Penn Patients Who Smoke Get Automated Quit Offers

Patients at Penn primary care clinics who smoke can be offered free cessation medication automatically during a six-month pilot.

Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Asthma

Isometric editorial illustration of a white ceramic bowl of plain round tablets on a clinic counter, suggesting an automated quit-smoking treatment offer. — Penn Medicine began a six-month pilot in September that automatically orders free smoking-cessation medication for primary care patients who report smoking. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

If your doctor offered easy help to quit smoking, would you accept it?

Penn Medicine has started a six-month pilot of an automated smoking cessation program in its primary care clinics, beginning in September. Under the pilot, medications for quitting are ordered automatically for eligible patients who report smoking, and the therapies are free to Penn primary care patients.

Why it matters

Smoking remains a leading preventable cause of death in Philadelphia, where about 3,500 deaths a year are attributed to it. Automating the offer of treatment at the point of care addresses a gap in which most smokers who visit a doctor are never treated for quitting.

A 2026 study found the automated system raised smoking cessation among mothers by 3.9 percentage points in absolute terms. The CHOP version of the pre-visit questionnaire has been used more than 900,000 times with treatment acceptance rates of 36% to 40%, and the Penn pilot will track outcomes with a 30-day follow-up survey.

The players

Penn Medicine

Penn Medicine is a Philadelphia health system whose clinicians treat chronic conditions including tobacco dependence.

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is a pediatric hospital that originated the pre-visit questionnaire approach to smoking cessation.

Penn Medicine Nudge Unit

The Penn Medicine Nudge Unit is a behavioral-science group that designs prompts to improve clinical decision-making.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC is the federal agency that tracks national smoking-related mortality and public health data.

The details

Before a visit, the pre-visit questionnaire adds one question asking whether the patient smokes. Patients who answer yes receive motivational messages about quitting and, if interested, a prescription for nicotine replacement therapy along with a referral to counseling resources. Because the medications are free only with a prescription, the automated ordering removes a step that often stalls treatment.

January: a pilot of the intervention found about 70% of patients who said they smoke chose nicotine replacement therapy.
2021: the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia first implemented the program.
2020: Philadelphia smoking-attributable deaths peaked at almost 5,000.
September 2026: Penn Medicine's six-month pilot began.

Health Landscape

Under the Affordable Care Act, all FDA-approved smoking cessation medications are free for Medicaid enrollees, but only with a prescription. The Penn pilot targets that prescription bottleneck by automating the order at the point of primary care.

If you smoke and visit a Penn primary care clinic, the pilot may bring a quitting medication conversation into your visit without you having to request it. Anyone interested in quitting should discuss nicotine replacement therapy and counseling options with their physician.

The takeaway

Smoking is responsible for nearly 500,000 deaths in the United States each year, and automating treatment offers may help more smokers act on their interest in quitting. If you smoke, ask your doctor about cessation medications and counseling, which are free with a prescription.

What happens next

The team will examine whether the order got signed off and whether patients decreased smoking through a 30-day follow-up survey once the six-month pilot concludes.