., Fox, C. R., Goren, A., Hilchey, M. D., ... Duckworth, A. L. (2021). A megastudy of text-based nudges encouraging patients to get vaccinated at an upcoming doctor's appointment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(20), Article e2101165118. https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2101165118

Milkman, KL, Patel, MS, Gandhi, L, Graci, HN, Gromet, DM, Ho, H, Kay, JS, Lee, TW, Akinola, M, Beshears, J, Bogard, JE, Buttenheim, A, Chabris, CF, Chapman, GB, Choi, JJ, Dai, H, Fox, CR, Goren, A, Hilchey, MD, Hmurovic, J, John, LK, Karlan, D, Kim, M, Laibson, D, Lamberton, C, Madrian, BC, Meyer, MN, Modanu, M, Nam, J, Rogers, T, Rondina, R, Saccardo, S, Shermohammed, M, Soman, D, Sparks, J, Warren, C, Weber, M, Berman, R, Evans, CN, Snider, CK, Tsukayama, E, Van den Bulte, C, Volpp, KG & Duckworth, AL 2021, 'A megastudy of text-based nudges encouraging patients to get vaccinated at an upcoming doctor's appointment', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 118, no. 20, e2101165118. https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2101165118

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abstract = "Many Americans fail to get life-saving vaccines each year, and the availability of a vaccine for COVID-19 makes the challenge of encouraging vaccination more urgent than ever. We present a large field experiment (N = 47,306) testing 19 nudges delivered to patients via text message and designed to boost adoption of the influenza vaccine. Our findings suggest that text messages sent prior to a primary care visit can boost vaccination rates by an average of 5%. Overall, interventions performed better when they were 1) framed as reminders to get flu shots that were already reserved for the patient and 2) congruent with the sort of communications patients expected to receive from their healthcare provider (i.e., not surprising, casual, or interactive). The best-performing intervention in our study reminded patients twice to get their flu shot at their upcoming doctor's appointment and indicated it was reserved for them. This successful script could be used as a template for campaigns to encourage the adoption of life-saving vaccines, including against COVID-19.",

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AU - Milkman, Katherine L.

AU - Patel, Mitesh S.

AU - Gandhi, Linnea

AU - Graci, Heather N.

AU - Gromet, Dena M.

AU - Ho, Hung

AU - Kay, Joseph S.

AU - Lee, Timothy W.

AU - Akinola, Modupe

AU - Beshears, John

AU - Bogard, Jonathan E.

AU - Buttenheim, Alison

AU - Chabris, Christopher F.

AU - Chapman, Gretchen B.

AU - Choi, James J.

AU - Dai, Hengchen

AU - Fox, Craig R.

AU - Goren, Amir

AU - Hilchey, Matthew D.

AU - Hmurovic, Jillian

AU - John, Leslie K.

AU - Karlan, Dean

AU - Kim, Melanie

AU - Laibson, David

AU - Lamberton, Cait

AU - Madrian, Brigitte C.

AU - Meyer, Michelle N.

AU - Modanu, Maria

AU - Nam, Jimin

AU - Rogers, Todd

AU - Rondina, Renante

AU - Saccardo, Silvia

AU - Shermohammed, Maheen

AU - Soman, Dilip

AU - Sparks, Jehan

AU - Warren, Caleb

AU - Weber, Megan

AU - Berman, Ron

AU - Evans, Chalanda N.

AU - Snider, Christopher K.

AU - Tsukayama, Eli

AU - Van den Bulte, Christophe

AU - Volpp, Kevin G.

AU - Duckworth, Angela L.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Many Americans fail to get life-saving vaccines each year, and the availability of a vaccine for COVID-19 makes the challenge of encouraging vaccination more urgent than ever. We present a large field experiment (N = 47,306) testing 19 nudges delivered to patients via text message and designed to boost adoption of the influenza vaccine. Our findings suggest that text messages sent prior to a primary care visit can boost vaccination rates by an average of 5%. Overall, interventions performed better when they were 1) framed as reminders to get flu shots that were already reserved for the patient and 2) congruent with the sort of communications patients expected to receive from their healthcare provider (i.e., not surprising, casual, or interactive). The best-performing intervention in our study reminded patients twice to get their flu shot at their upcoming doctor's appointment and indicated it was reserved for them. This successful script could be used as a template for campaigns to encourage the adoption of life-saving vaccines, including against COVID-19.

AB - Many Americans fail to get life-saving vaccines each year, and the availability of a vaccine for COVID-19 makes the challenge of encouraging vaccination more urgent than ever. We present a large field experiment (N = 47,306) testing 19 nudges delivered to patients via text message and designed to boost adoption of the influenza vaccine. Our findings suggest that text messages sent prior to a primary care visit can boost vaccination rates by an average of 5%. Overall, interventions performed better when they were 1) framed as reminders to get flu shots that were already reserved for the patient and 2) congruent with the sort of communications patients expected to receive from their healthcare provider (i.e., not surprising, casual, or interactive). The best-performing intervention in our study reminded patients twice to get their flu shot at their upcoming doctor's appointment and indicated it was reserved for them. This successful script could be used as a template for campaigns to encourage the adoption of life-saving vaccines, including against COVID-19.

KW - COVID-19

KW - Field experiment

KW - Influenza

KW - Nudge

KW - Vaccination

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JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

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ER -

A megastudy of text-based nudges encouraging patients to get vaccinated at an upcoming doctor's appointment

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Keywords

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