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Tobacco use treatment guidelines updated
Clinicians play a crucial role in reducing use and related disease
May 6, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The US Public Health Service is releasing updated guidelines for treating tobacco use and dependence. According to the report, clinicians do not consistently provide the evidence-based treatments that are proven to be most effective in reducing tobacco use and preventing tobacco-related disease.
"While clinicians are ideally situated to help patients quit smoking, many hesitate to provide counseling and medications for issues they perceive as lifestyle choices," said Thomas Kottke, MD, a cardiologist with HealthPartners Medical Group and HealthPartners Research Foundation. Kottke has served on the task force since the first guideline was released in 1997. "This new guideline identifies tobacco-cessation treatments that are proven to work. We found that the combination of counseling and medication is particularly effective, and counseling can be effective even if done over the telephone."
More than 70 percent of smokers visit a healthcare setting each year. This provides an opportunity for clinicians to increase the rate of tobacco cessation among smokers and reduce their risk of tobacco-caused disease. The new guideline sets a standard that clinicians and healthcare systems identify and document tobacco use status and provide evidence-based treatments to every tobacco user seen in a healthcare setting.
According to the report, half of all smokers in the United States alive today (more than 20 million) will die prematurely from a disease directly caused by their tobacco use if they are unable to quit. Fifty four organizations have endorsed the new guideline – far exceeding the approximately thirty that endorsed the document prior to the 2000 release.
HealthPartners Research Foundation
HealthPartners family of care includes HealthPartners Research Foundation (www.hprf.org). Conducting about 250 research projects each year, the Foundation is dedicated to advancing scientific knowledge through research to improve the health of our members and the community.
About HealthPartners
Founded in 1957, the HealthPartners (www.healthpartners.com) family of healthcare companies serve more than one million medical and dental health plan members nationwide. It is the largest consumer-governed, nonprofit health care organization in the nation, providing care, coverage, research and education to improve the health of members, patients and the community. For the third year in a row, HealthPartners is rated one of the best commercial health plans in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, NCQA's "America's Best Health Plans 2007" and is ranked "Highest in Member Satisfaction among Commercial Health Plans in the Minnesota-Wisconsin Region" by J.D. Power and Associates.
Contact: 952-883-5301
Cell: 612-247-9119
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