Identifying Differences in Rates of Invitation to Participate in Tobacco Treatment in Primary Care.

INTRODUCTION

The progress achieved in reducing tobacco use has not been consistent across groups of smokers, and health systems are inconsistently implementing best practice guidelines. Guideline implementation could be associated with improved treatment invitation rates.

AIMS: To evaluate differences in tobacco treatment invitation rates based on patient characteristics in primary care clinics implementing best practice guidelines.

METHODS

A secondary analysis of patients presenting to 11 primary care clinics from 2 Wisconsin health systems from June 2010 to February 2013. The main outcome was whether patients received an invitation to participate in tobacco treatment. Invitation rates were examined by sex, age group (≤ 24 years, 25-44, 45-64, ≥ 64), race (white, black, other), insurance status (private, Medicare, Medicaid, none), and visit diagnosis ("high-risk" [cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, malignancy, pregnancy] vs "low-risk" [all other ICD-9 categories]). Moderation effects of health systems also were examined.

RESULTS

Of the 95,471 patients seen, 84,668 (89%) were screened for smoking. Among the 15,193 smokers, 10,242 (67%) were invited to participate. Invited patients were older, white or black, and carried low-risk diagnoses. Invitation rates and patient-level differences varied between the health systems.

CONCLUSIONS

Variable treatment invitation rates and health system differences remain evident in the primary care setting employing robust clinical practice guideline recommendations.