The Costs and Effectiveness of Different Benefit Designs for Treating Tobacco Dependence: Results from a Randomized Trial

Abstract

This research estimated the costs and effectiveness of three different benefit designs for treating tobacco dependence: drugs only (nicotine replacement therapy patch, nasal spray, inhaler, and Zyban); drugs and counseling (drugs and proactive telephone counseling); and drugs if counseling (drugs conditional on enrollment in counseling). A sample of 393 adult smokers enrolled in a California preferred provider organization was randomly assigned to one of three study groups. After eight months, there were no significant increases in quit attempts or quit rates in the groups with covered drugs and counseling compared to the group with drug coverage only. Therefore, costs rose with no increase in quit rates when proactive telephone counseling was added to coverage of pharmacotherapy, regardless of benefit design.