People with Mental Illness More Likely to Use E-Cigarettes

New research from the University of California San Diego indicates that people with mental health conditions are twice as likely to have tried e-cigarettes and three times as likely to be current users of the devices, as people without mental health disorders. The frequently debated and highly controversial devices have not been approved by the FDA as smoking cessation aids and have not been demonstrated as effective harm reduction tools. The FDA has released proposed regulations for e-cigarettes, but critical loopholes still exist. Visit the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium’s FDA Action Center to learn more about these issues.

Post-Doc Fellow Program NIH

Across the country, 14 newly funded centers will join together to develop a new field of tobacco regulatory science. The NIH seek the best and the brightest students to begin their career in youth tobacco control and to be the first in this new profession. Could you be the ideal applicant? Post-Doc Fellow Program - Regulatory Science - Tobacco Control National Institutes of Health Austin, Texas, United States View View

Geographic Health Equity Symposium: “Where You Live Matters to Your Health”

Hosted by: Geographic Health Equity Alliance operated by CADCA
Date: Friday, July 25, 2014, 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek Hotel, 14651 Chelonia Parkway, Orlando, Florida
Cost to attend: FREE, Preregistration Required

Attendees of the symposium will:
• Understand and define a geographic health disparity.
• Understand the factors that lead to geographic health disparities.
• Understand key geographic health disparities in tobacco and cancer.
• Understand how to use and implement the Community Commons maps as a resource.
• Understand and utilize the Geographic Health Equity Alliance and its national network
partners as a resource to address cancer and tobacco related disparities in their communities.

CEU credits and contact hours are available.

To register and find out more about this event, click here. 

National Conference on Tobacco and Behavioral Health – May 19-20, 2014; Bethesda, Maryland

The goal of this conference is to provide a platform for attendees to share their perspectives on how the health system working collaboratively can decrease these statistics. Focusing on integration, interventions, and the impact of the ACA (insurance), participants will have the opportunity to hear from and exchange ideas with national leaders, public health cessation experts, policy makers, researchers, and behavioral health prevention and treatment experts on current cessation activities.

To find out more and to register, visit the conference website. 
 

---

12th Annual Health Disparities in America Conference “Working Toward Social Justice”

 

June 23 – 28, 2014
Houston, Texas

 

The 12th Annual conference will be held at Prairie View A & M University College of Nursing at the Texas Medical Center. This year’s opening keynote speaker will be the Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, former Secretary of Health & Human Services on the morning of June 23rd, 2014. The introduction to the conference will made by Dr. Robert Robbins, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Medical Center.

To learn more about this conference and to register, click here.

Upcoming Tobacco Webinars

Webinar - Tobacco Cessation Coverage: Implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014

 

The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center (SCLC) is hosting “Tobacco Cessation Coverage: Implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014,” a free webinar that takes place tomorrow, May 15, 2014 at 1:00pm Eastern Time/ 10:00am Pacific Time (90 minutes). Jennifer Singleterry, Director of National Health Policy at the American Lung Association, will be presenting on the topic.

 

Webinar Objectives:

• Explain major initiatives of the ACA, and identify areas that affect tobacco users 
• Identify tobacco cessation treatments covered for various populations in the state 
• Learn to implement changes to systems and practices that will help tobacco users quit and take advantage of new opportunities

REGISTER HERE:https://cc.readytalk.com/r/35ndin4xmweb&eom

 

For additional resources and information about accreditation, click here.

---

Webinars: Tobacco Cessation, Medicaid and the ACA: What’s New in 2014?

Implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is in full swing and there are important changes happening to Medicaid. Some of these changes will affect what tobacco cessation treatments are available to Medicaid enrollees, and how they receive treatment. In this hour-long webinar, experts from the American Lung Association will explore how ACA implementation is affecting Medicaid coverage of tobacco cessation treatments, including the provision that prohibits Medicaid programs from excluding coverage of tobacco cessation medications as of January 1, 2014. Join us to learn more about these provisions and what they mean for Medicaid enrollees and healthcare providers.

This webinar will be offered twice. Below is information regarding the date and time and the link to sign up. Information about the webinar, including call-in information will be sent out to registered participants prior to the call.

Date: Thursday, May 22, 2014
Time: 3pm Eastern
Sign up here: https://bookwhen.com/fhngg/201405221500/mrw

Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Time: 2pm Eastern
Sign up here: https://bookwhen.com/fhngg/201406181400/ehe

If you have any questions about these webinars, please contact Anne DiGiulio at anne.digiulio@lung.org.

ACA Tobacco Cessation Requirement Guidance

Last week the Obama Administration issued a FAQ document making clear the tobacco cessation services that health insurers are required to cover under the Affordable Care Act. This guidance tells insurers that they must cover, without cost-sharing, screening for tobacco use and, for those who use tobacco products, at least two tobacco cessation attempts per year.  This coverage should include four tobacco counseling sessions and FDA-approved tobacco cessation medications. 

Here is a link to the guidance – the tobacco cessation information is in Question 5: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-aca19.html.  

Here is a link to the CTFK statement: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2014_05_02_obama

Victoria Almquist
Director, Outreach
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids  

“Tobacco Cessation Coverage: Implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014”

The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center (SCLC) is pleased to invite you to our next free webinar, “Tobacco Cessation Coverage: Implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014”, on May 15, 2014 at 1:00pm Eastern Time/ 10:00am Pacific Time (90 minutes).

We are honored to have Jennifer Singleterry, Director of National Health Policy at the American Lung Association, presenting on this topic for us.

Webinar Objectives: 

·         Explain major initiatives of the ACA, and identify areas that affect tobacco users

·         Identify tobacco cessation treatments covered for various populations in the state

·         Learn to implement changes to systems and practices that will help tobacco users quit and take advantage of new opportunities

REGISTER HERE:    https://cc.readytalk.com/r/35ndin4xmweb&eom

Additional resources [UPDATED]:

·         Recently released guidance by the Obama administration on tobacco cessation benefits available through the ACA (see Q5).

·         Press release from the American Lung Association on the new guidance

·         A report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and Breakaway Policy Strategies, “Eight Million and Counting: A Deeper Look at Premiums, Cost Sharing and Benefit Design in the New Health Insurance Marketplaces”

·         A report [PDF] by the North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC) answering the question, “How can we most effectively maximize the impact of the Affordable Care Act on access to, and coverage of, tobacco cessation for Medicaid enrollees?”

 Accreditation:

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

UCSF designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the webinar activity.

Participants who join the LIVE session, on May 15, 2014, can claim CME/CEU credit for $35 per certificate. You will receive instructions on how to claim credit via the post webinar email.

Don’t need to claim CME/CEUs?  SCLC issues free certificates of attendance for those who want contact hours only.

Please feel free to forward this announcement to your colleagues.  For questions, contact Jennifer Matekuare, SCLC Operations Manager, at jmatekuare@medicine.ucsf.edu, or call toll-free (877) 509-3786.  This webinar will be recorded and may be viewed online on the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center’s website after the presentation.