Although smoking has long been recognized as a significant health risk factor among the elderly population, Medicare does not currently cover cessation counseling or pharmacotherapy. With this in mind, HCFA contracted with RAND to evaluate and summarize the evidence on the effectiveness of smoking cessation programs and make recommendations for Medicare policy. As physician counseling, pharmacotherapy, and telephone quitlines were all found to be highly effective, it was recommended that these interventions be incorporated into a large Medicare demonstration project. Before applying for funding approval from the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB), RAND conducted a cost-benefit analysis of such a project and estimated significant reduction in Medicare reimbursements over a five year period due to lower rates of smoking-related illness and mortality. The three-year demonstration project, which received final OMB approval in January 2001, will involve over 43,000 Medicare beneficiaries in seven states.
Part 1 - A review of the effectiveness of smoking cessation programs: Implications for Medicare Abstract #25812 30 minutes
Paul Shekelle, MD, MPH; Sally A. Morton, PhD; Margaret A. Maglione, MPP; Walter Mojica, MD, MPH
Part 2 - Healthy Aging Project's Medicare Stop Smoking Program Abstract #25683 30 minutes
Jeanette A. Preston, MD, MPH; Judith K. Barr, ScD; Jennifer Mongoven, BA; Laurence Z. Rubenstein, MD, MPH; Richard Besdine, MD, FACP
Part 3 - A cost-benefit analysis of the Medicare Stop Smoking Program Abstract #25809 30 minutes
Geoffrey F. Joyce, PhD; Shin-Yi Wu, PhD; Jeanette A. Preston, MD, MPH; Laurence Z. Rubenstein, MD, MPH; Paul Shekelle, MD, PhD
Learning Objectives: Learning Objectives for the Healthy Aging Project’s Medicare Stop Smoking Program At the completion of the symposium, the participant in this session will be able to: 1. Recognize the impact of tobacco-related illnesses on the Medicare program’s health care spending. 2. Describe the evidence supporting various smoking cessation interventions targeting older smokers. 3. Identify the smoking cessation interventions that the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) will test as potential new Medicare benefits in a national trial. 4. Describe the effectiveness and costs of alternative smoking cessation interventions that will be tested as potential new Medicare benefits.
Keywords: Tobacco Control,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
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.