Paying physicians to treat tobacco use disorder

doi:10.1136/bmjusa.01100002

BMJ, doi: 10.1136/bmjusa.01100002, (Published 13 September 2002)

Editorials

Paying physicians to treat tobacco use disorder

It may take more

Papers BMJ USA p 519

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This article originally appeared in BMJ USA

In the United Kingdom, as in the United States, discussions of health care frequently focus on payments for physicians andthe impact these payments might have on patient care. Althoughthey reimburse for any number of treatments and preventive carevisits, many public and private insurers do not pay physiciansto treat patients for nicotine dependence.¹ In this issue ofBMJ USA (p 519), a study by Coleman and his colleagues² suggeststhat the promise to pay British general practitioners £15 (about$22) per smoker who quits is not enough to change the way theytreat patients who smoke. The promised payments were small andwere based not on the provision of treatment, but on the hoped-forresults of the service $---$ smoking cessation and continued abstinencefor at least three months. Detailed interviews with these physicians³suggested that many of them had done . . . [Full text of this article]