Health Systems Initiative

Through a grant with the Health Care Work Force Training Commission, TSET funds are used to help recruit primary care physicians to medically underserved areas by offering medical school loan repayment assistance. Doctors must see SoonerCare patients and are trained on the best practice method to talk to a patient about quitting tobacco use and referring patients to services through the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline.

Grants supporting physician training in rural and medically underserved areas in an effort to increase access to preventative care and screenings and address the critical shortage of primary care doctors in Oklahoma.

This grant works with hospitals and health systems to promote best practice strategies to engage patients in quitting tobacco use. The grant also focuses on improving health among staff and patients by promoting physical activity, offering healthy food options and creating tobacco-free environments. 

This grant works with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, Oklahoma’s Medicaid agency, to improve the health of SoonerCare members by ensuring access to tobacco cessation services, targeting vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, and identifying health risks such as obesity and tobacco use. The program also promotes opportunities to improve health with physical activity and improved nutrition.

This grant works to implement systems-based interventions addressing tobacco cessation, nutrition, and physical activity for consumers and staff across the ODMHSAS network of state operated, contracted, and certified providers.

Oklahoma has one of the highest lung cancer rates in the nation, and less than 2% of eligible Oklahomans get lung cancer screenings. TSET and the Stephenson Cancer Center are committed to changing that with the state’s first mobile lung cancer screening bus.