New Findings from University of Vermont in Managed Care Provides New Insights (Economic Analysis of Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation During Pregnancy and Postpartum): Managed Care

2023 MAR 24 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Managed Care. According to news reporting from Burlington, Vermont, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Higgins and colleagues’ recently-completed randomized controlled trial and pooled data with 4 related trials of smoking cessation in pregnant women in Vermont (USA) showed that abstinence-contingent financial incentives (FI) increased abstinence over control conditions from early pregnancy through 24-weeks postpartum. Control conditions were best practices (BP) alone in the recent trial and payments provided independent of smoking status (noncontingently) in the others.”

Financial support for this research came from National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Vermont, “This paper reports economic analyses of abstinence-contingent FI. Merging trial results with maternal and infant healthcare costs from all Vermont Medicaid deliveries in 2019, we computed incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) for quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and compared them to established thresholds. The healthcare sector cost (+/- standard error) of adding FI to BP averaged $634.76 +/- $531.61 per participant. Based on this trial, the increased probability per BP + FI participant of smoking abstinence at 24-weeks postpartum was 3.17%, the cost per additional abstinent woman was $20,043, the incremental health gain was 0.0270 +/- 0.0412 QALYs, the ICER was $23,511/QALY gained, and the probabilities that BP + FI was very cost-effective (ICER=$65,910) and cost-effective (ICER=$100,000) were 67.9% and 71.0%, respectively. Based on the pooled trials, the corresponding values were even more favorable-8.89%, $7138, 0.0758 +/- 0.0178 QALYs, $8371/QALY, 98.6% and 99.3%, respectively. Each dollar invested in abstinence-contingent FI over control smoking-cessation programs yielded $4.20 in economic benefits in the recent trial and $11.90 in the pooled trials (very favorable benefit-cost ratios).”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Medicaid and commercial insurers may wish to consider covering financial incentives for smoking abstinence as a cost-effective service for pregnant beneficiaries who smoke.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Economic Analysis of Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation During Pregnancy and Postpartum. Preventive Medicine, 2022;165. Preventive Medicine can be contacted at: Academic Press Inc Elsevier Science, 525 B St, Ste 1900, San Diego, CA 92101-4495, USA. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Preventive Medicine - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/preventive-medicine/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Donald S. Shepard, University of Vermont, Vermont Ctr Behav & Hlth, Dept. of Psychiatry, Burlington, VT, United States. Additional authors for this research include Eric P. Slade, Tyler D. Nighbor, Michael J. DeSarno, Stephen T. Higgins, Maria L. Roemhildt and Rhonda K. Williams.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107079. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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