Developing and testing new smoking measures for the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set

To develop and test items for the Health Plan Employee Data and Information Set (HEDIS) that assess delivery of the full range of provider-delivered tobacco interventions.

The authors identified potential items via literature review; items were reviewed by national experts. Face validity of candidate items was tested in focus groups. The final survey was sent to a random sample of 1711 adult primary care patients; the re-test survey was sent to self-identified smokers.

The process identified reliable items to capture provider assessment of motivation and provision of assistance and follow-up.

One can reliably assess patient self-report of provider delivery of the full range of brief tobacco interventions. Such assessment and feedback to health plans and providers may increase use of evidence-based brief interventions.