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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Sylvia Suaverdez, MPH, Measures Development, National Committee for Quality Assurance, 2000 L Street, N.W., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036, 202-955-1716, suaverdez@ncqa.org, Joachim Roski, PhD, MPH, Quality Measurement, NCQA, 2000 L. Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036, Corrine Husten, MD, Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, N.E., Mailstop K-50, Atlanta, GA 30341, and Abby C. Rosenthal, MPH, Office on Smoking and Health, Centers For Disease Control, Rhodes k-50, Atlanta, GA 48202.
The current Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey (CAHPS®) 2.0H includes a series of items establishing if smokers have received advice to quit smoking. With the introduction of the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) Advising Smokers to Quit measure, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has taken a significant step towards measuring health care quality in addressing a key contributor, cigarette smoking, to morbidity and mortality in the U.S. The recently updated Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence published by USDHHS Public Health Service presents convincing empirical support for providing patients who smoke with advice and assistance that can aid them in the cessation process. Specifically, these guidelines recommend repeated advice, support and delivery of cessation assistance at all or most health-care visits. Therefore, NCQA, with the support of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s Office on Smoking and Health, recommended that two additional items be added to the series of existing smoking cessation items currently included in the CAHPS® 2.0H survey. These items would measure the proportion of smokers who received information regarding 1)pharmacotherapy and 2)specific methods or strategies from their health provider to assist them in smoking cessation. This particular performance measure has the potential to become part of HEDIS® and provide health care providers, consumers of health care and the general public with meaningful, comparable and relevant information about the quality of their health care. This, in turn, will encourage improvement in the area of smoking cessation strategies.
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employment: NCQA