A team of UCLA-led researchers has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse to develop financial strategies for smoking cessation among high-risk, hospitalized patients.
Under the five-year, $3.4 million grant, the researchers will compare the impact that financial incentives to stop smoking could have on sustained abstinence, evidence-based therapy, and quality of life on the smokers.
Dr. Joseph Ladapo, associate professor of medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, will lead the project.
“Financial incentives for motivating changes in health behavior, particularly for smoking and other morbid habits, are increasingly being tested by health insurers, employers, and government agencies,” Ladapo said. “However, a key unanswered question regarding smoking cessation is how to structure these incentive programs to maximize their effectiveness, acceptability to patients, and economic sustainability.”
The risk of premature death is higher for hospitalized smokers, he said, because they are likelier to have smoking-related health issues such as heart and chronic lung disease and stroke.
The researchers will enroll hospitalized smokers at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, California, and at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.
“We’re focusing on low-income smokers with the hope to both increase smoking cessation and increase economic well-being through financial incentives,” Ladapo said.
