See Tobacco Cessation Info for FPs, Patients

The Academy's new tobacco cessation initiative, Ask and Act, features online materials you can use to help your patients "kick butt." The initiative encourages you to ask your patients about their tobacco use and then act on that information.

An added plus: Open the "Tell us what you're doing to help your patients kick the habit!" link near the bottom of the Ask and Act Web page, and you'll have a blank e-mail page for sending your success stories to askandact@aafp.org. Explain the system changes and other interventions you've put into place to help your patients free themselves from tobacco use. Your comments will jump-start an online collection of best practices in the tobacco cessation effort.

Accessing the "Reimbursement" link on the left of the page just might help your bottom line. You're doing the counseling and prescribing; the information here may help you cover some of your costs. Learn from resources such as a Medicare news release and a Medicaid toolkit on coverage for helping pregnant women quit smoking. For many patients, Medicare will cover eight tobacco-cessation counseling sessions in a 12-month period, according to a July 15 Change Request (PDF file: 7 pages / 107 KB. More about PDFs.) to the CMS Manual System.

Another link on the left of the page, "Office Resources and Patient Education Materials" leads to resources in both English and Spanish from AAFP's patient education Web site -- familydoctor.org -- the CDC, National Cancer Institute, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and HHS. You can guide your patients to step-by-step programs from the federal government's Web site -- smokefree.gov -- and the American Lung Association. Also, consider downloading NCI's Handheld Computer Smoking Intervention Tool for clinicians.

The "CME" link leads to programs on clinical interventions to assist your patients. The evidence-based programs come complete with clinical forms and patient handouts.

"Nicotine Replacement Therapy" links to clinical practice guidelines from the U.S. Public Health Service; to American Family Physician articles; and to information from the American Heart Association, American Lung Association, FDA, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and QuitNet.

Other tobacco cessation topic links include "Advocacy," "Contact Us" (with e-mail addresses of members of the AAFP Tobacco Cessation Advisory Committee), "Physicians as Leaders," "Quitlines" and "Tobacco Statistics."

Coming soon: quitline cards you can order for patients or download. The cards will be free to members while supplies last.