Low-barrier tobacco screening and cessation outreach: A multisite veterans affairs quality improvement initiative.
7 affiliations
- 1San Francisco Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- 2University of California, San Francisco, School of Pharmacy, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- 3University of the Pacific, Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- 4VA Illiana Heathcare System, Danville, IL, USA.
- 5Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
- 6VA Orlando Healthcare System, Orlando, FL, USA.
- 7University of Central Florida, Department of Internal Medicine, Orlando, FL, USA.
Abstract
Objective
To describe implementation of a multi-site, equity-informed tobacco screening and cessation outreach initiative across three Veterans Affairs healthcare systems.Methods
This quality improvement initiative was implemented in fiscal year 2025 in San Francisco, California, Danville, Illinois, and Orlando, Florida. The intervention combined dashboard-informed targeting with in-person outreach events offering tobacco use screening, brief education, medications for tobacco use disorder, referral to cessation resources, and selected lung cancer screening education and referral. Outcomes included reach, service delivery outputs, tobacco use screening trends, and implementation barriers and facilitators, summarized descriptively using dashboard and event-level data.Results
Implementation varied across sites. San Francisco completed four outreach events with 417 total participant encounters, including 212 Veterans, and documented 19 tobacco use screenings, 18 lung cancer screenings, medication linkage, quitline/provider referrals, and research linkage. Danville completed three outreach events reaching 120 Veterans and documented 6 tobacco use screenings and 12 medication prescriptions. Orlando did not complete events because of staffing and operational barriers. Key determinants included staffing capacity, workflow fit, event approvals, procurement, outreach availability, and lung cancer screening infrastructure.Conclusions
Dashboard-informed outreach may extend tobacco-related preventive care beyond routine clinic encounters, but implementation depends on local infrastructure, staffing, referral pathways, and interdisciplinary partnerships.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{rifepennington2026lowbarrier,
title = {{Low-barrier tobacco screening and cessation outreach: A multisite veterans affairs quality improvement initiative.}},
author = {Tessa Rife-Pennington and Beth Dinges and Evan Chenault and Minh Quang Ho},
journal = {Preventive medicine reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.pmedr.2026.103661},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42894739},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Low-barrier tobacco screening and cessation outreach: A multisite veterans affairs quality improvement initiative.
AU - Tessa Rife-Pennington
AU - Beth Dinges
AU - Evan Chenault
AU - Minh Quang Ho
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - Preventive medicine reports
DO - 10.1016/j.pmedr.2026.103661
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42894739
AB - Objective To describe implementation of a multi-site, equity-informed tobacco screening and cessation outreach initiative across three Veterans Affairs healthcare systems.Methods This quality improvement initiative was implemented in fiscal year 2025 in San Francisco, California, Danville, Illinois, and Orlando, Florida. The intervention combined dashboard-informed targeting with in-person outreach events offering tobacco use screening, brief education, medications for tobacco use disorder, referral to cessation resources, and selected lung cancer screening education and referral. Outcomes included reach, service delivery outputs, tobacco use screening trends, and implementation barriers and facilitators, summarized descriptively using dashboard and event-level data.Results Implementation varied across sites. San Francisco completed four outreach events with 417 total participant encounters, including 212 Veterans, and documented 19 tobacco use screenings, 18 lung cancer screenings, medication linkage, quitline/provider referrals, and research linkage. Danville completed three outreach events reaching 120 Veterans and documented 6 tobacco use screenings and 12 medication prescriptions. Orlando did not complete events because of staffing and operational barriers. Key determinants included staffing capacity, workflow fit, event approvals, procurement, outreach availability, and lung cancer screening infrastructure.Conclusions Dashboard-informed outreach may extend tobacco-related preventive care beyond routine clinic encounters, but implementation depends on local infrastructure, staffing, referral pathways, and interdisciplinary partnerships.
SN - 2211-3355
ER -