National Working Group for ACTTION

Nov 20, 2009
Letter from Diane Canova

Dear Partners,

 

Just over one year ago, we came together – leaders from public and private health, business and political sectors – to develop and issue the Call to ACTTION. Our goal was to:

 

·         Call attention to tobacco users’ lack of access to comprehensive tobacco cessation treatment

·         Promote the need for multi-sector action around the need to provide greater access to tobacco use treatment

·         Set a goal to ensure that every tobacco user has access to comprehensive treatment services by the year 2020 (if not sooner)

Nov 20, 2009
Massachusetts Medicaid Reports Success in Comprehensive Cessation Offerings

People who receive Medicaid benefits smoke at higher rates than the general population. This is also a population that, by definition, has a low income and is less able to pay out-of-pocket costs for any cessation treatments or services. With these barriers in place, few states are actually providing comprehensive coverage to help smokers on Medicaid quit – a missed opportunity for the tobacco control community to reach numerous smokers. However, in Massachusetts, where the new MassHealth insurance benefit is offering comprehensive cessation services to Medicaid recipients who smoke, the state is starting to see the investment pay off.

Nov 20, 2009
Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) Objectives is Looking to You

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has announced that the proposed Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) objectives are available for review online. HHS is currently seeking input from individuals and communities that are able to provide valuable feedback and additional insight as they continue to development the HP2020 objectives.

Nov 20, 2009
Tobacco Cessation in the News

During the past month, smoking cessation research has been a major of discussion point among those in the tobacco control community and in the media. Several organizations have released updates on research and recommendations, and we have provided quick summaries of these tobacco cessation news items.

There are no key dates for this briefing.