HJBR Nov/Dec 2019

Q&A 26 NOV / DEC 2019 I  Healthcare Journal of BATON ROUGE   What is the Smoking Cessation Trust? The Smoking Cessation Trust is the result of a court judgment in Scott v. American Tobacco Company, a class action lawsuit that became final in the summer of 2011. The judgment ordered many of the big- gest players in tobacco to fund a statewide, 10-year smoking cessation program to ben- efit more than 200,000 Louisiana smokers who are members of the plaintiff class (the “Scott Class”). The recipient of the award was a court-established and court-super- vised smoking cessation program, known as the Smoking Cessation Trust, which would benefit all Louisiana residents who smoked their first cigarette before September 1, 1988. The program’s benefits are provided by healthcare providers, including health sys- tems, hospitals, clinic physicians/nurse practitioners, addiction counselors, and cer- tified tobacco treatment specialists. These providers provide services covered by the Trust to help smokers quit, and are reim- bursed by the Trust for the services pro- vided. Covered services include Quitline telephone coaching, physician office vis- its (for initial evaluation and prescription), group or individual cessation counseling, and pharmaceutical aids to support quitting. The Trust began registering eligible recip- ients in 2012 and to date, has registered over 104,000 Louisiana citizens who have com- mitted to kicking their nicotine addiction. Currently, only 19.4 percent of estimated total Trust-eligible members in the Baton Rouge area have signed up for benefits, and only 27.8 percent of estimated total Trust- eligible members in the New Orleans area have signed up for benefits. Many more patients are eligible for these Trust services, but may not be aware of this opportunity. With three years left in the program, it is our hope that physicians will continue to refer their patients, and that everyone will help us spread the word, so we can all benefit from a healthier, smoke-free Louisiana. What is the percentage of smokers in Loui- siana, and how many might qualify for Trust benefits? According to the CDC (Centers for “The Trust began registering eligible recipients in 2012 and to date, has registered over 104,000 Louisiana citizens who have committed to kicking their nicotine addiction. Currently, only 19.4 percent of estimated total Trust-eligible members in the Ba- ton Rouge area have signed up for benefits, and only 27.8 percent of estimated total Trust-eligible mem- bers in the New Orleans area have signed up for benefits.”