New Start for Smoking Cessation Clinical Summary

How the Program Works | Facts You Need to Know | Client Intervention Strategy | Compliance Management | Outcomes You Can Expect

How the Program Works

Matria’s New Start Smoking Cessation Program for employees who wish to quit smoking provides educational materials and counseling services to help employees improve unhealthy lifestyle habits. Behavioral health professionals conduct lifestyle and wellness assessments to help employees develop individualized action plans to meet their specific needs.

Appropriate levels of education and care are provided to help individuals gain control and experience positive results. Interventions consist of lifestyle support and coaching, education about the effects of smoking through print materials and telephonic interactions and referrals to community-based programs.

Educational materials include:

• Instructions and guidance for self-care
• Web-based information and resources
• Partnership with treating physician when appropriate
• Fact sheets
• Articles on physical consequences of smoking, including chronic conditions such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema

Employers receive the following benefits:

• Fewer employees who smoke
• Reduced employee risk for developing smoking-related chronic diseases
• Reduced healthcare costs from smoking-related medical problems

Facts You Need to Know

Tobacco use is one of the most devastating and preventable causes of disease and premature death. Nearly 25 percent of Americans, about 61 million people, smoke cigarettes. Smokers have a 50 percent chance of dying from a smoking-related illness.

Nicotine addiction takes a terrible toll on American health. More than 430,000 people die in this country each year from smoking-related causes, and the annual cost of these preventable illnesses in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity is more than $97 billion. Despite growing public awareness of the deadly dangers of tobacco, nearly 3,000 people younger than 18 become smokers every day and, once addicted, find it very difficult to stop.

Smoking increases the risk of costly chronic diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and stroke. When your employee quits smoking, they reduce the following risks:

• Heart disease by 50 percent within a year or two
• Lung cancer by up to 50 percent within 10 years
• Stroke by up to 100 percent in five to 10 years

Client Intervention Strategy

Behavioral health professionals conduct a range of thorough assessments to form a profile that increases the chances for intervention success. Assessment results are used to help employees develop individualized action plans to meet their specific needs.

The following assessments are used:

Lifestyle. Assesses emotional, social, behavioral and cultural lifestyle behaviors that influence employee habits, beliefs, motivation and overall emotional and physical health.

Readiness for Change. Evaluates an employee’s readiness to change.

Locus of Control. Analyzes an employee’s beliefs about how change occurs.

Productivity. Measures impact of nicotine addiction on workplace productivity. Respondents rate their level of work and activity impairment on a scale of 0 to10, hours worked and hours missed due to smoking, medical conditions associated with smoking or other relevant reasons.

Compliance Management

Behavioral health professionals help employees comply with their action plan with regular calls and follow-up educational materials. Action plans could include any or all of the following:

• Regular attendance at community-based support groups
• Scheduled counseling appointments
• Usage of antidepressant or other relevant medications
• Fulfillment of workplace goals established to improve performance and productivity
• Avoidance of people, places and situations that trigger a desire to smoke, such as bars, chain smokers and emotionally stressful relationships
• Maintenance of individualized exercise program
• Development of healthy lifestyle habits to reduce stress, such as yoga, meditation and prayer

Outcomes You Can Expect

The impact of stopping the use of nicotine begins as early as the first day. The following are some of the improvements that can be expected:

• Decreased risk of heart attacks after just two days
• Improved sense of taste and smell
• Increased lung capacity and easier breathing
• Decreased risk of lung disease and COPD
• Decreased risk of developing heart disease, cancer or other infections