Can “Nudge Units” Help Build Better Health Systems?
Seemingly overnight, the University of Pennsylvania health system went from prescribing 75 percent generic medications to 98 percent. What changed?
Mitesh S. Patel is director of the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit and an assistant professor of medicine and health care management at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also on the faculty at the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation and the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, and is a staff physician at the Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia. His research focuses on combining insights from behavioral economics with scalable technology platforms to improve health and health care.
Seemingly overnight, the University of Pennsylvania health system went from prescribing 75 percent generic medications to 98 percent. What changed?