Earlier this year, the federal tax on cigarettes and all other tobacco products increased. Providers are encouraged to discuss tobacco cessation with members. Indiana Medicaid programs cover tobacco cessation counseling and prescription cessation aids.

Providers may refer any Indiana patient to the Indiana Tobacco Quitline, 1-800-QUIT-NOW, which offers education and coaching over the telephone, similar to the toll-free smoking quit lines across the country. The services offered by the Quitline are confidential and provided free of charge to Indiana residents.

Telephone counseling has proven to be effective in improving overall quit rates (15% quit rate when phone counseling is provided versus 10% quit rate with no phone counseling.) The quit rate further improves when phone counseling is combined with pharmacotherapy (28% quit rate for phone counseling plus medications vs. 23% with medication alone). Source: Surgeon General’s Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update, http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/

The Quitline also has online resources for tobacco users, healthcare providers, family/friends, and employers. http://www.indianatobaccoquitline.net The Indiana Tobacco Quitline is a program of the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Agency (ITPC). Contact ITPC at 317.234.1787 if you have any questions about the services offered by the Quitline.

The Quitline is designed so you can easily refer clients to the program and is staffed by professionally trained smoking cessation Quit Coaches. The Indiana Tobacco Quitline offers a fax referral program for Indiana residents and physicians. Providers can simply Ask, Advise, and Refer tobacco users to the Indiana Quitline using the fax referral form found at http://www.indianatobaccoquitline.net/documents/QLfaxreferral.pdf (PDF).

Instructions are also available at http://www.indianatobaccoquitline.net/documents/HCproviderinstructions.pdf (PDF) The Quitline staff will even fax back a report to your office to tell you if the client was reached, enrolled in services, and planned to quit.

The effectiveness of counseling is comparable to pharmocotherapy alone. Counseling plus medication provides additive benefits. Preferred tobacco deterrent agents include: bupropion SR 150, Chantix, Commit lozenge, Nicoderm, Nicorette, nicotine gum, and nicotine patch.

Even brief counseling is effective in facilitating quit attempts. If you choose to counsel patients in your office, Medicaid covers tobacco cessation counseling with HCPCS code S9075 Smoking cessation treatment. One unit of S9075 is 15 minutes of service. Further instructions can be found in the IHCP Provider Manual, Chapter 8, page 249-251.

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