Tobacco Cessation Change Package

Tobacco dependence is a chronic, relapsing condition that often requires repeated intervention and long-term support.1

Future smoking-related illnesses, deaths, and costs can be prevented by helping individuals who use tobacco to quit.1 Evidence-based treatments, including counseling and Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications, are available1–5 but are underutilized.6–11

Clinicians play a critical role in delivering cessation support; at least 70% of persons who smoke see a physician each year.1 Patients expect physicians to address tobacco use, and consistent interventions from clinicians improve patient outcomes.1 Even brief advice to quit from a clinician increases quit rates, and more intensive clinical interventions have progressively greater impact.1

What Is the Tobacco Cessation Change  Package?

The Tobacco Cessation Change Package (TCCP) is a quality improvement tool created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that:

  • Is intended for health care professionals in outpatient, inpatient, and behavioral health settings and public health professionals who partner with these groups.
  • Presents a list of process improvements that clinicians can implement as they seek to deliver optimal treatment to patients who use tobacco.
  • Gives clinical teams a practical resource to increase the reach and effectiveness of tobacco cessation interventions and to incorporate these interventions into the clinical workflow.

How Should We Use the Tobacco Cessation Change Package?

Start by bringing together a multidisciplinary team of stakeholders (e.g., physicians, pharmacists, nurses, medical assistants, social workers, care managers, quality improvement coordinators, health informaticians, and administrators).

The team can look at the elements in Figure 1  and conduct an assessment to determine the aspects of tobacco dependence treatment that are most in need of improvement in your health system. You may also benefit from talking directly with others who have undertaken similar efforts to learn from their experience.

Once your team has identified and prioritized the needs, interventions can be selected from the TCCP to create a supportive treatment environment to address those needs.

You can then choose strategies from the TCCP that have been shown to result in improvement. Each strategy you choose should first be tested on a small scale (i.e., conduct a “small test of change”) to assess feasibility and allow the team to evaluate and adjust before instituting the change on a broader, more permanent scale.

Health care practices should not attempt to implement all the interventions described in the TCCP at once, nor is it likely that all of these interventions will be applicable to every clinical setting.

TCCP Format

The TCCP is composed of change concepts, change ideas, and tools and resources:

  • Change concepts are general notions that are useful for developing more specific strategies for changing a process.
  • Change ideas are actionable, specific ideas or strategies that can be rapidly tested on a small scale to determine whether they result in improvements in the local environment.
  • Each change idea is linked to evidence- or practice-based tools and resources that can be adopted or adapted to implement each change idea.

Figure 1. Tobacco Cessation Change Package Focus Areas

Key foundations; Equipping care teams; Screening; Treatment; and Referral and follow-up.

Note: The TCCP is not a comprehensive clinical guide on treating tobacco dependence; rather, it is designed to complement other Million Hearts® tools:

Spread the Word

Use the following sample social media messages and graphic to promote the TCCP through your personal or professional channels.

Facebook/LinkedIn

  • Increase the reach and effectiveness of #TobaccoCessation interventions with the Million Hearts [tag] Tobacco Cessation Change Package. Download your copy today! http://bit.ly/2YJOsZ6 #MillionHeartsQI
  • Looking to help patients quit #tobacco, the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States? Download the Million Hearts [tag] Tobacco Cessation Change Package for evidence-based process improvements. http://bit.ly/2YJOsZ6 #MillionHeartsQI
  • Clinicians play a key role in helping patients #QuitTobacco. Use the Million Hearts [tag] Tobacco Cessation Change Package to increase delivery of optimal treatment in your practice. http://bit.ly/2YJOsZ6 #MillionHeartsQI

Twitter

  • Increase reach and effectiveness of #TobaccoCessation interventions with the @MillionHeartsUS Tobacco Cessation Change Package. Download today! http://bit.ly/2YJOsZ6 #MillionHeartsQI
  • Clinicians play a key role in helping patients #QuitTobacco. Use the @MillionHeartsUS Tobacco Cessation Change Package to increase delivery of optimal treatment in your practice. http://bit.ly/2YJOsZ6 #MillionHeartsQI
  • Download the @MillionHeartsUS Tobacco Cessation Change Package to integrate treatment of #tobacco use and dependence into routine clinical care. http://bit.ly/2YJOsZ6 #MillionHeartsQI

Shareable Graphic

Tobacco Cessation Control Package

Where Can I Learn More?

Million Hearts Tobacco Cessation Change Package Tutorial Video
This 5-minute tutorial video will help familiarize you with the Million Hearts Tobacco Cessation Change Package and how to use it.. The video illustrates quality improvement steps health systems can take to make cessation treatment a part of routine care, and highlights the suite of free Million Hearts resources available to help clinicians treat patients with tobacco use and dependence.

Learn More

Page last reviewed: September 27, 2021