Digital Health Company Carrot Launches Vaping Cessation Program

March 10 news: According to Vapingpost, Carrot Inc., a digital health startup focused on smoking cessation, is offering the Pivot digital health program to its teams and clients to help them quit vaping.

The new Pivot program is available to Carrot’s self-insured employer and health plan clients for their employees and members, and it will also be made available to consumers later this year. The service features customized content, in-app courses, one-on-one coaching from cessation specialists, and community support.

Carrot President and Chief Operating Officer Busy Burr said: “Warnings about the dangers of vaping have renewed awareness of how nicotine addiction challenges so many Americans every day. In the past, cessation solutions included phone coaching or in-person classes, and they did not adapt to the needs of American consumers. With Pivot, we changed everything for smokers, and now we are moving quickly to develop a digital solution for e-cigarettes as well, so people can get the help they need whenever they need it.”

Data from Pivot’s largest clinical trial showed an unprecedented quit rate of 32%. The report indicated that employers spend an average of $3,000 per person per year in healthcare costs, meaning the total annual burden from tobacco use in the United States reaches billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, researchers from the University of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical School recently found that smokers are more likely to quit when offered financial incentives.

The Cochrane Library published a study titled “Incentives for Smoking Cessation,” which included results from 33 trials across eight countries, including 10 trials involving pregnant women. Researchers analyzed data from more than 21,000 participants trying to quit smoking.

The results showed that smokers who received financial incentives were 50% more likely to quit than those who did not. The incentives ranged in value from £35 to £912 and took the form of cash payments, vouchers, or deposits paid by participants and later refunded. Interestingly, the study found that the amount of cash incentive did not really affect their chances of quitting—small rewards were enough.

Dr. Penny Woods, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, said these findings should be taken into account when designing smoking cessation programs. “Financial incentive schemes to help people quit smoking have been scrapped in the past, so it is great to see strong evidence that these innovative programs work. Local authorities should consider this new research when designing comprehensive stop-smoking services, because it could help target those in our communities who find it hardest to quit.”