HEALTH PROVIDER EDUCATION

Tobacco Cessation Reimbursements

MEDICARE COVERS MEDICATION & COUNSELING FOR TOBACCO CESSATION

Healthcare Providers should indicate ICD-9 diagnostic code 305.1 Tobacco Use Disorder.

The billing code for counseling treatment is: G0376.

Cessation Counseling
A cessation counseling attempt includes:
-Up to 4 cessation counseling sessions (1 attempt = up to 4 sessions)
-Two cessation counseling attempts (or up to 8 cessation counseling sessions) are allowed every 12 months.

Cessation counseling session refers to face-to-face patient contact of either: – intermediate (greater than 3 minutes up to 10 minutes); or – intensive (greater than 10 minutes).

Cessation counseling sessions may be performed “incident to” the services of a qualified practitioner. During a 12-month period, the practitioner and the beneficiary have flexibility to choose between intermediate or intensive counseling strategies for each session.

Covered Medications
Every drug plan is required by Medicare to cover at least one of the following FDA-approved medications:
-Bupropion SR (marketed as Zyban and Wellbutrin and also available generically)
-Nicotine inhaler (Nicotrol)
-Nicotine nasal spray (Nicotrol)
-Nicotine patch (if prescription)

Fax-To-Quit Louisiana
Healthcare providers in Louisiana recognize the need to treat patients who use tobacco. They realize that a brief intervention provided in the clinical setting is an effective strategy for helping patients quit tobacco use.

Our Fax-to-Quit Louisiana program follows the recommendations of the U.S. Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence which recommends brief counseling in a clinical setting. When medication is used with counseling, successful quitting is four times more likely.

Fax-to-Quit Louisiana uses the Louisiana Tobacco Quitline to help clinicians provide the counseling component recommended in the guideline easily and seamlessly.

For more information on the Fax-to-Quit Louisiana program, please contact Tiffany Netters via email or by calling 225-342-2664.

LSU Tobacco Control Initiative
Tobacco Control Initiative (TCI) is the public, private, academic partnership between LSUHSC School of Public Health, the LSU Health Care Services Division (HCSD) and LSUHSC Shreveport (LSU-S) hospital systems, and TFL. TCI seeks to integrate cessation services into existing healthcare delivery systems. The Initiative’s goal is to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use among public hospital patients. To achieve this goal, TCI strives to identify all tobacco users, identify evidence-based treatment options that are appropriate for and acceptable to patients, and to provide cost-effective treatment options to patients, when possible.

LSU healthcare providers can refer patients for treatment using the TCI Outpatient Tobacco Cessation Referral form. Referred patients who are ready to quit within 30 days will be contacted and offered cessation treatment options, including behavioral counseling, social support and pharmacotherapy.

Additionally, designated TCI staff at each hospital conducts individual bedside consults with identified in-patient tobacco users. TCI is a standard of care service available to all patients, hospital employees, and the communities they serve.

Listing Of LSU/HCSD Hospitals:
E. A. Conway
Earl K. Long Medical Center
Huey P. Long Medical Center
Lallie Kemp Medical Center
Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center
LSU Shreveport
Medical Center of Louisiana
University Medical Center
W. O. Moss

For additional information on any of these services please contact:
Sarah Moody Thomas, PhD
Program Director
504-599-1396
sthoma@lsuhsc.edu

Joenell Henry-Tanner
Program Manager
504-218-2320
jhenr1@lsuhsc.edu