Giving patients a financial incentive for completing a fecal immunochemical test did not increase completion rates, according to research published in JAMA Network Open.
Patients received a letter from their primary care clinician with a FIT kit and instructions on how to use it. Some patients were given either a $10 incentive to complete the test, a $10 incentive included in the mailing, a conditional lottery with chance of winning $100 after completing the test or no incentive at all. A total of 897 patients were included in the study.
The key details to know:
1. The overall completion rate was 23.2 percent after two months. The completion rate for the non-incentive group was 26 percent.
2. The unconditional incentive group completion rate was 27.2 percent
3. The conditional completion rate was 23.2 percent and 17.7 percent in the lottery incentive group.
4. Researchers concluded, "Mailed FIT resulted in high colorectal cancer screening response rates in this population, but different forms of financial incentives of the same expected value ($10) did not incrementally increase FIT completion rates. The incentive value may have been too small or financial incentives may not be effective in this context."