An Evaluation of the Fax to Quit Program and Wisconsin Tobacco Quitline Utilization by Southeastern Wisconsin Clinics

The purpose of this study is to evaluate Fax to Quit (F2Q) - a strategy that links state quitlines to health care delivery systems. FQ capitalizes upon the healthcare visit as an opportunity for intervention, consistent with the finding that approximately 70% of smokers visit a primary care physician each year. Successful integration of quitlines into healthcare delivery will transform regular healthcare visits into easily implemented, cost-beneficial avenues via which smokers all across America will be routinely inducted into effective cessation intervention. F2Q will be evaluated as follows:

1. Does F2Q increase contacts and "quality contacts," between the quitline and patients who smoke and receive health care at a participating clinic? A "quality contact" is defined as a quitline referral that results in the individual enrolling in the quitline counseling services. This aim will be assessed by measuring the rates of quitline referrals in 49 clinics before and after F2Q has been implemented.
2. Are contact rates and enrollment rates of F2Q increased by "Enhanced Academic Detailing" at clinic sites (with enhanced academic detailing comprising ongoing training/technical assistance as well as performance feedback)?
3. What are the features of the Fax to Quit (F2Q) and Fax to Quit plus Enhanced Academic Detailing (F2Q + EAD) interventions that key clinic personnel found helpful and easy to implement, as well as features that were unhelpful and difficult? This information will be gathered in qualitative assessments that also will identify clinic strategies and organizational features that facilitated successful implementation.
4. What are the incremental costs of instating and sustaining F2Q and F2Q + EAD and how do these costs compare to other quitline promotional strategies (e.g., paid media, medication give-away programs)?