Clark Memorial Hospital: Smokers take program or pay up

Clark County

Discussion

March 26, 2009

Surcharge could cost smokers up to $600 per year

By MATT KOESTERS The News and Tribune Thu Mar 26, 2009, 01:59 PM EDT

A new policy at Clark Memorial Hospital will make sure that education pays for its tobacco-using team members.

Employees who identify themselves as smokers have until May to complete a smoking-cessation and education program provided by the state. Those that fail to do so will have a tobacco-use surcharge deducted from their bi-weekly paycheck.

“We wanted to make sure and not take the surcharge until [employees] had ample opportunity — should they want to participate — to call the number and be able to complete the program well in advance,” said Scott Hicks, the hospital’s director of human resources.

The number — 1-800-QUIT-NOW, the state-funded smoking-cessation hotline. The hotline is staffed with “quit coaches,” who assess the level of a smoker’s addiction and psychosocial triggers and help smokers kick the habit.

But at the cost of $25 every two week pay period until completion of the program, the fee could see some employees fuming as their pay goes up in smoke. Feedback from smokers about the tobacco-use surcharge has been mixed, Hicks said.

“Some people say, ‘OK, I understand,’ Hicks said. “Others are like, ‘Well gosh, I don’t think this is fair.’”

Although the goal of the program is to get hospital employees to quit smoking, the surcharge is based only on whether the employees complete the cessation program.

“Whether they ever quit smoking or quit using tobacco or not is irrelevant for the point of the program,” Hicks said. “What we want for our team members to do is to gain knowledge, gain the education and potentially gain the resources that they need to quit using tobacco.

“Our hope is that our team members who use tobacco would stop.”

The policy does not apply to smoking family members of a hospital employee covered under the hospital’s insurance plan. Any money collected from smokers through the tobacco-use surcharge will be used to offset health-insurance costs, Hicks said.

A comprehensive smoking-cessation program has been in place since the hospital campus went tobacco-free in 2007, said Andi Hannah, of the Clark County Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Coalition, who also is a nurse at the hospital. But while the hospital will continue to provide services to employees trying to quit — including up to three month supplies of free nicotine-replacement therapy products such as nicotine patches and prescription medications — the quit line will help streamline the hospital’s cessation efforts.

“The evidence is more in favor of quit lines as being able to reach more people for the dollar than local cessation programs,” Hannah said. “It’s a more efficient and cost-effective method to reach people.”

First-time callers to 800-QUIT-NOW should expect their first call to take about 30 minutes to complete, Hannah said. The cessation program could take as few as three calls to complete, but could take many more depending on the caller’s level of engagement.

In Indiana, any smoker calling in to the quit line can get a two-week supply of nicotine patches or gum for free, Hannah said. Smoking-cessation hotlines are available in all states, but Kentucky does not offer free quit aids to callers.

“Smoking is the No. 1 cause of preventable disease and death,” Hannah said. “Smokers tend to have more sick days. They are more inclined to have on-the-job accidents, and when they do, they are slower to heal. If they have hospitalization, their hospitalization is longer.”

Hannah said health-care costs are adversely impacted by smokers in the workplace.

“As a health-care organization, we believe it’s so important that people make this commitment,” said Mary Jennings, hospital spokeswoman. “We want to help our team members make a healthy choice.”

thinking about quitting?

1-800-QUIT-NOW receives calls from 8 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week.