A new report from the National Business Coalition on Health finds that employer-sponsored health plans play an integral role in administering smoking cessation benefits.

The report also urges physicians and other providers to hone in on smoking cessation programs through education, tools, and incentives. “Tobacco cessation is a complex issue for employers and health plans. There is a significant process from identification of individuals needing support to successful treatment,” says Dennis White, senior vice president for value-based purchasing at NBCH.

White also notes that research shows 80% of health plans are adopting evidence-based benefit design, incorporating counseling and using FDA-approved medication with positive results.

But before employers can help their puffing workers, they need to identify them, something with which many have difficulties. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has found that 21% of the population smokes, yet health plans report that the range of smoking rates covered in their population is between .1% and 19%, with an average of 4%.

Often employers use HRAs to identify smokers, with 37% citing the form as the most effective method in identification and 90% currently identifying smokers in that manner. Nevertheless, HRAs have a mere 4% average completion rate, so not everyone is recognized, according to the NBCH report.

About 85% of health plans screen through disease management programs, 85% rely on self-referral (which 47% of employers believe to be the most effective method), and only 7% ask members upon enrollment.

To get the word out, 94% of employers provide general information about tobacco use through their Web site and/or newsletters. Further, 79% provide a “quit kit” for members by mail, NBCH found.

Health plans also are involved in physician-patient relations when it comes to screening for tobacco use and encouraging treatment. Currently, 15% of plans provide member specific reports or reminders to screen to physicians, and 33% hand out member specific reports or reminders to treat, the report notes. Only 11% of plans have incentives for practitioners to screen for tobacco use, and 12% provide incentives to refer the member to a program or to treat the member.

Other key findings from the report included:

• Nearly 85% of health plans provide telephonic counseling support, with 77% providing a minimum of at least four sessions.

• The more person-to-person contact and the greater the intensity, the more effective the program will be, research has found. Yet, only 37% of plans offer in-person or group programs.

• Eighty-one percent of plans provide access to over-the-counter nicotine replacement medications and 68% offer incentives for patient use of these medications. Although 74% to 80% provide access to tobacco cessation prescription medications, only 25% to 33% provide incentives to members for these medications through lower co-payments or deductibles.

• Employers clearly see the worth in implementing a comprehensive smoking cessation program, with 96% saying that it would be beneficial to have such a program. Nonetheless, only 20% of employers in the survey offered all four of the criteria recommended by the CDC.