Health Commissioner's Order Allows Smoking Cessation Products To Be Sold Without Prescription

Other measures are being taken to prevent pregnant Indiana Medicaid recipients from having to pay copays for smoking cessation products.

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - Hoosiers will soon be able to get products to help them quit smoking without a prescription. 

State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box signed an order Monday, July 15 to make it easier for Indiana residents to get smoking-cessation medications. Box was acting on direction from Governor Eric Holcomb.

Starting August 1, 2019, Hoosiers will be allowed to purchase tobacco cessation products at Indiana pharmacies without having to obtain an individual prescription.

Indiana is the 12th state to establish a policy that lets pharmacists prescribe products like Chantix. 

In another move in support of smoking cessation Monday, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration secretary Dr. Jennifer Walthall announced pregnant women on Medicaid will no longer have to fork over a copay for quit-smoking products in order to discourage women from smoking while pregnant up to one year postpartum.

“One of our main priorities is reducing the smoking rate of our expectant moms, and we know they will respond positively,” said Dr. Box. “Studies show that women are more likely to quit smoking during pregnancy because they want to give their baby the best possible start in life. Quitting tobacco will improve maternal health and send us farther down the path to achieving Governor Holcomb’s goal of being best in the Midwest in infant mortality by 2024.”

The move could save the lives of babies. Studies show that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of stillbirth by almost 50 percent and neonatal death by over 20 percent, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.

Women who smoke are at least twice as likely to have a preterm birth, which is the leading cause of infant mortality in Indiana. Indiana has the seventh highest infant mortality rate in the nation and is third in the U.S. for maternal mortality.

Lowering those rankings has been a priority for Holcomb’s administration.

“According to statistics tracked by ISDH, nearly 25 percent of expectant Indiana mothers on Medicaid smoke during pregnancy compared to approximately 8 percent of all expectant mothers nationwide,” Dr. Walthall said. “Increasing access to smoking cessation products and further reducing barriers to success will help improve both maternal and infant health.”