More HMOs, insurers offering smoking cessation programs
The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area - by Deanna Thompson Contributing Writer
Employers who want to help workers snuff out the cigarette habit can get help from an increasing number of health maintenance and insurance organizations today; many have started offering assistance programs as part of their standard coverage.
QualChoice of North Carolina Inc. believes it became the first in North Carolina to offer a comprehensive smoking program to employers across the board, rather than as an available rider, when it unveiled a series of programs in January 1999.
"It just makes so much sense to us from a health and wellness perspective because so many of your chronic diseases ... are tied to smoking and tobacco," said Bill Evans, director of marketing for the Winston-Salem-based QualChoice. "We're trying on tobacco road to impact the area we serve."
Previously, like many other HMOs, QualChoice had offered a smoking cessation program that could be purchased as a rider to the employer's insurance program.
Full program
The new four-part program includes:
• Coverage of Zyban, the non-nicotine prescription drug that helps smokers fight addiction, as long as the member's coverage includes prescription drugs;
• 100 percent reimbursement of the cost of the Freedom from Smoking Program offered through the American Lung Association;
• 50 percent reimbursement for nicotine replacement products when the member enrolls in the national Committed Quitters program, offered through a pharmaceutical company that makes the products;
• 100 percent reimbursement for the Freedom From Smoking Clinic program, where individuals meet in a group setting to quit.
In all cases, members have to meet certain requirements to get reimbursed. Members also can get reimbursed for self-help materials, including a book and tape, to use on their own.
Pam Hayes, supervisor of prevention and wellness programs at QualChoice, noted that the programs are designed to cross the spectrum to meet the needs of many different types of individuals, from those who prefer to quit on their own to those who need a group setting to those who feel like one of the drugs will help them.
"We wanted to touch every possible personality trait out there," she said.
The most popular program by far is the Zyban reimbursement program, she said. A study in August found that during the first six months of the program, 675 members had at least one prescription for Zyban from their doctors, she said.
QualChoice has gotten a positive response from employees and spouses, but Hayes and Evans say it's too soon to get much feedback from employers.
"When I think we will get the feedback is a few years down the road when employers see their medical costs going down," said Evans.
Smoking cessation program
Two other health maintenance and insurance companies serving Triad area companies say they offer the national smoking cessation program Committed Quitters to members. Committed Quitters is actually a program offered to all smokers by SmithKline Beecham, the pharmaceutical company that makes NicoDerm and Nicorette gum products.
It includes an 800 number where members can get help starting and following a plan, printed material on approaches to quitting, information on groups that can help and discounts on gums and other products to help stem nicotine cravings.
UnitedHealthcare of North Carolina has offered Committed Quitters across the board to all members for at least three years, said Roger Rollman, director of corporate communications.
"This is part of an overall company emphasis on prevention and wellness," said Rollman.
Because the member initiates the program, UnitedHealthcare does not know how many of its 360,000 members at 7,000 companies across the state have taken advantage of it.
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