Medicare May Pay Doctors More to Help Patients Quit Smoking

A reimbursement change from CMS could give clinicians more incentive to offer smoking cessation counseling.

The US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is reportedly moving toward higher reimbursement for smoking cessation counseling, according to the source. The idea is straightforward: if doctors are paid more adequately for the time spent helping patients quit, more of them will offer that help, and more patients will get it.

This matters for both care and health. Cessation counseling is preventive care that is cheap relative to treating the diseases smoking causes. Expanding access to it, especially for the older Medicare population, is a lever that improves health outcomes while reducing downstream medical costs — a quiet form of making care more available.

The change is described as coming rather than in effect, and this brief rests only on the summary line because the full article was unreachable. The mechanics, timing, and size of any reimbursement increase sit with the source's reporting.

Source: STAT