UVM Secures Major Funding for App Offering Pregnant Smokers Financial Incentives to Quit

The University of Vermont (UVM) has landed a significant multi-phase federal award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to advance a groundbreaking smartphone app designed to help pregnant individuals quit smoking. Led by UVM Dr. Stephen T. Higgins, the app employs financial incentives as a powerful motivator, offering monetary rewards for verified smoking abstinence. This innovative approach is set to begin enrolling participants in rural areas this summer, tackling a persistent public health challenge in a novel way. Vermont, despite overall progress, still grapples with disproportionately high rates of smoking during pregnancy, particularly in rural communities where traditional health resources are scarce. This digital therapeutic, developed by DynamiCare Health, directly addresses these access barriers by allowing users to remotely verify their smoking status through video-submitted salivary cotinine tests, which measure nicotine exposure. The system then delivers funds to a secure, restricted debit card, building on decades of research into contingency management – a behavioral science approach pioneered by Dr. Higgins himself, which has shown efficacy in substance use disorders. The upcoming enrollment in summer 2026 marks a critical phase for this project, with successful clinical trials potentially paving the way for the app to be designated an FDA-approved digital intervention. If proven effective and scalable, this UVM-led initiative could revolutionize maternal health outcomes, offering a vital, accessible tool for pregnant individuals across the nation, especially those in underserved regions, to achieve smoking cessation and improve both maternal and infant health.