Clarification: Sen. Claire McCaskill's, D-Mo., office called to clarify that she did not attend the Ignite tour event in May. According to Express Scripts, McCaskill's office played a ministerial role in hosting the event by securing the room where it took place.  

There may not be a silver bullet in healthcare reform, but Bob Nease thinks the application of behavioral economics can help.

Nease, chief scientist for Express Scripts' Center for Cost-Effective Consumerism, is pushing for healthcare reform based on "choice architecture." Here's the basic concept: Since people often procrastinate, having employers automatically sign up workers for a program gets them on the right track for maximal benefits.

Express Scripts, one of the nation's largest pharmacy benefit managers, used this logic to create its Select Home Delivery program. For employers who participate, the Select Home Delivery program automatically enrolls their employees in the home delivery prescription service unless they specifically opt out of it. According to an Express Scripts, participating companies and employees could save up to $3 million in 2009. 

Behavioral economics has a lot of traction at the White House. Peter Orszag, head of the Office of Management and Budget and top OMB official Cass Sunstein, are heavily influenced by the discipline.

"I do think this [application of behavioral economics in health care] is inevitable," said Nease. "I don't think we're going to get health care reform without some deeper understanding of why people behave they way they do."

Nease and the center kicked off a listening tour on May 27th in D.C. at an event hosted by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. Speakers included representatives from the American Benefits Council, Hewitt Associates and the National Business Coalition on Health. The full list of tour partners can be seen here.

The tour currently has two events planned for October, first in San Francisco and then Chicago.