Paying Patients to Complete FOBT

Patients prescribed fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) for colorectal cancer screening often do not complete the tests. To evaluate whether paying an incentive improves adherence to FOBT, researchers conducted a two-stage, randomized, controlled trial among patients from a U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Center clinic.

In the first stage, 713 patients (99% men, 75% white non-Hispanic) were randomized to receive no financial incentive, $5, $10, or $20 for completion of FOBT. Completion rates were 38.3%, 39.3%, 44.9%, and 46.4% for each group, respectively, and did not differ significantly between groups. In the second stage, 836 patients were randomized to receive no incentive, $5, a 1-in-10 chance of winning $50, or entry into a $500 raffle. Th…