New Research with One Medical Drives 20% Increase in Doctor Appointments

February 16, 2022  |  By: Richard Mathera

One Medical and Irrational Labs Work to Advance the Member’s Health Journey 

Meeting with a provider on a regular basis is associated with increased chronic disease recognition and treatment, improved patient-reported outcomes and lower cost. And yet, according to 2021 data from RANDS, 12.5% of people report reduced access to basic checkups. One Medical and Irrational Labs partnered to re-think a seamless digital experience for new One Medical members to help close that gap.  The goal was to increase preventative care by making it easier for members to connect with a provider right when they sign up for membership.

The Irrational Labs team, in collaboration with One Medical, conducted a rigorous controlled experiment that sought to evaluate the effect of changing the onboarding flow for One Medical members who have their membership sponsored by their employer. The new onboarding process offered One Medical members an immediate opportunity to connect with a provider. It suggested appointment times that a recommended provider could meet with them. If the member was not available at those suggested times, the member had the ability to see more times available and choose a future date for the appointment. 

The result: Small changes to the One Medical onboarding experience for new employer-sponsored members drove a 20% increase in bookings relative to the control. The increase in bookings signifies an interest in and intention to get medical care. 

The Lesson? Make it Easy

How digital experiences are designed makes all the difference. When members don’t see a time that meets their needs, it takes them 4x longer to book, compared to when they immediately see a time that works for their schedule.  


And speed isn’t the only thing that changes when people are exposed to too much choice. Too much choice can also delay decision making. People who picked a time from the available list of appointments were 2.5x more likely to continue with the booking process compared to people who needed to hunt for available times.  Making it easy matters in healthcare and it can be the difference between getting care and not getting care. 

 

“One Medical believes talking with a doctor should be simple.You shouldn’t have to work for your healthcare. We always analyze every single step to make sure our members get the best care possible, in the shortest amount of time” — Anjali Johnson, VP of Product, One Medical

 

One Medical offers access to telehealth services, allowing people to take an appointment from the comfort of their home. In this experiment, over 50% of new members booked a Remote Visit option for a same-day video visit, a 67% lift compared to the control. This signals that where/how appointments are offered matters. Members are more inclined to engage with healthcare when access is made easy. . 

 

Patient decision making and behavior play an increasingly critical role in every aspect of health. According to the CDC, up to 40% of premature deaths in the United States could be prevented and the leading causes of death are heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, and unintentional injuries. Everyone has the intention to be healthy, but our actions don’t always align. One Medical and Irrational Labs recognize the need to accelerate the development of behavioral solutions to drive health outcomes. This partnership brings together deep skills in behavior change to help support patients through successful healthcare engagement. 

“A scientific approach to health decisions and behavior is critical to solving the major health crises facing our country,” said Richard Mathera, Director of Health for Irrational Labs. “We’re thrilled about this work with One Medical, who shares our vision of healthcare rooted in behavioral science and is well positioned to implement innovative solutions that will reach hundreds of thousands across the country.”

The Irrational Labs and One Medical collaboration focused on providing members with an enhanced healthcare experience and driving improved outcomes.  By strengthening preventative care, One Medical and Irrational Labs aim to improve the foundational health of patients to support longer and healthier lives. 

Supporting Assets

People in the control would go straight to the One Medical homepage after verifying email and answering some basic questions. People in the experiment condition would get the chance to immediately book. 

Control (conceptual mock)

Experiment (conceptual mock)

 

 

About One Medical

One Medical is a membership-based and technology-powered primary care platform with seamless digital health and inviting in-office care, convenient to where people work, shop, live, and click. Our vision is to delight millions of members with better health and better care while reducing costs. Our mission is to transform health care for all through our human-centered, technology-powered model. Headquartered in San Francisco, 1Life Healthcare, Inc. is the administrative and managerial services company for the affiliated One Medical physician owned professional corporations that deliver medical services in-office and virtually. 1Life and the One Medical entities do business under the “One Medical” brand.

 

About Irrational Labs

Irrational Labs is one of the top behavioral science firms in the U.S., primarily serving the financial and health sectors. The team uses behavioral economics insights to design, build and research solutions to product and organizational design problems. Irrational Labs was co-founded by Dan Ariely, professor, author and behavioral economist, and Kristen Berman, a renowned applied behavioral scientist.  

Irrational Labs has worked with Microsoft, The World Food Programme, The World Bank, Intuit, Lyft, Fidelity, Aetna, and many other companies to change behavior for the better. Irrational Labs has run over 50 experiments to drive organizational and human behavior metrics and has trained hundreds of people inside big and small organizations. 


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