Don Sapatkin, Inquirer Staff Writer Posted: Thursday, February 21, 2013, 3:01 AM

Penn Medicine's decision to hire only nonsmokers starting July 1 is part of a slow-moving trend that goes back decades and that is still controversial even among public health workers, who often see tobacco as enemy No. 1.

"I'd be much more enthusiastic about them providing programs" - which Penn also does - "to help employees stop smoking," said Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, who was asked about the decision Wednesday during a visit to The Inquirer.

Some large national companies, such as Turner Broadcasting, stopped hiring smokers in the 1980s. Twenty-nine states, including New Jersey, outlawed the practice as discriminatory. As a result, the University of Pennsylvania Health System's new policy will apply only in Pennsylvania.

Hospital systems, citing their mission of caring for patients and serving as community leaders as well as a need to save money on employee health insurance, have taken the lead with various tobacco policies in recent years. Smoking is now prohibited on all hospital campuses in South Jersey and on most in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

The Cleveland Clinic was among the first to stop hiring smokers. Among the large systems that followed were Baylor and the Geisinger Health System in central Pennsylvania.

Locally, St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network in the Lehigh Valley was an early adopter, in 2010. Abington Memorial Hospital joined a year later. Roxborough Memorial Hospital stopped hiring smokers on Sept. 1.

"It's been a non-event," said Roxborough administrator Michael Henrici, adding that one potential employee had been turned away.

When the decision was announced to the medical staff, "they actually broke out in applause," he said. "The goal is to be a leader in the community here in Roxborough in establishing a healthy workplace."

Henrici said the hospital got more complaints two years ago when it implemented a health insurance surcharge, now $25 every two weeks, for employees who smoke. Like other hospitals, Roxborough offers free smoking-cessation programs to workers and has grandfathered in smokers already on staff.

Read the original post:

Penn Medicine decision not to hire smokers part of a controversial trend