MOST ADULT SMOKERS WANT TO QUIT
50 Percent Try to Quit Due to Health Care Provider Recommendations
New York, NY – Most adult smokers in New York State want to quit and one out of every two said they were motivated to quit because of their health care provider. According to new data released from the New York State Department of Health, there has been an increase of 22 percent since 2006 in the number of smokers who were motivated to quit when their health care provider recommended it.1
Smokers also cite concerns for their current and future health as significant motivators. In 2014, 93 percent of smokers reported concern for future health, 89 percent reported concern for current health and 67 percent reported concern for the health of others as reasons to quit smoking. This data illustrates the important role health care providers play in helping patients understand how smoking impacts their health now and in the future.
The Center of Excellence for Health Systems Improvement for a Tobacco-Free New York (COE for HSI) is working across New York State with regional contractors to engage health care providers and work with them to implement sustainable systems changes that ensure tobacco dependence screening and treatment are continuously integrated into all patient visits, minimizing missed opportunities for lifesaving tobacco cessation treatment. In fact, more than 70 percent of tobacco users visit a health care provider each year, and each of these visits is an opportunity for intervention.2
“When smokers want to quit it is even more important for health care providers to take the opportunity at every medical visit to offer advice, counseling and cessation medications which all increase the odds of a successful quit attempt,” said Marcy Hager, Director of the COE for HSI. “If New Yorkers are offered tobacco dependence treatment at every medical visit, more of them will be able to quit.”
For more information about the work of the COE for HSI, visit www.tobaccofreeny.org.
1 New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Tobacco Control, StatShot Vol. 8, No. 6, December 2015, http://www.health.ny.gove/prevention/tobacco_control/reports/statshots/
2 Fiore et al. Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 2008.
About CAI: CAI is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of underserved populations worldwide. For 36 years CAI has provided customized capacity building services to health and human service organizations in more than 27 countries and in all 50 states. Offering more than 1,500 training programs annually, CAI’s passionate staff works to fulfill its mission: to use the transformative power of education and research to foster a more aware, healthy, compassionate and equitable world. For more information about CAI, visit our website: www.caiglobal.org.
About the Center of Excellence for Health Systems Improvement: With funding from the New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Tobacco Control, CAI serves as the Center of Excellence for Health Systems Improvement (COE for HSI) for a Tobacco-Free New York. The COE for HSI promotes large-scale systems and policy changes to support the universal provision of evidence-based tobacco dependence treatment services. The COE for HSI aims to support 10 regional contractors throughout New York State working with health care systems and organizations that serve those populations for which tobacco use prevalence rates have not decreased in recent years - adults with low incomes, less than a high school diploma, and/or serious mental illness. Focused on providing capacity-building assistance services around topics like how to engage and obtain buy-in from leadership to implement the kinds of systems-level changes that will result in identification and intervention with every tobacco user who seeks care, the COE for HSI also will offer materials and resources to support contractors in their regional work. For more information, click here to visit the project website
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