Monetary Incentives and Intrinsic Motivation to Sustain Hypertension Control
Monetary Incentives and Intrinsic Motivation to Sustain Hypertension Control
Despite unequivocal proof that tight control of blood pressure with antihypertensive
 medication can prevent hypertensive complications-including strokes, myocardial infarcts,
 heart failure, end-stage renal disease, and death- blood pressure remains uncontrolled in the
 majority of individuals with hypertension. We propose a novel patient-centered intervention
 that combines monetary incentives and a social psychological intervention to help patients
 sustain blood pressure control once incentives are no longer offered by strengthening
 intrinsic motivation to control blood pressure among two vulnerable populations: African
 Americans, who suffer disproportionately from hypertension, and Mexican Americans, who have
 the lowest hypertension control rates of any demographic group in the United States. If the
 intervention is successful, it could be adapted as a set of tools to apply in clinical
 practice to improve outcomes of a range of chronic diseases, by maximizing the motivation of
 patients to optimize their treatment.
We propose to test the translation of behavioral economics and social psychology theory and
 experience in other domains into an intervention that has the potential to improve control of
 hypertension and diminish its health impact. Blood pressure control requires that: (1) the
 patient see a physician; (2) the disease be recognized by the physician, (3) a medicine be
 prescribed; (4) the patient take the medicine; (5) the patient come back for additional
 visits to monitor the treatment; (6) the provider make adjustments as needed in the therapy;
 and (7) the patient adhere to the changes and continue to come in for monitoring. Factors
 interfere with this chain of events even among patients with a regular source of care, such
 as a community clinic. Due to the asymptomatic nature of the disease, lack of awareness of
 the consequences of uncontrolled BP, discounting of these consequences because they occur in
 the distant future, health beliefs that lead the individual not to believe that the treatment
 would be beneficial, competing demands, financial barriers, or medication side effects, these
 patients may not monitor their BP as often as they should, press their physicians about BP
 control, or adhere to medication regimens. For their part, physicians may not intensify
 treatment as indicated.

 How would the combination of incentives that we propose in this study work in hypertension
 management? Monetary incentives could improve BP control by leading patients to monitor their
 BP and make physician visits for hypertension more frequently, "activating" patients to be
 more assertive about discussing treatment intensification with their providers when their BP
 is elevated or other issues regarding their therapy, and improving medication adherence. Thus
 a patient whose BP readings continue to be elevated because he or she is receiving inadequate
 monotherapy for their level of hypertension might be more motivated to remember to take their
 pills, check their readings regularly, and most importantly, get to the doctor to intensify
 the regimen when faced with a monetary incentive to reduce BP. Similarly, another patient
 might be more motivated to speak up and tell their physician that they are having trouble
 taking their current BP medicine because of its side-effects; rather that stopping their
 medication and suffering the consequences of uncontrolled hypertension, this "activated"
 patient may stimulate the physician to prescribe a different class of medicine that
 effectively controls the BP without side-effects. Although this experience may give the
 patient insight that they can get their blood pressure under control and keep it there for
 some time, the same concerns that initially interfered with BP control may lead patients to
 return to previous habits after the monetary incentive is withdrawn. They may be busy and not
 make the time to check their blood pressure, refill prescriptions, take their medicine, or
 see their doctor. For this reason, helping the patient identify intrinsic motivations to
 control their BP is necessary. Intrinsic motivations would help keep the patient continually
 aware of what is at stake (in terms of the people they care about, their roles in society,
 and their activities) if they do not take their medicines, fill their prescriptions, or
 follow up with the provider when blood pressure readings are not at target.

 The challenge of achieving and sustaining hypertension control might usefully borrow
 terminology from clinical oncology, in which many treatments have 3 phases: induction,
 consolidation, and maintenance. For hypertension, we can envision a similar framework:
 induction of normal blood pressure through initiation and adjustment of medications and
 adherence to them (for which we expect monetary incentives to be most effective);
 consolidation in which the patient maintains a normal blood pressure for a period of time
 (reinforced by frequent feedback, ongoing incentives, and interventions aimed at making
 intrinsic motivations salient); and maintenance after withdrawal of the incentives, which can
 be reinforced by success reducing blood pressure coupled with identity priming and identity
 labeling to engender strong intrinsic motivation to continue.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Adults aged 18 or older who are receiving ongoing medical care at the clinic (one or
 more routine visits in the year prior to the visit during the study enrollment period
 at which their blood pressure is found to be abnormal), are capable of giving consent,
 and live at a fixed address.

 -  Must state that they intend to continue to receive care in the clinic.

 -  Measured BP is greater than 140mm systolic or 90mm diastolic (or 130/80 respectively
 for "high risk" subjects with: diabetes, established coronary artery disease, prior
 cardiovascular event, left ventricular hypertrophy by ECG, chronic kidney disease, or
 diagnosed heart failure).

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Those whose BP's have returned to normal 1-2 weeks after the original obtained average
 reading.

 -  Children, prisoners, institutionalized individuals, or pregnant women.