link to the original press release on Molina Healthcare's website
DETROIT, April 1, 2024 – Molina Healthcare of Michigan (“Molina”), in partnership with Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan’s academic medical center, announced the Incentives2Quit Program, a completely virtual program to promote smoking cessation among Medicaid-enrolled expectant mothers in Michigan.
This new program uses monetary incentives, motivational text messaging, and engagement in the Michigan Tobacco Quitline to help people achieve long-term tobacco cessation.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Michigan, claiming more lives than AIDS, alcohol, opioids, auto accidents, murders, and suicides combined. Smoking during pregnancy is particularly risky, increasing risk of premature birth, low birthweight, and birth defects. Those with lower incomes, including historically marginalized populations, are disproportionately affected by smoking-related diseases and deaths.
“Intervention programs like Incentives2Quit are crucial to improving health outcomes for all Michiganders, but especially children and their mothers,” said Terrisca Des Jardins, plan president for Molina Healthcare of Michigan. “This is a proven high-touch support program that promotes better health for expectant mothers and better health outcomes for babies. We plan to expand the program to additional populations after initial implementation.”
A team from Michigan Medicine’s CHOICE Lab will oversee the implementation of Incentives2Quit, which was initially piloted in partnership with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Tobacco Section, Michigan Primary Care Association and local health clinics. The program provides small monetary incentives to participants to engage in the smoking cessation program via an online app, tailored motivational text messaging, and biologically verified breath tests that show if the person has smoked recently. The smoking quit rate achieved in the pilot program far exceeded the national quit rate.
“Quitting smoking is the single best behavior change an expectant mother can make to improve their health and the health of their baby,” said Lara Coughlin, PhD, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Michigan Medical School. “Molina’s leadership as the first managed care organization in Michigan to offer this program will directly contribute to healthier moms and babies.” Coughlin directs the CHOICE Lab and is a member of the U-M Addiction Center and the Michigan Innovations in Addiction Care through Research and Education initiative.
About Molina Healthcare of Michigan
Molina Healthcare of Michigan has been providing government-funded health care since 1997. The Company serves members through Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare-Medicaid (Duals), and Health Insurance Exchange programs throughout Michigan. Through its locally operated health plans, Molina Healthcare, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, provides managed health care services under the Medicaid and Medicare programs, and through state insurance marketplaces. For more information about Molina Healthcare of Michigan, visit MolinaHealthcare.com.
About Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan’s Academic Medical Center
Michigan Medicine advances health to serve Michigan and the world, pursuing excellence every day in top-rated hospitals, clinics and home care operations, as well as educating the next generation of physicians, health professionals and scientists in the U-M Medical School.
Michigan Medicine includes the top-ranked U-M Medical School and the University of Michigan Health, which includes the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, University Hospital, the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, Rogel Cancer Center, U-M Health West and Sparrow Health System. The U-M Medical School is one of the nation's biomedical research powerhouses, with total research funding of more than $777 million.
More information is available at www.michiganmedicine.org.
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