Massacusetts Medicaid Smoking Cessation Benefit : Promotion, Evaluation, and Health Improvements

Audience: State tobacco control program officials interested in how Massachusetts achieved a high utilization and improved health outcomes among its Medicaid smoker population after a smoking cessation benefit was implemented in 2006.

Key Points: This presentation will review the MA Tobacco Control Program’s promotional campaigns and the outcome evaluation of each campaign. Components include:

1) Printed materials disseminated to consumers and providers across the state upon implementation of the benefit.

2) The "What’s your Story" radio and transit campaign conducted in the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007. The campaign increased knowledge of the quitline and awareness of the Medicaid benefit in the target population. Formative research, costs, reach and frequency statistics will be shared.

3) The "Fight4YourLife" campaign included television, radio and transit during 2007 and 2008. This campaign increased knowledge of quitline and increased quit attempts in the general population.

Finally, we will discuss how these promotional strategies contributed to the unprecedented utilization of cessation benefits, and how the high utilization was associated with decreased hospitalizations for acute cardiac conditions.

Educational Experience: Attendees at this presentation will learn of one state’s successful series of promotions, different mechanisms to evaluate these promotions, and the importance of key statistics for subsequent dissemination of the findings.

Benefits: As tobacco control programs in other states seek to engage their own Medicaid counterparts, managers and media coordinators will benefit from hearing a comprehensive discussion of how Massachusetts’ promotion was associated with high rates of utilization, decreased prevalence, and improved health outcomes.