Kevin G. Volpp is an American behavioral economist and Mark V. Pauly President's Distinguished Professor at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...
’s
Perelman School of Medicine
The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest me ...
and the
Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...
. He is the Director of the Penn Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics (CHIBE)..
Education
Volpp earned his bachelor’s degree ''magna cum laude'' in biology from
Harvard and was a Rotary Scholar at
Freie Universitat in Berlin, Germany.
He earned an MD from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and a PhD from the Wharton School from the graduate group in Applied Economics and Managerial Science.
Appointments
Volpp is the Division Chief of the Health Policy Division of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the
Perelman School of Medicine
The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest me ...
. For 20 years, he also served as an attending physician at the Philadelphia
VA Medical Center and worked as a part-time primary care clinician and hospitalist.
Research
Volpp’s research applies principles of behavioral economics to improve health and health care. One study led by Volpp was a large randomized trial of financial incentives and smoking cessation among employees at
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
.
Long-term quit rates from a $750 incentive were approximately three times higher in the intervention group.
The main trial paper led
GE to implement a benefit design change based on this study to its 150,000 US employees.
Follow-up work extended this among employees at
CVS
CVS may refer to:
Organizations
* CVS Health, a US pharmacy chain
** CVS Pharmacy
** CVS Caremark, a prescription benefit management subsidiary
* Council for Voluntary Service, England
* Cable Video Store, former US pay-per-view service
* CVS F ...
and also demonstrated a tripling in long-term smoking cessation rates and led to a national program among
CVS
CVS may refer to:
Organizations
* CVS Health, a US pharmacy chain
** CVS Pharmacy
** CVS Caremark, a prescription benefit management subsidiary
* Council for Voluntary Service, England
* Cable Video Store, former US pay-per-view service
* CVS F ...
employees called “700 Good Reasons.” This was followed by a large-scale study of financial incentives and smoking cessation that found that offering standard pharmacologic therapies and e-cigarettes were no more effective than control whereas either gain- or loss-framed incentives tripled smoking cessation rates among employees of 54 different employers
His team has also conducted studies examining the impact of behavioral economic strategies on increasing physical activity, medication adherence, and on physician behavior.
Volpp’s research group also conducted a number of national evaluations of the 2003 and 2011 national duty hour regulations, the first to
regulate work hours for physicians in the United States in a series of papers published in ''
JAMA
''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of bi ...
.''
Awards and honors
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volpp, Kevin
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Harvard College alumni
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania faculty
21st-century American economists
Behavioral economists
20th-century American economists
20th-century American physicians
21st-century American physicians
Members of the National Academy of Medicine