National Working Group for ACTTION

November 20, 2009

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)

During the past year, there were many opportunities to advance cessation treatment, including the work of the Joint Commission to expand tobacco cessation for hospital patients, collaboration among national, state and local organizations, increased visibility and understanding of cessation via webinars, conference presentations, and materials sharing. Additionally, while the national health reform debate still rages, we are hopeful that cessation treatment will be enhanced under Medicare and Medicaid.

While we have made some headway in moving toward this goal, significant work lies ahead. Plans are underway for an active 2010, continuing our outreach and encouraging states to conduct their own state cessation summits. More details on future plans will be provided in our next newsletter.

So, on the one-year anniversary of the ACTTION Summit, please keep the Call for ACTTION in mind and encourage others to join, support or endorse this effort. Consider passing this email along to those who you feel would be interested, and have them sign up on www.acttiontoquit.com to receive this newsletter in the future.

Finally, I encourage you to talk to your colleagues, constituents and friends to see how the recommendations can be applied in your sector. As always, we hope to hear you success stories of implements the Call for ACTTION.

Regards,

Diane Canova

Managing Senior Fellow and Senior Program Officer
Partnership for Prevention