Reducing the Burden of Smoking on Employee Health and Productivity

Article Highlights

Study Title
Reducing the Burden of Smoking on Employee Health and Productivity
Study Authors
National Business Group on Health, et al.
Publication Date
2003
 

Overview

The National Business Group on Health provides employers with practical information about the advantages of covering tobacco cessation benefits. This document describes the prevalence and health impact of smoking, proof of economic cost of tobacco-related illnesses, and guidelines for implementing the most effective tobacco cessation benefits.

The Problem

Approximately 25% of U.S. adults smoke; and each of those smokers cost the United States about $3,856 per year in direct medical costs and lost productivity due to smoking-related illnesses. In addition, employers experience greater costs for health care and insurance for smokers as well as losses due to increased absenteeism and lower rates of productivity among smokers. Two interesting statistics on smokers' toll on employers are shown below:

  1. Male smokers incur $15,800 more in lifetime medical expenses and miss an average of 4 more workdays than male non-smokers.
  2. Female smokers incur $17,500 more in lifetime medical expenses and miss an average of 2 more workdays than female non-smokers.

The Solution

There is much evidence to support that paying for tobacco cessation treatment is the single, most cost-effective health insurance benefit for adults and is the benefit that has the greatest positive impact on health.

Employers selecting a tobacco cessation program should do the following:

  • Choose a health plan that covers effective treatment for smoking.
  • Design benefits to cover a variety of treatments including telephonic cessation counseling and/or pharmacotherapy.
  • Realize that telephone delivery of cessation counseling is one of the most successful and cost-effective forms of cessation treatment
  • Remove fees and co-pays to pharmacotherapy and counseling so that use of the cessation benefit is not restricted in any way.
  • Ensure the health care providers (in the plan) adhere to the Health Employer Data Information Set requirements that measure whether or not physicians screen all patients for smoking, advise smokers to quit, and make recommendations on pharmacotherapy and programs for quitting. It is very important to have physician-support and assistance in motivating people to quit tobacco use.
  • Communicate to employees the importance of quitting, the employer's support of quitting, and the availability of quality programs for quitting.
  • Offer cessation programs that support multiple efforts to quit and allow people to re-enter the program if they begin smoking and need to quit again.
  • Make the workplace smoke-free and promote healthy lifestyle behaviors like exercise and good nutrition.
  • Offer employees incentives to achieve and maintain good health.

Employees' tobacco use burdens employers with higher health care costs as well as losses due to decreased productivity and increased absenteeism among smokers. But employers can combat smoking-related costs by instituting a healthy workplace culture that gives employees support to quit smoking, accessible and effective smoking cessation programs with no-cost pharmacotherapy, and incentives to quit smoking and achieve good health. Within just five years, the employer will see a return on investment, and employees will be healthier and smoke-free.

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