Medicaid Cessation Coverage Roundtable: REPORT RELEASED

The NAQC Medicaid Cessation Coverage Roundtable is a result of over two years of dialogue, technical assistance and resource development aimed at tobacco control programs working to secure cost-sharing partnerships with their state Medicaid agencies and leverage state quitlines to improve access to evidence-based treatment by Medicaid enrollees. In order to openly discuss specific topics, identify barriers and make targeted recommendations for addressing them, NAQC is bringing together leaders from state tobacco control, state Medicaid, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CDC Office on Smoking and Health, and national advocacy organizations in a series of three Roundtable meetings. The specific aims of the Roundtable are:

• To work across systems to improve understanding of the Medicaid cessation policy landscape in light of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as general changes to Medicaid, that may impact on partnership-building efforts focused on tobacco cessation-related cost sharing and benefit design;
• To clearly articulate to the tobacco control community how specific aspects of the Medicaid policy landscape impact positively and negatively on efforts to improve coverage for cessation;
• To develop targeted recommendations to decision-makers within HHS and CMS for addressing identified structural, operational and policy barriers to successful implementation of comprehensive cessation coverage for Medicaid enrollees; and
• To provide a forum for strategizing and sharing information on both national and state Medicaid cessation policy priorities.

Each Roundtable meeting will culminate in a report to the cessation community that introduces and provides background on the specific topic of the meeting, highlights the Roundtable discussion and proposes recommendations for accelerating progress. In its first meeting, members of the Roundtable worked together to respond to the question, How can we most effectively maximize the impact of the Affordable Care Act on access to, and coverage of, tobacco cessation for Medicaid enrollees?

We invite you to view the report HERE and submit your own ideas or examples for accelerating progress to the NAQC Listserv!