CA Quits Quarterly E-Newsletter |
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Your quarterly updates: CA Quits Corner, Educational Corner, TLC Spotlight/Corner and Champion's Corner along with resources, articles and events! |
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Statewide Nicotine Patch Promotion Ended
Since April 2020, more than 16,000 callers to the California Smokers' Helpline were mailed nicotine patch starter kits to help quit smoking during the COVID-19 shut-down. This limited-time offer was funded by a grant from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program has now ended. However, the California Smokers' Helpline still has other free nicotine patch promotions and people can always still get medications from their providers. A forthcoming analysis will demonstrate how Californians benefitted from this offer.
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CA Quits Champions Meeting 2021
CA Quits held a virtual 2021 Tobacco-Free Champions' meeting on May 14th, 2021. This year's theme was "Improve, Collaborate, Innovate." A total of 128 participants from local health agencies, health systems, health plans and state agencies joined to learn how partners can work together to promote tobacco cessation treatment.
Key highlights included how to be innovative at the health plan level for population health, ways to collaborate across local public health departments and clinics for tobacco treatment and ways to improve clinic workflow for tobacco treatment and referrals to the California Smokers' Helpline.
Thank you to everyone who attended the virtual meeting.
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California's 2020 Cessation Summit: 6 Goals |
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In September 2020, the California Tobacco Control Program convened a summit with over 60 local, state, and national thought leaders with expertise in tobacco prevention and cessation to develop the CA Quits Together plan. The plan identifies 6 goals to accelerate quitting and to achieve health equity, addressing Medi-Cal Managed Care plans, health care systems, behavioral health systems, community capacity, media, and surveillance.
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2021 TOBACCO LEARNING
COLLABORATIVE SPOTLIGHT
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**CORRECTION**
Public Hospital Clinics to Start
Reporting on Counseling Tobacco User
California's public hospital clinics have been participating in Medi-Cal's quality improvement programs, for which CA Quits hosts a Tobacco Learning Collaborative. As the tobacco quality metric transitioned to the Quality Incentive Program (QIP), CA Quits helped provide critical information to the Medi-Cal Medical Director's team.
Tobacco screening and intervention continues to be a required quality metric in QIP. For the first time, there will be a requirement to report on the percentage of tobacco users counseled. Also, tobacco will be included in the elective "Improving Health Equity" project metric for racial/ethnic groups. This is a big win to move systems change around the tobacco quality metric!
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2021 Tobacco Learning Collaborative Updates
- to connect to the Helpline or increase referrals
- to implement a tobacco assessment and referral policy
- to increase patient engagement
This quarter's spotlight is on a community partner, funded by the California Tobacco Control Program, and a public hospital clinic system:
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First 5 Yuba County has leveraged their existing relationship with Harmony Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Yuba County, to initiate e-referral connectivity to the Helpline, along with the adoption of a tobacco assessment and referral policy. First 5 Yuba County is also working with 2 home visiting programs to integrate the web-based referral to the Helpline and started a local learning collaborative for home visiting programs within their county! |
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El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC) identified a Provider Champion! The Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Manager who oversees the nurse practitioners and physician assistants at the ECRMC clinics plans to re-engage their providers to offer brief motivational interviewing and e-referral training. The goal is to help increase provider/patient engagement and e-referrals to the Helpline. |
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ACES Aware: Partnership on a Statewide
Provider Mailing
Higher Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) scores are associated with over double the likelihood of lifetime smoking. The new ACES Aware campaign to screen for ACES is funded by Proposition 56 and led by the California Department of Health Care Services' Medical Director, Dr. Karen Mark, and the California Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris. CA Quits is partnering with ACES Aware to mail tobacco treatment resources to over 1000 healthcare providers who have completed the ACES Aware training. The mailings include CA Quits provider resources and the California Smokers' Helpline patient postcards with the free nicotine patch offer funded by First 5 California. We are grateful for this new statewide partnership!
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NEW Factsheets on Youth
and Adult Marijuana Use in California
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The California Department of Public Health's newly established Substance and Addiction Prevention Branch created two new factsheets on marijuana use in youth and adults in California. |
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LGBTQ+ Tobacco Cessation Resources
Tobacco Education Clearinghouse of California (TECC) has a variety of tobacco cessation resources available for those working in the LGBTQ+ communities. These include brochures, posters, and booklet designed specifically for the LGBTQ+ communities.
Read more
www.tecc.org
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A Lifetime of Damage
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids issued a new report on women and tobacco industry marketing. The tobacco industry has a long history of developing cigarette brands and marketing campaigns that target women and girls, with devastating consequences...
Read more
www.tobaccofreekids.org
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