Evidence-based national initiatives to address tobacco use as a public health priority in the Veterans Health Administration

Abstract

Historically, the prevalence of smoking and smoking-related illnesses has been higher among veteran patients in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in comparison to that of the general population. Although rates of tobacco use have remained high, smoking cessation interventions continued to be greatly underutilized in VHA clinical settings just as they have been nationally. To address tobacco use as a public health priority, VHA has implemented a number of evidence-based national initiatives in recent years. This paper describes these initiatives, including: adoption of a population-health approach to smoking cessation; increased access to nicotine replacement therapy and/or smoking cessation medications; elimination of outpatient copayments for smoking cessation counseling; clinical practice guidelines; and collaboration with mental health and substance use disorder health care providers to promote integration of smoking cessation into routine treatment of psychiatric populations. The context of tobacco use among the newest veteran populations is also discussed, as well as recent efforts to evaluate the current state of smoking cessation care in VHA.