OHA member hospitals and affiliated outpatient clinics refer 60,000 patients to the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline

Posted on: 1/19/24

OHA would like to congratulate hospital and clinic partners who together have referred 60,000 patients to the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline (OTH). Since October 2010, the OHA Clinical Tobacco Treatment Initiative has provided comprehensive support to 80 hospitals and 500 clinics to develop robust tobacco treatment efforts for patients and employees, including implementing a proactive referral to the OTH. Tobacco users who receive a clinical cessation visit from their healthcare provider, use a cessation medication, and receive follow up Helpline services are up to seven times more likely to successfully quit vs. those who attempt to quit cold turkey.

Due to follow-up cessation support, the 60,000 proactive referrals to the OTH have resulted in an estimated 28,672 years of life saved and $14.5 million dollars in reduced healthcare costs.

“The smoking rate in Oklahoma has dropped from 25.5% in 2009 to 15.6% today. OHA’s hospital and clinic partners have worked hard to help reduce rates of tobacco use in Oklahoma and that is reflected in this achievement of 60,000 referrals to the OTH and the declining smoking prevalence over the past 15 years. OHA is very grateful and proud of the work done by Oklahoma hospitals on this initiative,” said Eric Finley, OHA manager of health improvement initiatives. 

OHA’s Health Improvement Initiatives team recently launched a new OTH tobacco treatment referral database that will provide participants with key analytics regarding outcomes from their tobacco treatment programs including but not limited to total OTH referrals by system, total OTH referrals by location, and estimated years of life and healthcare cost saved due to program efforts. 

The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) supports OHA’s Clinical Tobacco Treatment Initiative and the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline. For more information on how OHA can help your health system with tobacco treatment efforts, please contact [email protected] and click here. For information on the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline, click here.