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335518
Increasing Medicaid Calls to the California Smokers' Helpline through Comprehensive Outreach: The Medi-Cal Incentives to Quit Smoking Project


Monday, November 2, 2015

Elisa Tong, MD, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA
Susan Stewart, PhD, Division of Biostatistics, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA
Dean Schillinger, MD, Center for Vulnerable Populations and Division of General Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Susan Kratochvil, Center for Healthcare Policy Research, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA
Cynthia Vela, Center for Healthcare Policy Research, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA
Carrie Kirby, MA, Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Chris Anderson, Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Shu-Hong Zhu, PhD, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Jessica Safier, Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Gordon Sloss, Office of the Medical Director, California Department of Health Care Services, Sacramento, CA
Neal Kohatsu, MD, MPH, Office of the Medical Director, California Department of Health Care Services, Sacramento, CA
Background:  California Medicaid (Medi-Cal) members smoke at higher rates than the general population (18.7% vs. 12.9%).  In 2011, California’s Department of Health Care Services launched the Medi-Cal Incentives to Quit Smoking (MIQS) Project, a grant funded by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Affordable Care Act.  The goal of MIQS is to increase Medi-Cal members’ use of the California Smokers’ Helpline by offering modest incentives. 

Methods:  Initially, MIQS offered a $20 gift card, which members could ask for and earn by completing a counseling session.  The incentive was later expanded mid-way to include free nicotine patches.  Staff disseminated the offers widely via outreach materials, which were in six languages featuring diverse populations.  Targets included Medi-Cal providers and managed care plans, county and state agencies, and safety net providers.  Large volume direct-to-member mailings were also conducted through pre-existing channels, and these materials promoted only the patches and included a tracking code.  Quitline calls from Medi-Cal members were tracked monthly from 3/2012-1/2015.

Results:  The total number of Medi-Cal callers to date is 78,478, more than a 50% increase in calls from prior years’ rates before MIQS.  Calls increased an average 3.6% per month (95% CI 3.5%-3.7%) or 53% per year.  In contrast, total calls to the Helpline only increased 1.0% per month (95% CI 1.0%-1.1%), or 13% per year.  Currently, 9853 callers have asked for the gift card, and 15,518 callers have reported the direct mailing tracking code.  Over 35,000 members have enrolled in receiving MIQS incentives.

Conclusion:  California’s first comprehensive outreach campaign targeting Medi-Cal members who smoke with promoting modest incentives significantly increased utilization of population-based tobacco cessation services.

Learning Areas:

Chronic disease management and prevention
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
Describe the Medi-Cal Incentive to Quit Smoking project and statewide, county, and direct-to-member outreach strategies to target Medi-Cal members who smoke Compare the increases in calls over time and their association with outreach strategies and modest incentives offered

Keyword(s): Tobacco Control, Medicaid

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the statewide outreach principal investigator for the Medi-Cal Incentives to Quit Smoking project. I am also a tobacco control researcher and physician.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3297.0: Multi-intervention tobacco cessation approaches