Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line Medicaid Incentive Evaluation
Condition: Smoking; Smoking Cessation; Nicotine Dependence
MeSH terms: Tobacco Use Disorder
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The study is designed to test the hypotheses that financial incentives can increase both
      participation in smoking cessation treatment and resulting cessation rates, when they are
      offered to BadgerCare Plus (Medicaid) smokers as part of their health care.
    

Detailed description: 
      Previous research on providing incentives for healthy behaviors has shown that financial
      incentives can increase treatment participation and boost outcomes when they are tied to
      participation in evidence based treatments. However, most of this research has been done in
      laboratory settings and in relatively small clinical trials. This study is designed to test
      the hypotheses that incentives can increase both participation in smoking cessation treatment
      and resulting cessation rates, when they are offered to Wisconsin BadgerCare Plus (Medicaid)
      smokers as part of their health care. If successful, this treatment approach could be used
      more broadly to reduce the considerable financial and personal costs associated with
      smoking-related disease.

      In this study, Medicaid-eligible smokers were recruited from primary care clinics and from
      callers to the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line (WTQL) with randomization a Control condition and
      an Incentive condition. All participants were offered five cessation calls from the WTQL and
      participants were encouraged by WTQL coaches to obtain cessation medication from their
      primary care providers. All participants received payment for completing a baseline
      assessment ($40) and a 6-month smoking test ($40). Only Incentive condition participants
      received additional compensation for taking counseling calls ($30 per completed call) and for
      biochemically-verified abstinence at the 6-month visit ($40).
    

Intervention name(s): Counseling from WTQL; Financial incentive to participate
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Other
Intervention description(s): Counseling from the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line (WTQL) consisted of 5 proactive calls to the participant to help them successfully quit tobacco use, plus ad hoc calls at the participant's initiation; also, WTQL coaches encouraged participants to see their health care provider to obtain Medicaid-approved smoking cessation medications to help them quit smoking.; Participants in the Incentive condition received $30 per call for up to five WTQL calls taken; in addition, Incentive condition participants received $40 for producing biochemical evidence of abstinence at the 6-month follow-up visit. (Note that participants in both the Control condition and the Incentive condition received $40 for completing the baseline biochemical smoking status assessment visit and $40 for completing the 6-month follow-up biochemical smoking status assessment visit.) Compensation was in the form of prepaid Visa gift cards mailed approximately 2-4 weeks after the point of contact.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Health Services Research