Inpatient Smokers and LDCT Screening Part 2

Lung cancer suffers from large racial and socioeconomic disparities. Yet those at the highest risk of lung cancer death - current smokers, blacks, and individuals with low socioeconomic status (SES) and negative social determinants of health (SDH) - are less likely to receive preventive health services, including the two most effective interventions to reduce lung cancer mortality: tobacco dependence treatment and lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT). At Boston Medical Center (BMC) these preventive services are grossly underutilized, in part due to barriers our patients face in accessing these outpatient programs. Innovative approaches are needed to guide high-risk smokers to post-discharge early lung cancer detection services. The overarching goal of this study is to reduce disparities in lung cancer morbidity and mortality by using hospitalization at an urban safety net hospital as an opportunity to connect high-risk smokers to both LDCT lung cancer screening and tobacco dependence treatment. In addition to inpatient shared decision making \[SDM\] by an NP using a decision aid, screen-eligible smokers will also be connected with a community health worker (CHW) to facilitate access to outpatient smoking cessation counseling and LCS (CHW navigation).