title: Increasing consumer demand among Medicaid enrollees for tobacco dependence treatment: the Wisconsin "Medicaid covers it" campaign.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Smoking prevalence among Medicaid enrollees is higher than among the general population, but use of evidence-based cessation treatment is low. We evaluated whether a communications campaign improved cessation treatment utilization.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quasi-experimental.
  
  
  METHODS
  Wisconsin.
  
  
  METHODS
  Enrollees in the Wisconsin Family Medicaid program. The average monthly enrollment during the study period was approximately 170,000 individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Print materials for clinicians and consumers distributed to 13 health maintenance organizations (HMOs) serving Wisconsin Medicaid HMO enrollees.
  
  
  METHODS
  Wisconsin Medicaid pharmacy claims data for smoking cessation medications were analyzed before and after a targeted communications campaign. HMO enrollees were the intervention group. Fee-for-service enrollees were a quasi-experimental comparison group. Quit Line utilization data were also analyzed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pharmacotherapy claims and number of registered Quit Line callers were compared precampaign and postcampaign.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Precampaign, cessation pharmacotherapy claims declined for the intervention group and increased slightly for the comparison group (t  =  2.29, p  =  .03). Postcampaign, claims increased in both groups. However, the rate of increase in the intervention group was significantly greater than in the comparison group (t  =  -2.2, p  =  .04). A statistically significant increase was also seen in the average monthly number of Medicaid enrollees that registered for Quit Line services postcampaign compared to precampaign (F [1,22]  =  7.19, p  =  .01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This natural experiment demonstrated statistically significant improvements in both pharmacotherapy claims and Quit Line registrations among Medicaid enrollees. These findings may help inform other states' efforts to improve cessation treatment utilization.
authors: University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
authors: Paula A
authors: PA
authors: Keller
authors: Bruce
authors: B
authors: Christiansen
authors: Su-Young
authors: SY
authors: Kim
authors: Megan E
authors: ME
authors: Piper
authors: Lezli
authors: L
authors: Redmond
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Adsit
authors: Michael C
authors: MC
authors: Fiore
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000191:economics; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D015277:Hotlines / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States; D014922:Wisconsin