Clinicians can get credit for helping their patients quit smoking

MEDICARE and most private insurers PROVIDE REIMBURSEMENT FOR TOBACCO treatment.  

Two codes are available: one for spending between 3-10 minutes in counseling and another for spending more than 10 minutes. The Affordable Care Act also mandates insurance coverage for tobacco interventions, so that most private payers also cover these service. The following links provide more details.

MEDICARE PREVENTATIVE SERVICES (BROCHURE)

BILLING GUIDE FROM THE AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION

ACA TOBACCO CESSATION TOOLKIT

The merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) has a Measure (#404: Anesthesiology Smoking Abstinence) for perioperative efforts to help patients quit smoking

The numerator is current smokers who did not smoke on the morning of their surgery or procedure, and the denominator is the number of current smokers. Smoking status is defined by patient self-report, so the metrics are relatively simple to collect. The following links provide more information.

ASA MIPS Website

CMS Description of measure #404