A smoking cessation strategy many health plans overlook

Wellness programs are not giving smoking cessation nearly enough attention, even though e-cigarette smoking is on the rise, according to the results of a recent survey.

Wellness incentives that are personalized and tailored to individual member needs can help combat the hazards of cigarette smoking, according to a recent HealthMine survey of wellness program participants.

Williams“E-cigarette smoking is on the rise, and 18% of adult Americans are smokers,” according to Bryce Williams, president and CEO of HealthMine.“As health plan sponsors help their members take greater control of their own health, smoking is a vital issue that should not be ignored. Wellness incentives-when personalized and matched carefully to recommended health actions-can play a powerful role in helping plan members address the health risks of smoking.”

The survey showed that 63% of participants say smoking cessation programs are absent from their plan. Even in plans that do include smoking cessation programs, only 13.5% of people are likely to complete the program without an incentive. Yet only 32% of wellness program enrollees say their program includes incentives for smoking cessation.

Consumers view traditional cigarettes as more dangerous than e-cigarettes, HealthMine uncovered in its January Health Plan Member Survey. Additionally, plan members support incentives and disincentives for smoking cessation: 63% of consumers think colleagues that smoke tobacco products should pay more for health insurance, while 48% of consumers think that e-cigarette smokers should be penalized.

Use of e-cigarettes has drastically increased, tripling among teens between 2013 and 2014.

Related:Electronic cigarette use and implications for tobacco cessation

The Department of Health and Human Services plans to finalize regulations on e-cigarettes by the end of the summer. The regulations on e-cigarettes and smoking them, also known as “vaping,” are in response to the dramatic increase in this type of smoking, even as regular cigarette smoking has declined.

Separately, this month, the FDA denied a petition filed by citizens on behalf of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and American Snuff Company, LLC to ease up on the warnings around smokeless tobacco.  According to the CDC, smokeless tobacco is used by 2.6% of the public. And, in 2014, Brian King, scientific advisor at the CDC’s office of smoking and health was quoted as saying, “In recent years there have been declines in cigarette smoking, but there’s really other tobacco products making up a large proportion of tobacco use in certain populations.”  The bottom line is that all tobacco products  pose a cost and risk to workforce health.

“Plan sponsors should provide annual screenings, ongoing education about the health risks of smoking, and strong financial incentives-or disincentives-tied to carefully-designed smoking cessation programs,” Williams says.

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