AAFP Foundation to Use Behavioral Economics to Fight Chronic Disease

Behavioral economics may not be the "magic bullet" when it comes to actually "curing" chronic disease, but the AAFP Foundation is betting that applying this approach -- which integrates economics with psychology and behavioral science to examine the systematic ways in which people make economic and other choices -- to patients with diabetes can help trigger interest in healthier lifestyle choices in communities across the nation and, thus, prevent much of the morbidity that accompanies these conditions.

That's one outcome from the AAFP Foundation's recently released Behavioral Economics Roundtable on Diabetes Summary Report (30-page PDF; About PDFs), which examines how the theory can better address the social and environmental nature of diabetes.

The report -- the result of a June gathering of 30-plus primary care physicians and other health care professionals, economists, scientists, and government officials that was made possible by support from Sanofi US -- asserts that behavioral economics provides a different, more informed approach to dealing with chronic health issues by mixing economics, psychology and behavioral science together to study and influence the ways people make the choices they make.

"Based on the findings in our report, the AAFP Foundation will develop and implement a community-based program in Birmingham, Ala., to bring together a coalition of patients and caregivers to curb the rise of diabetes," says Richard Roberts, M.D., J.D., president of the AAFP Foundation, in a recent news release (1-page PDF; About PDFs). "We believe that behavioral economics is a starting point for finding a solution to better managing diabetes care at the grassroots level."

According to the CDC, nearly 26 million Americans live with diabetes, and current efforts to control the disease are failing. Because primary care professionals provide most of the care for people with diabetes, as well as most other chronic diseases, behavioral economics might serve as the perfect tool to help family physicians "encourage people with diabetes to avail themselves of high-quality primary care and to implement … the management plans developed through that care," says the news release.

The release also notes that CDC officials have predicted that, if left unchecked, the growing burden of diabetes in the United States "will cost the country an estimated $340 billion by the end of 2011, consuming 10 percent of the nation's share of health expenditures."

Ultimately, the project seeks to create a model that can be replicated in other communities, including enabling them to identify ways to encourage healthier lifestyles for everyone.

"If progress can be made on diabetes," the report states, "there is great potential to use this model to improve health outcomes for a range of chronic conditions that reduce people's quality of life and drive up health care costs.

"As patients become more aware of the behaviors that must be changed related to their own disease, there is hope that families and communities can achieve more healthy lives, as well."