Evaluation of a Combined Financial Incentives and Deposit Contract Intervention for Smoking Cessation: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The objective of this study is to evaluate whether a combination of financial incentives and deposit contracts improves cessation among low- to moderate-income smokers. The estimated treatment effects on cessation are positive, but imprecise, with confidence intervals containing effect sizes estimated by prior studies of financial incentives alone and deposit contracts alone. A combined incentives and deposit contract program for Medicaid enrollees, with incentives offering up to $300 for smoking cessation and use of support services, produced a positive but imprecisely estimated effect on biochemically-verified cessation relative to usual care and with no detectable difference in cessation rates between different treatment arms.