For Systems Decisionmakers

Integrating the efforts of clinicians, health care systems, insurers, and purchasers provides an opportunity to increase rates of delivering tobacco dependence treatments, quit attempts, and successful smoking cessation. This Systems Change material will help advance that endeavor.

Systems Change

Systems change describes specific strategies that health care administrators, managed care organizations, and purchasers of health plans can implement to treat tobacco dependence. These strategies include implementing a tobacco-user identification system; providing training, resources, and feedback; dedicating staff to provide tobacco dependence treatments and assessing delivery of treatment in staff performance evaluations; and promoting hospital policies that support and provide tobacco dependence services.