Health Care Financing and Coverage (includes Health Reform)
Workshop
Michelle Fiscus, MD FAAP
Deputy Medical Director, Division of Family Health and Wellness
Tennessee Department of Health
Nashville, Tennessee
Morgan McDonald, MD
Assistant Commissioner
Tennessee Department of Health
Nashville, Tennessee
In 2017, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) partnered with Tennessee's state Medicaid program (TennCare) to implement a self-sustaining, statewide pregnancy smoking cessation program. Building upon Tennessee's three-year pilot program, the Baby & Me Tobacco Free Program (BMTFP) was implemented in 94 of Tennessee's 95 counties. TennCare's three managed care organizations (MCOs) agree to pay for TDH services provided to pregnant women who smoke. Since the implementation of the pilot program in 2014, Tennessee’s BMTFP has served more than 8,600 pregnant women-- enrolling nearly one out of every four women who reported smoking during pregnancy and resulting in a low birth weight rate of 6.05% among these women, compared to the 15.58% rate among all women in Tennessee who smoke during pregnancy. Engaging state Medicaid programs in pregnancy smoking cessation is critical to the sustainability of these programs.