Posts Tagged ‘tobacco’

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Men’s Health Week Time to Think about Our Health

June 13th, 2013

This week is Men’s Health Week – the worldwide event happens every year before Father’s Day calling attention to the issues that affect men’s health. Many groups take the opportunity to talk about men’s health – we should be thinking about our health every week.  The top health issues that impact men’s health are also some of the easiest issues to prevent.  Heart disease and cancer are leading causes of death for men.  The best way to fight heart disease is exercise and sensible eating.  Our Healthy Living website has some interesting ideas on being active and choosing healthy foods. 

If you’re 50 or older or at higher risk, make a pledge to yourself and your family get checked for prostate and colorectal cancer. Men’s Health Week is the perfect opportunity to schedule an appointment.   

Stress also leads to health problems in men, including depression.  If you’re suffering from depression, it’s harder to be physically active and eat well. Sometimes a chat with a professional can put you back on track or a doctor may prescribe medication to help put your life back in balance. Most employers offer an Employee Assistance Program that will offer free or low cost access to a mental health professional.  The parity law also makes your regular health insurance provide access to mental health care. 

If you’re still smoking, stop.  Every puff of a cigarette or cigar takes time off your life. Nicotine is a highly addictive substance – quitting isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. If you need help, call the ASHLine at 1-800-556-6222. 

Finally, consider getting a physical this year to identify hidden health conditions.  If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your family.

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Employee Wellness Standards Locked In

June 11th, 2013

The Fed’s issued their final regulations for worksite wellness programs under the Affordable Care Act this week.  The final rules are designed to incentivize workplaces to develop and execute health promotion programs.  The goal is to improve health and wellness among workers and to limit growth of health care costs moving forward. 

The regulations outline standards what they call “health-contingent wellness programs” which basically reward employees who meet a specific standard related to their health.  For example…  worksite wellness programs could provide a reward to folks who don’t smoke (or that decrease their use of tobacco).  Employers can also reward those who achieve a health-related goal like a specified cholesterol level, weight, or body mass index. 

The rules also include what they call “participatory wellness programs”.  These are programs that reimburse for the cost of membership at a gym, that provide a reward to employees for attending health education seminars or that reward employees who complete a health risk assessment.  The final rules will be effective for health “plan years” beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2014.  Here’s the link to the “inside baseball” regulations in the Federal Register.

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Posted in Affordable Care Act, General

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Smokers Cost Employers $6K More

June 10th, 2013

A new Ohio State University study found smokers cost businesses about $6,000 more than nonsmokers every year.  The researchers used the cost of increased absenteeism, lost productivity, smoke breaks and health care  to reach the $6K/year figure – not surprisingly, smoke breaks account for the biggest share of the cost. 

More and more businesses are creating stronger worksite wellness programs.  Arizona, for example, has a great benefit in place for state employees who smoke. Anyone interested in quitting can receive one of the 7 approved nicotine replacement therapies and behavioral counseling for free. Since our state employee health plan was selected as the benchmark plan for the Exchange under the Affordable Care Act… more and more Arizonans will eventually have the same opportunity for those resources to kick the habit.  Also, many businesses in AZ have been putting a focus on worksite wellness and have linked up with the ASHLine.   A few businesses have taken it so far as to not hire smokers at all. 

Research studies, and corporate wellness initiatives have shown that worksite wellness programs are a good benefit for employees and employers.  Those programs can significantly reduce employer costs and improve employee health. Healthier employees are more likely to stay in their jobs, less likely to be absent, take fewer breaks, and have lower health care costs.

 

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National Campaign Shows Real Dangers of Tobacco Use

May 6th, 2013

Continuing with the success of last year’s landmark national tobacco education campaign- the CDC is launching “Tips from Former Smokers” which will run in Arizona through the end of June.  The media campaign showcases the real and devastating effects of smoking & secondhand smoke.  The ads feature people with smoking-related health conditions and candidly describe the impact of tobacco and the benefits of quitting. 

The national campaign from CDC is a great supplement to our statewide efforts to help people quit smoking and preventing young people from starting.  We operate the widely successful ASHLine, which offers free evidence-based cessation services and nicotine replacement therapies for all Arizonans. The ASHLine has a 32% quit rate, which means that we’re helping more people every day to kick the habit. 

The CDCs ad’s encourage folks to call 1-800-QUITNOW- which in AZ will roll up directly to our ASHLine (1.800.55.66.222) helping even more Arizonans find local resources to help Arizonans kick the habit.

 

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The Great American Smokeout

November 15th, 2012

Today is the 37th Annual Great American Smokeout®. Sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the annual event challenges smokers to start the quit process by joining thousands of other Americans in quitting for the day. The thought being – if you can quit for a day, you can quit for life.
Across the state the Arizona Smokers Helpline – or ASHLine – is highlighting the success of the free quit coach service. Serving Arizona for nearly 15 years, ASHLine combines the support of a quit coach with nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) such as the patch, gum, lozenge or medication to help improve a tobacco users change of quitting and staying quit. ASHLine boasts a 40 percent quit rate which is among the leaders of quitlines nationally.  Contact ASHLine online or on the phone at 1-800-55-66-222.

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Worksite Wellness- a Critical Public Health Lever

September 21st, 2012

Chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes cause 70% of deaths in the US these days… absorbing 75% of the $2.5T spent on annual medical care costs.  When it comes to employee healthcare expenses- the indirect costs of poor health like absenteeism, disability, and reduced work output can be several times higher than direct medical costs.  In fact, productivity losses from health problems cost employers $1,685 per employee per year! 

One of the provisions in the Affordable Care Act includes incentives for employers to implement worksite wellness programs to help them keep their workforce healthier.  When done well (using evidence-based and best practices) worksite health programs have a 3:1 payoff.  Like the odds? 

The Affordable Care Act contains some elements that will make worksite wellness programs more common and robust over the next couple of years.  There are basically 2 kinds of worksite wellness programs.  I’ll call them Wellness and Wellness Lite.  A “Wellness Lite” program doesn’t require a participant to meet any standard related to health status to receive a reward.  For example…  a wellness program could include a gym membership or tobacco cessation program but doesn’t require participants to actually lose weight or quit smoking.  

A Wellness program requires people to meet a health status standard to get a reward.  For example- an employer could ask employees to certify that they haven’t smoked during the previous year.  Enrollees who don’t could be assessed an annual surcharge of  20% of cost of the employee’s health insurance coverage.  Rewards may be in the form of premium discounts or rebates, lower cost-sharing requirements, waiving a surcharge, etc. Under the Affordable Care Act, wellness program rewards can be as high as 30% of the cost of the employee health plan- potentially going to 50% in the future.  

Our AZ Healthy Worksites web page provides businesses with information and tools to help them develop and implement an effective worksite wellness program.  For example, the Program Design page lists the eight steps for developing, implementing, and evaluating a comprehensive worksite program.  We’ve also contracted with the Arizona Small Business Association &  Viridian Health Management to develop a new toolkit for AZ businesses.  Viridian and the Arizona Small Business Association will teach businesses how to do effective wellness programs, understand their own particular issues/data, and develop effective strategies.  In all, our contract tasks the team to train 500 AZ employers.   Finally- the CDC is jumping into the fray with a variety of resources, which you can see at their worksite wellness hub website.  

 

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STAND

September 19th, 2012

Our chronic disease prevention team and the county health departments, community partners, and Pima Prevention Partnership, officially launched STAND last week.  It’s a coalition of local youth groups that have banded together in a common cause against tobacco use.  It’s the culmination of a three-year effort to engage more youth in the actual planning and implementation of tobacco control.  Through adult and youth trainings, an annual celebratory conference, and an increased online presence via STAND Facebook and www.Standaz.com, local coalitions retain their identities while maximizing their impact on a statewide basis. 

Trainings for adult coalition leaders, as well as youth coalition members, have been held regionally during both the fall and spring in Phoenix, Flagstaff and Tucson.  Adult coalition leaders learn how to effectively foster youth coalition development, assist the coalition members where needed and provide additional logistical support. Individual technical assistance is provided where needed to both youth and adults.  Trainings for the youth include education on advocacy, public speaking, social media and message development. A winter summit is in the works that will bring together youth to start planning for the end of the year youth tobacco coalition conference. 

Building on the momentum and outcomes of the highly-successful Venomocity campaign, this represents an expansion of our youth prevention efforts that now includes youth coalition activities, prevention outreach, point-of-sale efforts including the Attorney General’s sting operations, and the FDA program.  As the centralized hub of activity STAND will provide information and resources for youth and adult leaders.  Facebook and YouTube sites have also been created to tap into the social media opportunity that presents itself when working with youth. 

While overall use of tobacco among Arizona youth has mirrored the national trend of leveling off, Arizona has seen the single largest decrease in overall consumption (measured by teens who report smoking more than ten cigarettes per day).  This new launch of intensifying youth-to-youth involvement is the result of our robust formative research in figuring out the how’s and why’s of successful interventions.

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Arizona’s New Chronic Disease Strategic Plan

September 10th, 2012

I’m happy to share our new Arizona Chronic Disease Strategic Plan.  This past year, our team from the Bureau of Tobacco & Chronic Disease worked with community partners from across the state on a new guiding document for chronic disease prevention and health promotion.  This strategic plan will be used by ADHS, county health departments, and community partners to advance chronic disease policies, systems and environmental change in the areas of where we work, live, learn, and get care.  At the same time, this plan will also help align activities around the CDC’s Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Four Domains.  

Funded through the CDC Coordinated Chronic Disease Program- the new plan identifies ways in which our partners can maximize the impact in the areas of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and tobacco.  The strategic plan includes a matrix of evidence-based strategies which can be used by the public health community..  and it provides clear direction for advancing nationally recognized recommended or promising evidence-based practices.  Congratulations and thank you to the many community partners and health department staff who contributed to the development of new plan.

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AZ Smokes the Field

June 15th, 2012

AZ had the biggest % decrease in teen smoking rates in the country according to the new CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey this week. Smoking rates among AZ teens dropped 12% in the last couple of years- while rates generally stayed flat across the country.  That’s 11,000 fewer teen tobacco users between 2009 and 2011.  About half of the teenagers in AZ that smoke tried to quit in the last year too.  

We attribute our success to an array of evidence-based interventions that our statewide team has implemented over the last 3 years or so. We did test marketing of messages with teen focus groups about 5 years ago- developed a strategic plan right after that and then implemented our new evidence based program for teen prevention in early 2009. These efforts include the successful youth prevention campaign www.venomocity.com and the launch of the statewide youth coalition Students Taking a New Direction www.standaz.com 

Venomocity focused on the fact that tobacco is addicting- and that addiction controls you. Teens don’t like to be controlled. So, instead of telling them not to smoke, we let them know that tobacco is addictive, it’ll addict them if they start, that addiction will then control them- threatening their goal of self-determination. Then, we meet them where they are- via the facebook, twitter, and other social media. 

This work goes to show you that careful research, strategic planning and creative implementation, along with continuous evaluation to make corrections works!

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CDC Kicks Off New Smoking Intervention Campaign Today

March 19th, 2012

The CDC is kicking off a new national smoking cessation campaign today called “Tips from Former Smokers”.  The new tobacco education campaign will begin airing today and will run nationally for 12 weeks.  Ads include television, radio, billboard, magazine, newspaper, theater, and online placements. In addition, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other channels will help spread the campaign’s message more broadly, particularly among younger audiences. 

The “Tips from Former Smokers” campaign features real people suffering as a result of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.  Most of them were diagnosed with smoking-related illnesses when they were relatively young—many in their 30s and 40s, and one at only 18.  Their stories send a powerful message: Quit smoking now. Or better yet—don’t start.   To view the ads, please visit the campaign’s website and look under “Real Stories.” 

A couple of months ago we expanded our arsenal of resources to help smokers quit tobacco with the addition of the Call it Quits app which is also on our Facebook page.  The Call It Quits app on Facebook is another free tool brought to you by the ASHLine to help smokers win their battle against tobacco. The Arizona Smokers’ Helpline, has been helping Arizonans quit for more than 15 years-and has a 40% quit rate at six months.

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