Building Tobacco Cessation Connections Across Los Angeles Co

The signature health service research project will evaluate the impact of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LA DHS) integrating the California Smokers’ Helpline (Helpline) with the LA DHS eConsult system.  As the nation’s second largest public health system, LA DHS operates an eConsult web portal for provider communication that has grown to connect about 4000 primary care providers with community-based specialists, averaging 13,000 eConsult requests per month.  The Helpline offers free evidence-based telephone counseling in multiple languages, and has collaborated with the 5 University of California health systems in successfully implementing the state’s first eReferrals with over 3000 patients referred to date.  The novel feature of the LA DHS eConsult system is that it bypasses the different electronic health records systems across LA DHS and community clinic providers.  LA DHS providers could use the eConsult system to directly refer their patients-- who are low socioeconomic, racially/ethnically and linguistically diverse, and geographically dispersed—to free, multilingual telephone-based counseling services at the Helpline.

Over two years, the study will analyze the uptake of LA DHS eConsult referrals by clinic, as well as the LA County Helpline caller demographics and Helpline service outcomes (contacted and counseled) for those with an eConsult referral.  Consortium partners will include UC Davis (Administrative Core and PI: Elisa Tong), LA DHS (Co-Investigator: Hal Yee), and the Helpline for implementing and evaluating the impact of the LA DHS eConsult system integrating the Helpline.  An External Advisory Board consisting of the two largest Medi-Cal managed care plans (LA Care Health Plan and Health Net) and the LA County Tobacco Control Prevention Program will be involved in discussing the study progress and future strategies for research plans to improve tobacco cessation services in LA County.  Other state and national stakeholders will also be informed of the study findings.