Health-Kit Enabled Mobile App for Tobacco Cessation

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the US, contributing to more than 480,000 premature deaths each year. The Tobacco Treatment Guidelines underscore the need to offer patients who use tobacco products brief interventions that include prescriptions for proven pharmacological smoking cessation aids and proactive connections to evidence-based behavioral support. The rapid expansion of smart phone capabilities enhances the potential for tobacco cessation apps to personalize behavior change guidance and to send contextually relevant tailored behavior change nudges based on readiness to quit and electronic heath record (EHR) data. Rich data from EHRs are now available to third-party apps from the Health app (iOS) via Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources standard Application Programming Interface (API). This Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) explored the effects of one such innovative health IT solution. refresh is a highly individualized tobacco cessation HealthKit enabled app that 1) implemented a full range of best practices in tailored health behavior change communications based on readiness to change; 2) provided individualized behavior change guidance based on Health app data; and 3) concisely provided data and documentation of key actionable insights in the EHR on the patient's smoking status, app usage, and brief micro-message delivered by clinicians to reinforce and accelerate a patient's behavior change progress. This interoperability provided value to both patients and clinicians; empowered and supported successful and lasting behavior change; and enabled the implementation and evaluation of a best-in-class approach to tobacco and nicotine treatment. Extensive end user and stakeholder input ensured that refresh was designed for rapid dissemination. Patients of an integrated delivery system with an upcoming appointment (n=51) were recruited to participate in a 30-day pilot test. Pre-post comparisons of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) measure for tobacco (psychosocial expectancies) and confidence for quitting provided preliminary data on the effects of the program. The hypothesis was that the patients who utilize refresh will have significantly higher psychosocial expectancies regarding tobacco at follow-up and greater confidence to quit smoking.