National Working Group for ACTTION
(Access to Coverage of Tobacco Treatment In Our Nation)
Partnership for Prevention
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Hospital Tobacco Control
Partnership for Prevention’s ActionToQuit initiative advocates that all hospitals and health systems in the USA contribute to the public’s health by making tobacco cessation a priority. Specifically, we propose that all patients be screened for tobacco as a standard practice and tobacco users be offered cessation treatment and follow-up contact to help them quit and remain smoke-free. While this is currently a policy in some hospitals, by and large it is not routine procedure in spite of broad agreement that tobacco cessation treatments are both effective and cost-effective. Hospitalization provides an ideal opportunity to deliver tobacco interventions that can help tobacco users quit. In fact, cessation treatment is one of the most important actions medical professionals can take for their patients.
In 2010, Partnership for Prevention provided funding to the Joint Commission to develop and test a new set of tobacco cessation performance measures. These would be applicable to all hospitalized patients, 18 years of age or older, with a history of smoking cigarettes any time during the year prior to hospital arrival. This pilot project was completed in December of 2010. The tobacco cessation measure set was approved in 2011by the Joint Commission Performance Measure Committee and should be ready for hospital selection and implementation by January 2012. Still, like all the other Joint Commission measure sets, this one will not be mandatory, but rather one of several from which hospitals can choose to meet certification requirements.
While this is a significant step forward for health system tobacco cessation, there is still much work to be done. Because the measure set is “voluntary” and one of many, most hospitals will likely not select it for implementation in 2012. Second, it only applies to hospital inpatients and does not impact outpatients. Third, it doesn’t directly affect non-hospital systems such as community health centers and addictions treatment facilities that serve patients who use tobacco. State and local advocates should consider interacting with their hospital systems to urge them to screen all patients for tobacco use and treat those who use tobacco. This should be a nationwide, voluntary practice for the health of patients, regardless of Joint Commission certification. There are excellent examples of hospitals that have adopted a policy like this that can serve to guide system change efforts.
Joint Commission Project
1. Helping Patients Quit: Implementing the Joint Commission Tobacco Measure Set in Your Hospital
2. Joint Commission Project Fact Sheet
3. Joint Commission Tobacco and Alcohol Measures
4. Statement from the Joint Commission Regarding U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Initiative to Eliminate Tobacco
5. Hospital Tobacco Cessation - An Advocacy Letter to the National Quality Forum
Featured Resources
1. Tobacco-Free Toolkit for Community Health Facilities
2. Webinar: Helping Patients Quit: Implementing The Joint Commission Tobacco Measure Set in Your Hospital, with Dr. Nancy Rigotti and Nancy Lawler. View the video here. You can also view the slides here. Please click here to view the Q&A from the webinar.
3. Webinar: The Role of Hospitals in Tobacco Cessation, with Dr. Andew Pipe and Rob Adsit. View the video here. You can also view the slides here. Please click here to view the Q&A from the webinar.
4. New England Journal of Medicine - Treating Smokers in the Health Care Setting
5. University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention
Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence in Hospitalized Patients: A Practical Guide 2012 Update
6. An Interview with Nancy Rigotti, MD, Harvard Medical School
7. "Integrating Comprehensive Tobacco Treatment into the Evolving U.S. Health Care System," an article by Nancy Rigotti, MD (2011).
8. University of Ottawa Heart Institute
Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation
Health Professionals / Continuing Education
1. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence- Quick Referece Guide for Clinicians
2. University of Wisconsin Centers for Tobacco Research and Intervention
Healthcare Providers Tools for Treating Tobacco Dependence
3. American Medical Association
Educating Physicians on Controversies & Challenges in Health: Smoking Cessation in Special Populations
Other Resources for Hospitals
1. Partnership for Prevention and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Healthcare Provider Reminder Systems
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
A Practical Guide to Working with Health-Care Systems on Tobacco-Use Treatments
3. American Society of Health System Pharmacists
Strategies to Enhance Tobacco Cessation Education in your Hospital
4. University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention
Case Studies Volume II: Innovated Approaches
Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: Training Manual for Healthcare Providers
Treating Tobacco Use Dependence: A Toolkit for Dental Office Teams
5. Destination Tobacco-Free: Healthiest State in the Nation Campaign
The Washington Health Foundation
Working with Patients
6. University of California, San Francisco
Smoking Cessation Leadership Center
7. University of California, San Francisco
Rx for Change
8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Public Health Service
Smokers Quit: A Guide for Clinicians
9. "A Demonstration Project for Using Electronic Health Record to Identify and Treat Tobacco Users," an Article by Lindholm C., Adsit, R., Bain, P., Reber, M. P., Brein, T., Redmond, L., Smith, S., & Fiore, C. M. (2010).
10. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
System Change: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence
Tobacco Cessation Case Studies
1. Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts
4. Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System
5. Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation in Ontario, Canada
Smoke-Free Case Studies
Coming Soon!
Other Resources for Hospitals
In The News RSS
- Feb 22, 2012
UK Quit Smoking Campaigns Come Under Fire
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Many Americans Support Lower Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes
Read the full story - Feb 21, 2012
To Keep Research Funding, Texas Universities Consider Tobacco Ban
Read the full story - Feb 21, 2012
Smoke Free Areas Outside Bars Could Stamp Out “Social Smoking”
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