Bureau of Tobacco Control
StatShot Vol. 8, No. 4/June 2015
Percentage of Providers who Ask, Advise, and Assist
The Clinical Practice Guidelines for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence (Fiore, et al., 2000) recommend
that health care providers ASK if their patients smoke, ADVISE smokers to quit, and ASSIST patients with quit
attempts through counseling and medications.
•
Ask: The percentage of smokers who had seen a health care provider in the past 12 months who
were asked if they smoke has remained consistently high.
Advise: The percentage of smokers who were advised to quit by their health care providers is
approximately 70% in 2014.
Assist: Although the percentage of smokers who were advised to quit and then received assistance
from their health care providers has significantly increased since 2003, the percentage of health care
providers giving assistance to smokers remains below 50%.
•
•
The definition of a provider that assists smokers with a quit attempt includes those that provide both direct
cessation services and those that refer patients to other cessation resources. The aim of the Bureau of
Tobacco Control’s Health Systems for a Tobacco-Free New York initiative is to work with medical and mental
health care organizations to implement systematic, evidenced-based tobacco dependence treatment. This
work will enhance the understanding of patient-provider interactions and improve the delivery of guideline
concordant care.
Percentage of Smokers in New York who were Asked, Advised, or Assisted
regarding their Tobacco Use
100
91.9
Percent Asked, Advised, or Assisted
90
87.0
89.1
87.7
77.0
76.6
90.3
89.1
89.8
88.5
79.1
79.1
54.0
52.0
90.9
91.1
90.7
80
70
74.8
60
72.2
69.9
50
40
79.7
37.5
38.0
2003
2004
43.8
44.6
2005
2006
49.9
50.9
2007
2008
77.0
74.3
46.3
48.0
2011
2012
69.4
44.9
30
20
10
0
Asked
Advised
2009
2010
2013
2014
Assisted
Source: New York Adult Tobacco Survey, 2003-2014. Contact the Bureau of Chronic Disease Evaluation and Research, New York State
Department of Health at (518) 473-0673 or type ‘StatShot’ in the subject line of an e-mail and send it to [email protected]. StatShots can be
accessed online at http://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/tobacco_control/reports/statshots/