National Working Group for ACTTION

(Access to Coverage of Tobacco Treatment In Our Nation)

Partnership for Prevention

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About Action to Quit

One in five adult Americans smokes or uses some form of tobacco. This causes or complicates many of the Nation’s most common and costly chronic diseases (e.g., cancer, heart and lung disease, stroke, asthma) and results in the annual deaths of over 400,000 people every year. We are failing as a nation to provide the treatment that is needed to help these people quit their addiction to tobacco. Beyond the physical costs, failing to help people quit takes a financial toll – over $180 billion every year – a toll that U.S. taxpayers, investors and business owners can no longer afford in today’s uncertain economic environment. This is due to a combination of factors, not the least of which is the failure of public and private policies to give tobacco users full access to all the tools they need to quit. Our failure to act is costing us precious lives and money - we can and we must do better.

To this end, Action to Quit is a tobacco cessation initiative sponsored by Partnership for Prevention. It urges all sectors – employers, insurers, health care systems, quitlines, and policymakers – to work together to ensure that all tobacco users have access to comprehensive cessation treatments. Employers and insurers should institute policies that provide coverage without barriers for employees. Health care systems should identify patients who are tobacco users and provide them counseling and medications at every clinical encounter. Quitlines should be fully funded to expand the reach and quality of telephonic tobacco cessation services. The overarching goal of Action to Quit is to expand access to comprehensive tobacco cessation treatment to 50% of smokers by 2015 and 100% by 2020.    

The Action to Quit Network is a group of over 500 professionals who are committed to tobacco cessation. Network members receive a monthly e-newsletter, announcements of webinars, and listserv privileges. In 2010, Action to Quit extended grants to eleven states to advance tobacco cessation policy – Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New England states, New York, and Virginia.  

For more information contact: 
Brandi Robinson at   202-384-1505 or
David Zauche at   202-375-7807

Action to Quit is supported by generous funding from Pfizer Incorporated, Pfizer Foundation, and Legacy.

In The News RSS

  1. Sep 09, 2010
    Personalized Cessation is On the Way – Researchers at UPenn Start Clinical Trial
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  2. Sep 08, 2010
    Smoking Cessation Computer Games and Mobile Apps
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  3. Sep 02, 2010
    Delayed Quitters
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  4. Aug 30, 2010
    Expanding Coverage: Medicare Offers New Tobacco Cessation Counseling Benefit
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Key Dates RSS

  1. November 12-13, 2010: Treating Tobacco Dependence in Mental Health Settings
  2. November 6-10, 2010: American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
  3. October 30-4, 2010: American College of Chest Physicians: Chest 2010
  4. October 28-28, 2010: Multi-State Collaborative for Health Systems Change 2010 Conference

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