Reports Outline Clinical Trials and Studies Study Results from Massachusetts General Hospital

2020 DEC 24 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Data detailed on Clinical Research - Clinical Trials and Studies have been presented. According to news reporting out of Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “The workplace is a key channel for delivering tobacco cessation treatment to a population. Employers can provide workplace-based programs and/or financial incentives such as health insurance benefits that cover the cost of treatment accessed outside the workplace.”

Financial support for this research came from Partners HealthCare, Inc.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Massachusetts General Hospital, “Little is known about the effect of combining these strategies. We tested the benefit of adding a workplace cessation program, Partners in Helping You Quit (PiHQ), to comprehensive health insurance coverage of smoking cessation medications by Partners HealthCare, a large Bostonbased healthcare delivery system. PiHQ offers biweekly telephone-based behavioral support, additional automated calls, and medication care coordination for 3 months then monthly telephone monitoring for 9 months. In a pragmatic randomized trial, employees who smoked were informed about the insurance benefit, then randomly assigned (2:1) to PiHQ or to active referral to a free 3-month phone-based community program, Massachusetts Quitline (QL). Outcomes were assessed at 3, 6, and 12 months. During 2015-2018, 106 smokers (n = 73 PiHQ, n = 33 QL) enrolled (64% female; 75% white, 21% black; mean age 46 years, mean cigarettes/day = 13). More PiHQ than QL participants made a quit attempt by 3 months (82 vs. 61%, p<.02) and achieved the primary outcome, verified past 7-day cigarette abstinence at 6 months (31 vs. 12%, odds ratio 3.34, 95% CI, 1.05-10.60). Among participants using behavioral support, PiHQ participants completed more scheduled calls and rated counseling helpfulness higher than did QL participants.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These results suggest that employers can enhance the impact of providing comprehensive health insurance coverage of smoking cessation medication by adding a phone-based worksite cessation program.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Enhancing Employer Coverage of Smoking Cessation Treatment: a Randomized Trial of the Partners In Helping You Quit (Pihq) Program. Preventive Medicine, 2020;140. 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 Nancy A. Rigotti, Massachusetts General Hospital, Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, Division of General Internal Medicine, Boston, MA 02114, United States. Additional authors for this research include Jennifer H. K. Kelley, Susan Regan, Elizabeth Inman, Sara Kalkhoran, Amy Flaster and Sreekanth K. Chaguturu.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106216. 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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