Clinician attitudes toward referring patients to pharmacists for tobacco cessation services.

Background: The role of pharmacists in tobacco cessation has grown substantially in recent years, now including the ability to prescribe medications in many states. Although pharmacists can fill a gap in care by helping patients quit, other clinicians' perceptions regarding referring patients to pharmacists for these services have not been described.

Objective: To characterize clinicians' current referral patterns to pharmacists for tobacco cessation services, intention to refer in the future, and perceived barriers to and facilitators of referrals.

Conducting a Comprehensive Assessment of the Public Health Workforce: Lessons Learned and Opportunities for the Future.

Indiana was one of the earliest states to conduct a comprehensive public health workforce assessment in preparation for the use of federal funds for infrastructure strengthening. Experiences from this assessment provide insights that may be useful to other public health agencies and partners. This brief summarizes key lessons and highlights opportunities for improved workforce assessments.

Pharmacist-Led Implementation of Brief Tobacco Cessation Interventions during Mobile Health Access Events.

To address gaps in care for individuals from under-resourced communities disproportionately affected by tobacco use, this pharmacist-led demonstration project evaluated the feasibility of implementing tobacco use screening and brief cessation interventions during mobile health access events. A brief tobacco use survey was administered verbally during events at two food pantries and one homeless shelter in Indiana to assess the interest and potential demand for tobacco cessation assistance. Individuals currently using tobacco were advised to quit, assessed for their readiness to quit, and, if interested, offered a tobacco quitline card.

Update and recommendations: Pharmacists' prescriptive authority for tobacco cessation medications in the United States.

To characterize state laws in the United States regarding the expansion of pharmacists' prescriptive authority for tobacco cessation medications, compare key components across different models, and discuss important considerations for states that are considering similar legislation or policies. Legislative language was reviewed and summarized for all states with pharmacist prescriptive authority for tobacco cessation medications, and state boards of pharmacy were contacted to determine the number of registered complaints or safety concerns received as a result of pharmacists' prescribing under these authorities. As of June 2022, 17 states have enacted laws for pharmacists' prescriptive authority for tobacco cessation medications; most (N = 16) have implemented procedures, and 1 is in the process of adopting a similar prescribing model.

Implementing Brief Tobacco Cessation Interventions in Community Pharmacies: An Application of Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations Theory.

Pharmacists, as highly accessible members of the healthcare team, have considerable potential to address tobacco use among patients. However, while published data suggest that pharmacists are effective in helping patients quit, barriers exist to routine implementation of cessation services in community pharmacy settings. Within the context of a randomized trial (n = 64 pharmacies), surveys were administered over a period of 6 months to assess pharmacists' perceptions of factors associated with the implementation of "Ask-Advise-Refer", a brief intervention approach that facilitates patient referrals to the tobacco quitline.

Bridging the Gap in Tobacco Cessation Services: Utilizing Community Pharmacists to Facilitate Transitions of Care in the USA.

Interprofessional strategies for promoting tobacco cessation lead to enhanced quit rates among patients; however, current approaches might not effectively support patients with their quit attempts after they are discharged from the hospital. This paper explores opportunities for interprofessional collaboration between health system-based providers and community pharmacists, as one proposed approach to bridging tobacco cessation services during transitions of care. Suggested strategies include (1) increasing other healthcare professionals' awareness of legislative advances that permit pharmacists to prescribe cessation medications in some states, and (2) encouraging bi-directional communication between health system-based and community-based providers, especially via integrated electronic health records.

Community pharmacy technicians' engagement in the delivery of brief tobacco cessation interventions: Results of a randomized trial.

Background: In recent years, the role of community pharmacy technicians has expanded to include involvement in the provision of brief tobacco cessation interventions. While technicians appear to be a key component in this service, their level of engagement and associated perceptions of this new role have not been described.

Objective: To compare pharmacy technicians' frequency of involvement in brief tobacco cessation interventions delivered in a community pharmacy setting, as a function of training approach, and to characterize their perceptions of this expanded role, including barriers to implementation.

Impact of Medicaid expansion on smoking prevalence and quit attempts among those newly eligible, 2011-2019.

Introduction: Low-income populations have higher rates of smoking and are disproportionately affected by smoking-related illnesses. This study assessed the long-term impact of increased coverage for tobacco cessation through Medicaid expansion on past-year quit attempts and prevalence of cigarette smoking.

Methods: Using data from CDC's annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2011-2019, we conducted difference-in-difference regression analyses to compare changes in smoking prevalence and past-year quit attempts in expansion states versus non-expansion states.

Public Health and Health Care Partnerships for Improved Tobacco Cessation.

Context: Tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable death and disease. While most tobacco users are interested in quitting, few receive professional assistance.

Program: This state health department-led project leveraged partnerships to build capacity and support 9 health care organizations in implementing system-level initiatives to improve delivery of tobacco cessation.

Hospital Partnerships for Population Health: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

The U.S. healthcare system continues to experience high costs and suboptimal health outcomes that are largely influenced by social determinants of health.

End user information needs for a SMART on FHIR-based automated transfer form to support the care of nursing home patients during emergency department visits.

Nursing home (NH) patients are extensive users of emergency department (ED) services. Problematically, poor information sharing and incomplete access to information complicates the delivery of care in EDs for NH patients. Paper-based transfer forms can support information sharing, but have significant limitations.

Organizational characteristics and perceptions of clinical event notification services in healthcare settings: a study of health information exchange.

Objective: Event notification systems are an approach to health information exchange (HIE) that notifies end-users of patient interactions with the healthcare system through real-time automated alerts. We examined associations between organizational capabilities and perceptions of event notification system use.

Materials And Methods: We surveyed representatives ( = 196) from healthcare organizations ( = 96) that subscribed to 1 of 3 Health Information Organizations' event notification services in New York City (response rate = 27%).

Usage of query-based health information exchange after event notifications.

Objectives: This study sought to quantify the association between event notifications and subsequent query-based health information exchange (HIE) use among end users of three different community health information organizations.

Materials And Methods: Using system-log data merged with user characteristics, regression-adjusted estimates were used to describe the association between event notifications and subsequent query-based HIE usage.

Results: Approximately 5% of event notifications were associated with query-based HIE usage within 30 days.

The Association Between State-Level Health Information Exchange Laws and Hospital Participation in Community Health Information Organizations.

Evidence suggests that health information exchange (HIE) is an effective strategy to improve efficiency and quality of care, as well as reduce costs. A complex patchwork of federal and state legislation has developed over time to encourage HIE activity. Hospitals and health systems have adopted various HIE models to meet the requirements of these statutes and regulations.