Upcoming Webinars

Webinar - Smoke-free Foster Care: Tales from the Field

Host: Tobacco Control Legal Consortium

When: June 24, 2014, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. (Central Time).

Speakers: Kathleen Hoke, J.D., Director, Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy, University of Maryland School of Law; Pat McKone, Director, Tobacco Control Programs and Policy, American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest; Jeanne Weigum, Executive Director, Association for Nonsmokers – Minnesota; and Molly Moilanen, Director of Public Affairs, ClearWay Minnesota

Description of topic: Foster children face a disproportionate number of health-related challenges due to backgrounds that can include physical and emotional abuse, neglect, malnutrition, and in-utero alcohol or drug exposure. Despite this, in many states these children are still placed in foster homes where they are exposed to the health hazards of secondhand smoke. This webinar presents an overview of policy considerations for state and local communities interested in providing a safe smoke-free environment for children in foster homes. It describes policy options and challenges, and provides case studies of two states that have passed smoke-free foster care regulations:  Maryland in 2008 and Minnesota in 2014. 

REGISTER HERE

 

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Webinar - Top Cancers in Indian Country: Risk Factors, Regional Issues, and Opportunities
Host: National Native Network
When: June 24, 2014 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT
Speaker: Dr. David Espey, Acting Director of CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control

Learning objectives:
By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

• Describe the top cancers in Indian Country and associated risk factors
• Identify regional issues and needs related to prevention, control, and surveillance
• Identify and leverage regional and national resources in cancer prevention and control

REGISTER HERE

 

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Webinar - Smoking and Dementia: Are You at Risk for Alzheimer’s?

 

Host: Smoking Cessation Leadership Center

When: June 25, 2014 at 2:00pm Eastern Time/ 11:00am Pacific Time (90 minutes)

Speaker: Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, MACP, Vice President for Research, Group Health and  Executive Director & Senior Investigator, Group Health Research Institute

Webinar objectives:

• Describe how research has changed  our understanding of Alzheimer’s and late life dementias
• Value the magnitude of the “epidemic” of Alzheimer’s and late life dementias
• Explain that reduction of vascular risk is a promising way to reduce risk of experiencing Alzheimer’s and late life dementia and that these conditions are among the most feared of any chronic disease
• Apply the knowledge that smoking increases vascular risk and the risk of developing late life dementias and  Alzheimer’s disease  to promote smoking cessation
• Assess that evidence of declining incidence rates reported  in several recent papers argues for preventability of Alzheimer’s and late life dementias

REGISTER HERE

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New Resources to Promote the 2014 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health
The 2014 Surgeon General’s report, The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress, is now available as an eBook. The Full Report, Supplemental Evidence Tables, and Executive Summary are available in ePUB (compatible with Apple’s iBooks, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and many others) and MOBI (Amazon Kindle) formats for your mobile electronic device. 

Download them for free at http://bookstore.gpo.gov/ebooks.

Please note: you will need to complete the checkout process in order to receive the FREE eBook. If you have any questions about these eBooks, please feel free to contact Leslie Norman at LNorman@cdc.gov.

SGR50 Products now available en Español

Several products associated with the 2014 Surgeon General Report are available in Spanish. You can find all the products on the Surgeon General Spanish Resources webpage.

• Executive Summary: This Executive Summary of the Surgeon General’s Report, released in January, 2014, provides an overview of the full report of the Surgeon General and highlights the conclusions and findings.
• Consumer Booklet: This easy-to-read, illustrated booklet summarizes the Surgeon General’s Report released in January, 2014. It is designed to give concerned adults information to help them make choices that will improve their own health and the health of their children, their families, and their communities.
• Public Service Announcement - 5.6 Million Children: This public service announcement (PSA) is designed to educate adults about the long-term impact of tobacco use on this nation’s future – its youth. The PSA points out that 5.6 million children alive today will ultimately die early from smoking if we do not do more to reduce current smoking rates.

For more information and resources, please visit the Surgeon General 50th Anniversary website.

Uneven progress in expanding state Medicaid coverage for smoking cessation

States make gradual progress, but few provide comprehensive coverage More smokers would quit if state Medicaid programs covered more cessation treatments and removed barriers to coverage, according to a CDC study published in today’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. All 50
states and the District of Columbia cover cessation treatments for at least some Medicaid enrollees.

Efforts to expand state Medicaid coverage for all smoking cessation treatments and the removal of coverage barriers have shown mixed progress over the past five years.

Americans enrolled in Medicaid are more likely to smoke than the general population, and smoking-related disease is a major contributor to increasing Medicaid costs. Insurance coverage of proven cessation treatments leads to more smokers using the treatments and successfully quitting smoking. A recent study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that more comprehensive state Medicaid coverage was associated with increased quit rates among smokers enrolled in Medicaid.
Seven states cover all approved medications and in-person counseling cessation treatments for all Medicaid recipients. All states have some barriers to getting these treatments. The most common barriers are limits on how long treatment is covered and how much is covered per year; prior authorization requirements; and copayments.

“States can save lives and reduce costs by providing Medicaid coverage for all proven cessation treatments, removing barriers to accessing these treatments, and promoting the expanded coverage,” said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “Reducing the number of smokers will save lives and reduce health care costs.”

The study compares 2008 with 2014 data and found that 41 states made changes to the treatments they covered for at least some plans or populations. Nineteen states added treatments to coverage without removing any treatments from coverage and eight states removed treatments from coverage without adding any treatments to coverage. Fourteen states both added and removed coverage.
During this same period, 38 states made changes to barriers to accessing treatments for at least some plans or populations. Nine states removed barriers without adding new barriers, 12 states added new barriers without removing existing ones, and 17 states both removed and added barriers.

“There’s evidence suggesting that smokers enrolled in Medicaid, like other smokers, want to quit and will take advantage of covered cessation treatments to help them quit for good,” said Stephen Babb, M.P.H., co-author of the article.

Some of the strongest evidence comes from Massachusetts, which expanded its Medicaid cessation coverage in 2006.

“Massachusetts heavily promoted its new Medicaid cessation coverage to Medicaid enrollees and health care providers, and saw a drop in the smoking rate among Medicaid enrollees from 38 percent to 28 percent,” said Babb. There was also an almost 50 percent drop in hospital admissions for heart attacks among those who used the benefit. It is important that all smokers who want help quitting, including smokers enrolled in Medicaid, have access to proven cessation treatments and services.”

Fifty years after the first Surgeon General’s Report linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer, smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing nearly half a million Americans every year. More than 16 million Americans live with a smoking-related disease. Smoking-related diseases cost Americans $132 billion a year in direct health care expenses, much of which comes in taxpayer-supported payments. The most recent Surgeon General’s Report, released in January 2014, recommends providing barrier-free access to proven cessation treatments, and expanding cessation services for all smokers in primary and specialty care settings.

Through the Affordable Care Act, more Americans will qualify to get health care coverage that fits their needs and budget, including important preventive services such as certain services to quit smoking that may be covered with no additional costs. Visit Healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 (TTY/TDD 1-855-889-4325) to learn more.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services CDC works 24/7 saving lives, protecting people from health threats, and saving money through prevention. Whether these threats are global or domestic, chronic or acute, curable or preventable, natural disaster or deliberate attack, CDC is the
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Surgeon General's Report Summary

Dear Colleagues,

The 2014 Surgeon General’s report “The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress” was released Friday at a White House press conference. Since we send out Quittin’ Time on Friday I didn’t want to overload your inbox. But, in case you haven’t had time to review the report findings and recommendations yet, they are provided below. I found most striking that:

• Smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 premature deaths annually among Americans 35 years of age and older
 • 20 million Americans died prematurely from smoking since the first SG report in 1964
• 2.5 million nonsmoking Americans died from exposure to secondhand smoke during that time period
• 5.6 million of today’s children will ultimately die early from smoking according to present estimates
• 3,200 children younger than the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette every day in the US
• The estimated costs attributable to smok¬ing and exposure to tobacco smoke now approach $300 billion annually

David Zauche Senior Program Officer Partnership for Prevention Washington, DC 20036