Proactive referral to behavioral smoking cessation programs by healthcare staff: a systematic review.

This systematic review demonstrated that proactive referral has the potential to increase the reach of smoking cessation programs and reduce inequalities in the access to such programs. In the selection and implementation of behavioral smoking cessation programs with a proactive referral component, stakeholders (e.g., policymakers, healthcare funders, and healthcare professionals) may benefit from taking different aspects of proactive referral systems into account, such as the type of proactive referral system used and additional strategies which can enhance the implementability of the system.