- Drug Benefit Trends Vol 21 No 3
- Volume 21
- Issue 3
Financial Incentives Spur Smoking Cessation
Financial incentives offered by employers significantly increased rates of smoking cessation, according to results of a study published in the February 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, one of the largest of its kind, was funded by the CDC and the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The CDC reports that smoking costs employers about $3400 per employee annually, or about $7.18 per pack of cigarettes smoked, in health care costs, presenteeism (lost productivity), and absenteeism.
Financial incentives offered by employers significantly increased rates of smoking cessation, according to results of a study published in the February 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, one of the largest of its kind, was funded by the CDC and the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The CDC reports that smoking costs employers about $3400 per employee annually, or about $7.18 per pack of cigarettes smoked, in health care costs, presenteeism (lost productivity), and absenteeism.
Kevin G. Volpp, MD, PhD, core investigator at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion and attending physician at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and colleagues randomly assigned 878 employees of General Electric Company from 85 US facilities who smoked an average of 1 pack of cigarettes a day to receive information about smoking cessation programs (n = 442) or to receive this information along with offers of financial incentives (n = 436). Employees who completed a smoking cessation program were awarded $100; those who stopped smoking within 6 months of study enrollment, as confirmed by a biochemical test, were awarded $250; and those who continued to abstain from smoking for an additional 6 months after quitting, as confirmed by a biochemical test, were awarded $400.