Smoking is an addiction. Treat it with medicine and counseling.
- Up to half of your patients who smoke will die from tobacco-related diseases.
- You have a vital role in helping your patients attain a tobacco-free life.
- You can help them quit smoking using proven and effective treatments for nicotine addiction, including medications and brief counseling.
- When you treat your patients who smoke, long-term abstinence rates increase dramatically.
- And Medicaid and other insurances cover it!
Half of adults who smoke report being motivated to quit because their health care provider recommended it.1
You can assist your patients who smoke with a combination of evidence-based brief counseling and pharmacotherapy interventions that can significantly increase their ability to quit for good.2
The Public Health Service Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence – Quick Reference Guide for Clinicians summarizes strategies and recommendations for providing appropriate and effective treatment for every patient who uses tobacco.
Patients may ask you about using electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) for smoking cessation. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has concluded that the current evidence is insufficient to recommend e-cigarettes for tobacco cessation in adults, including pregnant women. USPSTF recommends clinicians provide patients who smoke tobacco with the established safe and effective cessation interventions of counseling and FDA-approved medications covered in the Public Health Service Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence – Quick Reference Guide for Clinicians.
Insurance Coverage for Tobacco Dependence Treatment in New York State
New York State Medicaid covers individual and group cessation counseling and all seven cessation products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for all Medicaid fee-for-service and managed care members.
For more information on NYS Medicaid, see Medicaid Updates:
- April 2011: Expansion of Smoking Cessation Counseling to ALL Medicaid Beneficiaries
- May 2014: Expansion of Smoking Cessation Counseling (SCC) by Dental Practitioners
- July 2014: Smoking Cessation Counseling Includes Smokeless Tobacco Products
- March 2017: Update on the Smoking Cessation Benefit in Medicaid Fee-for-Service and Medicaid Managed Care
- December 2018: Tobacco Cessation Counseling by Dental Providers
Medicare and other health plans cover evidence-based tobacco cessation counseling. Check with individual plans to for coverage of FDA-approved tobacco cessation medications.
References
- New York State Department of Health. Health Concerns and Provider Recommendations Motivate Smokers to Quit. Bureau of Tobacco Control. StatShot Vol. 8, No. 6. December 2015.
- Fiore MC, Jaén CR, Baker TB, et al. Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update—Clinical Practice Guidelines. Rockville (MD): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2008.
