Easier to Use Referral Interface

The California Smokers' Helpline is pleased to announce it's new interface for our free web-based referral service. Based on feedback we have received from referring providers, the interface has been revised to make it easier to search for your organization, submit multiple referrals, and track referrals by individual health professional.

The service offers busy health professionals a quick and easy method for referring their patients and clients who smoke to the Helpline's free, evidence-based tobacco cessation services, available in multiple languages.

• Existing Customers: If your organization is already registered with the service, it is just a matter of searching for and finding your organization and then submitting patient referrals as before.
• New Customers: If your organization is new to the service, you may register by clicking the button below. Organizations wishing to refer Asian language patients only may register here.

Benefits of Web-Based Referral

• Quick, easy, and convenient to use
• Email confirmation issued when referral has been received
• Once a referral is received, a Helpline representative will make the first attempt to call the patient within 24 hours, and then make five more attempts over the following two weeks
• Aggregate reports of referral disposition available upon request

Why Refer Patients to the Helpline?

Asking and advising patients to quit is not just good patient care—it can increase the chance that a smoker will make a quit attempt. And studies have shown that smokers who use Helpline counseling are twice as likely to quit as those who don’t.

According to the U.S. Public Health Service Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: Clinical Practice Guideline, 2008 Update, “Telephone quitline counseling is effective with diverse populations and has broad reach. Therefore, both clinicians and health care delivery systems should ensure patient access to quitlines and promote quitline use.”

Thank you for referring your patients and clients to the California Smokers' Helpline. We hope this new interface makes it easier for you to do so!

With the Great American Smokeout coming up on November 16th, now is a good time to order our popular Top 10 Tips to Quit Smoking flyer, availalble free of charge and shipping from the California Smokers' Helpline.

This 2-sided flyer features qutting tips from Helpline counselors--in English on one side and Spanish on the other.

So, encourage your patients and clients to make a quit attempt and provide them with our Top 10 Tips to Help Smokers Quit flyer. For smokers who need additional support, refer them to 1-800-NO-BUTTS (1-800-662-8887) or to our online registration form for free help and a plan to quit.

The California Smokers’ Helpline and its training and technical assistance arm, the Center for Tobacco Cessation, are pleased to host this free webinar on Thursday, October 26th from noon to 1 pm PST, Tobacco Use and Oral Health: The Critical Role of Dental Professionals.

Webinar Overview

Oral diseases affect more people worldwide than any other chronic health condition of humankind. In addition to being a primary cause of major oral ailments, including oral cancer and gum disease, tobacco use disrupts nearly every facet of oral health: from taste perception, salivary flow, to the success of dental treatment.

The California Smokers’ Helpline and its training and technical assistance arm, the Center for Tobacco Cessation, are pleased to provide this free Provider Toolkit on Smoking, Nicotine, and the Brain.

Overview

Tobacco and related products exert their addictive potential through nicotine. This webinar will review the mechanisms through which these products deliver nicotine and through which neural pathways nicotine exerts its effects on the brain.

The implications of neuroscience on both the health of active tobacco product users and on tobacco product use cessation treatment strategies will be discussed.

The webinar will conclude with a discussion on the clinical and organizational implications associated with implementing smoking cessations strategies, in light of the research on nicotine and the brain.

Toolkit Contents

Our free Toolkit includes:

• Webinar recording and slide deck
• Handouts:
  • What's in Cigarette Smoke?
  • Top 10 Tips to Quit Smoking
  • Quit Aids: Tools to Quit Smoking

Presenter

Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, DFASAM
Assistant Professor of Addiction Medicine
UCLA Department of Family Medicine

Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, DFASAM is an addiction psychiatrist and the Medical Director for Substance Use Related Care Integration at the Los Angeles County Health Agency. Brian is currently the Treasurer of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and gives presentations around the world related to addiction medicine. He is board certified in general psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, and addiction medicine.

He serves on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s Addiction Psychiatry examination writing committee. Brian completed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and was previously a UCLA - Veterans Administration National Quality Scholar at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. He completed a fellowship program in addiction psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. Brian completed residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital, where he was Chief Resident in Addiction Psychiatry.

Request for Applications (RFA) CTCP 17-10569, “Regional Initiative to Reduce Tobacco-Related Disparities among African American/Black; Asian/Pacific Islander; Hispanic/Latino; and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Populations” was released on Tuesday, September 19, 2017.  This RFA intends to fund up to 27 projects throughout California to reduce tobacco-related health disparities and achieve health equity among priority populations through regional approaches directed towards policy and systems change focused on tobacco use prevention and reduction. Download the Funding Alert here or visit the TCFOR website for Instructions on applying.

An optional Informational Webinar will be held on Wednesday, September 27, 2017, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., PDT. Prospective applicants intending to submit an application are strongly encouraged to participate. The purpose of the Informational Webinar is to provide potential applicants with an opportunity to pose written questions about preparing and submitting the application.

Additionally, the California Tobacco Control Program will fund up to four grantees to serve as statewide coordinating centers to foster collaboration and community engagement among the funded regional priority population projects to accelerate the adoption, implementation, and impact of their policy and system change campaigns.  A Funding Opportunity Alert for this RFA will be posted soon.

The California Smokers’ Helpline and its training and technical assistance arm, the Center for Tobacco Cessation, are pleased to host this free webinar on Wednesday, September 20th from noon to 1 pm PST, Smoking, Nicotine, and the Brain.

Webinar Overview

Tobacco and related products exert their addictive potential through nicotine. This webinar will review the mechanisms through which these products deliver nicotine and the through which neural pathways nicotine exerts is effects on the brain.

The implications of neuroscience on both the health of active tobacco product users and on tobacco product use cessation treatment strategies will be discussed.

The webinar will conclude with a discussion on the clinical and organizational implications associated with implementing smoking cessations strategies, in light of the research on nicotine and the brain.

Webinar Objectives

By the conclusion of the webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Discuss the mechanisms through which nicotine is commonly delivered.
2. Identify the brain structures upon which nicotine exerts its effects.
3. Summarize the implications of this neuroscience on clinical and organization smoking cessation efforts.

Presenter

Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, DFASAM
Assistant Professor of Addiction Medicine
UCLA Department of Family Medicine

Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, DFASAM is an addition psychiatrist and the Medical Director for Substance Use Related Care Integration at the Los Angeles County Health Agency. Brian is currently the Treasurer of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and gives presentations around the world related to addiction medicine. He is board certified in general psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, and addiction medicine.

He serves on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s Addiction Psychiatry examination writing committee. Brian completed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and was previously a UCLA - Veterans Administration National Quality Scholar at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. He completed a fellowship program in addiction psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. He completed residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital, where he was Chief Resident in Addiction Psychiatry.

The California Smokers’ Helpline is pleased to announce its new, free quit smoking mobile app for iPhone, No Butts. No Butts uses proven methods to help smokers quit including a personalized quit plan and information about effective quitting aids.

The app also features other useful tools like a personal log of smoking triggers, motivational reminders, and a variety of quit smoking tips.

This free app is currently available only for iPhones but will also be available for Android phones in the future. To download the app from the Apple Store, please click the button below:

Please feel free to share this post with your patients, clients, friends and family. Since this is our first version of the app, we also appreciate any feedback you may have about it. Please feel free to email any comments or suggestions to nobuttsmobileapp@ucsd.edu.

SB 493 Expands Scope of Practice for Licensed Pharmacists

In 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 493, authored by Senator Ed Hernandez, which for the first time ever, acknowledged pharmacists as legitimate healthcare providers and had also expanded the scope of practice for pharmacists to offer more patient care services beyond their most familiar function of drug dispensing. SB 493 was introduced in the Legislature as a response to the State’s physician shortage, especially after California had expanded coverage to millions of people under the Affordable Care Act.

One of the critical expanded authorities that came from SB 493 was the ability for all licensed pharmacists in the State to provide and offer nicotine replacement products for smoking cessation. Prior to SB 493, providing nicotine replacement therapy was limited to pharmacists who worked in either an inpatient setting or an integrated system.

Pharmacists Can Better Assist Patients with Smoking Cessation

Pharmacists who provide nicotine replacement therapy are not just selling the nicotine replacement products themselves, but they are also assisting patients with tobacco cessation using patient specific interventions, including referring patients to quitlines, such as the California Smokers’ Helpline, and other resources that are available within the community. Before a pharmacist even offers nicotine replacement therapy, they will evaluate their patients for any specific factors including precautions or contraindications for medication therapy. In addition, extensive counseling is done by the pharmacist with their patient on the appropriate use of smoking cessation medications such as dosing amounts, how to administer the product, and any possible adverse effects.

SB 493 opened the doors for retail and community pharmacists to be able to transform their business model by offering more preventative healthcare services, like nicotine replacement therapy. Most importantly, pharmacists have an opportunity to be leaders in the fight against nicotine addiction by decreasing the use of tobacco products and promoting smoking cessation especially since they interface with patients frequently throughout the day.

The health benefits for patients who participate in a smoking cessation program are incredible considering the damaging effects of nicotine addiction. Smoking tobacco products increases the chance of lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease among others.

Patient Access to Care Increased

Patients are particularly at an advantage of receiving nicotine replacement therapy from their community pharmacist because the service can be provided more accessibly, rather than having to make an appointment to see their primary care physician which can take several weeks.  Patients who want to quit smoking and begin a smoking cessation program with their local pharmacist will see major improvements in their health and will significantly reduce the risk of premature death. 

The California Pharmacists Association was instrumental in advocating for SB 493 (Hernandez) and were sponsors of the legislation. CPhA’s CEO, Jon Roth recalls that the timing of this legislation was impeccable. “SB 493 was looked upon by the pharmacy profession as the perfect storm. For years, pharmacists had been overlooked as healthcare providers who could play a significant role in improving health outcomes and reducing overall healthcare spending through their expertise in medication management. After the Affordable Care Act had passed, California’s Medi-Cal program grew to over 13 million beneficiaries, which is about a third of the state’s population. Physicians became overwhelmed and we saw that many were no longer accepting Medi-Cal patients. So the need for pharmacists to bridge this gap in care was not only imperative, but it just made sense.”

Protocol for Pharmacists Furnishing Nicotine Replacement Products

Once the bill was signed into law, the California Board of Pharmacy and the Medical Board of California were responsible for developing protocols for pharmacists to follow when providing the authorized services outlined in SB 493 and determining the appropriate training requirements.

The entire protocol and training requirements for pharmacists to furnish nicotine replacement products is available here and summarized as follows:

• Pharmacists have the authority to furnish nicotine replacement products approved by the FDA.
• The purpose is to provide timely access to nicotine replacement products and to ensure the patient receives the appropriate information to initiate smoking cessation medication therapy. When a pharmacist initiates or receives requests for smoking cessation treatment he or she must:
  • Review the patient’s current tobacco use and quit attempts
  • Ask the patient a series of screening questions outlined in the protocol
  • Review instructions for use with every patient
  • Recommend additional assistance and resources such as helplines or local programs
  • Answer any questions the patient may have
• A pharmacist may select any nicotine replacement product (alone or in combination) from the list of therapies specified by the Board of Pharmacy which shall be updated and maintained on the Board’s website.
• The pharmacist shall notify the patient’s primary care provider of any prescription drugs or devices furnished to the patient for smoking cessation treatment.
• The pharmacist must document each nicotine replacement product provided and securely store this information in a patient medication record for at least three years.
• Before initiating any smoking cessation treatment, a pharmacist must complete a two hour continuing education program specific to smoking cessation therapy and nicotine replacement therapy.
• Pharmacists must complete ongoing continuing education focused on smoking cessation therapy every two years. Pharmacists must ensure that patient confidentiality and privacy are maintained. 

Pharmacy Education for Furnishing Free NRT

Purdue College of Pharmacy has a 2.5 hour, home study course that fulfills the training requirement needed before initiating smoking cessation treatment. The course - Behavioral Counseling & Pharmacotherapy - has been approved by the Board of Pharmacy and can be accessed by visiting Rxforchange: https://rxforchange.ucsf.edu/continuing_education.php

Participants who complete the online program and successfully pass the post-test will receive 2.5 hours of Continuing Pharmacy Education Credit. 

New Fact Sheet from the California Smokers' Helpline

In addition, pharmacists can utilize the latest fact sheet provided by the California Smokers Helpline on furnishing nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation.