Crystal Bieterman, MPH, CHES¹, Nancy Wongvipat, MPH¹, Peggy Haines, RN², and Bruce Chernof, MD, FACP¹. (1) State Health Programs, Health Education Department, Health Net of California, Inc., 1055 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 300, Pasadena, CA 91106, 626-683-6481, crystal.bieterman@health.net, (2) QI and Compliance, Health Net of California, Inc., 21281 Burbank Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91367

Tobacco is still the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. with over 440,000 deaths annually due to cigarette smoking related illnesses. It is estimated that 36% of the 32 million Medicaid members smoke. In California alone, over 4 million adults smoke. Health Net is one of the Nation’s largest health care organizations serving over 625,000 Medi-Cal (Medicaid) members and has the opportunity to serve its members and impact tobacco related illnesses. The purpose of this study is to examine program effectiveness and the feasibility of implementing such a model in a Medicaid Managed Care setting. Quitting Matters is a free telephonic based tobacco cessation program that includes 6 scheduled outbound calls, including a 12 month follow up call, unlimited inbound calls and medication management. Unique challenges for this population is as follows: developing a method of managing the proper use of medications, setting up these infrastructures among independent parties, educating the patients, physicians and pharmacies on these processes and determining how to measure the success of the enrolled participants and the program itself. Associations between investigational variables will be examined, such as the number of counseling sessions, length of time in the program, the progression through the stages of change, amount of tobacco consumed daily and utilization of NRT medications.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the successes and challenges of implementing a smoking cessation program in a managed care setting.
• Identify the key steps needed for effective smoking cessation program development. Assess the feasibility of a multi-level intervention approach to implementing a smoking cessation program in their settings.

Keywords: Smoking Cessation, Managed Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.