Developing and Testing New Smoking Measures for the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set

OBJECTIVE: 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. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 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. RESULTS: The process identified reliable items to capture provider assessment of motivation and provision of assistance and follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: 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.