Deirdre O'Brien, Hugh McLeod and Mohammed Mohammed
Presenter(s)
Deirdre O'Brien Research Fellow, Health Economics Unit, University of Birmingham
Abstract
We will present findings from a matched, multicentre controlled study investigating the impact of introducing novel commissioning arrangements for smoking cessation services based on payment for outcomes and opening the market to new service providers.
This approach to commissioning was piloted in eight Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) from April 2010 and was expected to increase supply of service providers through adoption of ‘any qualified provider’ regulations and increase effectiveness by linking payments to outcomes.
Providers were paid standard tariffs for each four and twelve week quit achieved. Enhanced tariffs were applied to high pri
ority groups recognised to be more difficult to treat and where high smoking prevalence rates were associated with health inequalities.
This presentation investigates the impact on two of these priority groups. We present the change in four week quits in pregnant women and ethnic minorities in the pilots, compared to a control group of similar PCTs that did not implement the policy change over a four year period.
The presentation will conclude by considering the cost and health inequality implications of developing and extending these commissioning policies to stop smoking services in the NHS.
Source of funding: N/A
Declaration of interest: Deirdre was a paid employee of ICF GHK who were funded by the West Midlands SHA to evaluate the smoking cessation pilots between 2010-2012. The results presented in this analysis were an additional piece of work carried out by the University of Birmingham. No additional funding was received to conduct this.
