Looking at Impact of Consumer Fees on Wellness & Prevention Programs

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Once fees were added to a formerly-free smoking cessation and/or weight loss counseling program, clinician referrals dropped by 97%. A huge drop, and all because docs stopped discussing patients' need for wellness and health counseling to help eliminate unhealthy behaviors. Naturally the patients didn't sign themselves up—or think to sign up. When the smoking cessation and/or weight loss counseling program was free, clinicians referred about 21.8% of their patients, though after fees were instituted, the percentage of patients referred to the program that completed the counseling dropped to 0.7 . . .