BACKGROUND: Professional societies and government organizations have promoted guidelines and best practices that encourage clinicians to routinely integrate cessation counseling into patient encounters. While research in health maintenance organizations has demonstrated that the development and maintenance of office systems do enable clinicians' smoking-cessation services, little is known about the adoption of system strategies in diverse organizations serving disadvantaged populations.

METHODS: Data were collected via face-to-face interviews from November 2001 to October 2002 using a standardized systems assessment checklist at service delivery sites of 83 funded community health service agencies, which included hospitals, community health centers, and other organizations (e.g., substance abuse, mental health, and multiservice). The content of the structured assessment reflected system elements with proven effectiveness that have been included in guidelines and best practices recommendations. Detailed information was collected on the implementation strategies.

RESULTS: This study found considerable attention to systems that support cessation services in diverse healthcare organizations, but much remains to be done. There is a wide diversity of implementation strategies employed, with varied degrees of sophistication.

CONCLUSIONS: A major challenge is to develop systems capable of providing population-based feedback to, and between, providers, which will enable further quality improvement efforts.