a longitudinal study of medicaid coverage for tobacco dependence treatments in massachusetts and associated decreases in hospitalizations for cardiovascular disease医疗补助覆盖的纵向研究治疗烟草依赖在马萨诸塞州和减少住院心血管疾病有关.pdfVIP

A Longitudinal Study of Medicaid Coverage for Tobacco Dependence Treatments in Massachusetts and Associated Decreases in Hospitalizations for Cardiovascular Disease 1 2,3 2,3 1 1 Thomas Land *, Nancy A. Rigotti , Douglas E. Levy , Mark Paskowsky , Donna Warner , Jo-Ann 1 4 1 Kwass , LeAnn Wetherell , Lois Keithly 1 Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 2 Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, General Medicine Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 3 Mongan Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 4 Office of Medicaid Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America Abstract Background: Insurance coverage of tobacco cessation medications increases their use and reduces smoking prevalence in a population. However, uncertainty about the impact of this coverage on health care utilization and costs is a barrier to the broader adoption of this policy, especially by publicly funded state Medicaid insurance programs. Whether a publicly funded tobacco cessation benefit leads to decreased medical claims for tobacco-related diseases has not been studied. We examined the experience of Massachusetts, whose Medicaid program adopted comprehensive coverage of tobacco cessation medications in July 2006. Over 75,000 Medicaid subscribers used the benefit in the first 2.5 years. On the basis of earlier secondary survey work, it was esti