Pairing transparency tools withfinancial incentives can nudge consumers into shopping around forhealth care online.

Quick stats: 

• 81% of consumers will choose a recommended imagingprovider for a $50 incentive
• 76% will use a recommended surgeon for$250
• 72% will choose telehealth instead of an urgent carevisit for $25
• 68% will choose a recommended primary careprovider for $40

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If you want your employees to model healthier behavior and cutyour health plan bills, the answer could be simple: pay them.

That's according to a white paper from HealthSparq, which says newresearch highlights the ability of simply paying people to behavein healthier ways.

"By pairing transparency tools with incentives that rewardconsumers for cost-effective care decisions, plans and employerscan achieve their most important financial and population healthobjectives," the paper's authors write, noting specifically thegoals of curbing rising claim costs and driving greater value incare.

Related: Walmart adds financial incentive for employees whovisit 'featured providers'

By 2027 health care spending is expected to hit nearly$6 trillion, rising by some 5.5 percent every year. And whilehigher deductibles and bigger cost shares thrust on participantsare already among the steps taken to try to rein in those costs,says the report, such actions don't directly address the "costvariation inherent in the health care system."

The government is doing its part to try to help, including a newrule proposed by the CMS mandating health plans and self-insuredgroups share information on out-of-pocket costs with members.Should that rule be passed, the report says, it would "alsoencourage health plans to use financial incentives to generate costsavings for members by crediting savings from incentives programstoward a plan's medical loss ratio."

But rewards programs have already been shown to steer consumerstoward "specific providers, care settings and service options," thereport says, with 82 percent of consumers choosing a preferred labif they're paid $25 to do so, and 72 percent will accepttelemedicine rather than urgent care for a $25 incentive.

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Pairing transparency tools with financial incentives can nudgeconsumers into shopping around for health care online (79 percentof consumers aren't doing so at present), especially since 43percent of health care costs incurred by those with commercialinsurance, totaling a total spend of $524.2 billion, are"shoppable." With consumers' total out-of-pocket spending havingrisen by 2.6 percent in 2017—totaling 10 percent of that year'stotal health spend of $365.5 billion, it's clear that that can addup to a lot of money to be saved.

In addition, the study finds that not only are 91 percent ofconsumers interested in health care incentive programs, 81 percentwant their health plans to provide them tools to save money ontheir care and 76 percent want employers to give them thosetools.

Not only that, but 55 percent of consumers say a financialreward could convince them to use a recommended provider orfacility; 66 percent would even travel farther to an approvedoption if they were rewarded for doing so; and 57 percent saidthey'd ask for a different recommendation for a PCP if the firstreferral they got didn't come with a reward for going there.

Spending the money to change behavior could provide dividends ata cost that's not horrendous, with 81 percent saying they'd go to apreferred imaging provider for a $50 incentive, 76 percent wouldaccept a preferred surgeon for $250 and 68 percent would accept arecommended primary care provider for $40.

Read more: 

• Pay-to-shop health care incentives gainingtraction
• Consumers still confused by health care shopping,billing practices
• Consumers are willing to shop around for a moretransparent health care experience