South Kingstown, RI – June 12, 2013. This month, Care New England will launch a pilot of an innovative smoking cessation program for its health plan members. The program integrates Pro-Change’s evidence-based behavior change program, including individually tailored text messages with VAL Health’s unique approach to incentives.
Pro-Change’s Smoking Cessation Program (www.prochange.com/smoking-cessation-program) is built for smokers who are not ready to quit, getting ready to quit, ready to quit, in the process of quitting, and staying quit. The URAC award-winning program has an impressive cessation rate of 25%-30%. Recent research indicates that adding individually tailored text messages to the program increased effectiveness by 10 percentage points.
The 6-month pilot with Care New England health plan members will be integrated with VAL Health Rewards, an innovative program that applies the principles of behavioral economics to improve the impact and efficiency of incentive programs.
All Care New England’s benefit-eligible employees and their spouses and dependents who smoke will be eligible to participate in the program. A special bonus award is available if more than one member in a household participates.
“We are very excited to be working with Pro-Change and VAL Health Rewards on this new program. Unlike many other smoking cessation programs, this pilot helps to assess how ready a person is to quit and then provides tailored support based upon that assessment. Many, but not all, participants will quit. However, the research shows that most who complete the program will be better prepared to quit” said Domenic Delmonico, Senior Vice President and executive sponsor of the program for CNE.
About VAL Health
VAL Health is a leading behavioral economics consulting firm. Its health related incentive solutions are derived from team members’ rigorous scientific studies that demonstrate how one offers incentives is often more important than the size of the incentive. VAL Health applies behavioral economic science into practice to develop high impact wellness programs for employers and health plans, and customized incentive programs for health-related technology companies to increase participation and engagement. For more information, please visit www.valhealth.com.
About Care New England
Care New England Health System is positioned to transition into the new era of health care delivery with a high quality continuum of care. Its strength are based on complementary programs and distinctive competencies of partner hospitals and agencies including Kent, Butler, and Women and Infants Hospitals, the VNA and the Care New England Wellness Center. For more information, please visit www.carenewengland.org.