1 00:00:01,20 --> 00:00:03,83 Everybody welcome to sub box my name is morrow T. 2 00:00:03,84 --> 00:00:08,38 Plus Wiley I'm the executive director here W C C A T V thirteen the people's 3 00:00:08,39 --> 00:00:13,71 Channel host on this program soapbox was created to give everyone an opportunity 4 00:00:13,85 --> 00:00:18,71 a little extra opportunity here W C C A to participate and list of public access 5 00:00:18,72 --> 00:00:21,29 process you could produce your own television shows 6 00:00:21,30 --> 00:00:26,62 a present television shows you could learn how to do all that here. If the young 7 00:00:26,63 --> 00:00:31,99 person we also have around that school programs for you to participate we encourage 8 00:00:32,00 --> 00:00:35,69 you to visit our website at W.C.C. A.T.V. 9 00:00:35,70 --> 00:00:40,73 Dot com And on that website you can also view this program as we stream in real 10 00:00:40,74 --> 00:00:42,15 time we also make 11 00:00:42,16 --> 00:00:46,65 a few of our programs available through downloading and that is also all kinds of 12 00:00:46,66 --> 00:00:48,58 information if you have a vent 13 00:00:48,59 --> 00:00:52,97 a public event you like to share with us here at the station please give us 14 00:00:52,98 --> 00:00:54,30 a call at five always have 15 00:00:54,31 --> 00:00:59,23 a five five eight hundred eighty extension ten the talk with Tracey she'll get your 16 00:00:59,24 --> 00:01:03,63 message up on our bulletin board she can book you for this program and also if you 17 00:01:03,64 --> 00:01:07,84 visit that website I told you about earlier that you see C T V dot com You can post 18 00:01:07,85 --> 00:01:11,95 your own event right on of our events Cal the so there's all kinds of opportunities 19 00:01:11,96 --> 00:01:17,19 available through W C C A T V To help you reach out and connect with our community 20 00:01:17,38 --> 00:01:21,08 so we want to thank you for doing that we certainly thank you for your support if 21 00:01:21,09 --> 00:01:26,25 you would like to make a donation our contribution to the station perhaps you have 22 00:01:26,26 --> 00:01:30,42 a skill to share maybe you could teach others how to work computers and all that 23 00:01:30,71 --> 00:01:34,88 we're certainly looking for that and we would welcome you to be part of our team 24 00:01:34,89 --> 00:01:40,66 here the. Speaking of team I want to think our camera man for filling in today we 25 00:01:40,67 --> 00:01:46,50 have met for Rio on camera one of our interns and also Frank Rocco behind the 26 00:01:46,51 --> 00:01:51,04 engineering booth here so thank you for joining us on soapbox and thank you for 27 00:01:51,05 --> 00:01:52,78 watching. T.V. 28 00:01:52,79 --> 00:01:58,40 Thirteen the people's Channel joining us today hopefully will have to guess but 29 00:01:58,41 --> 00:02:04,96 right now we have. Russ morrow Breslau right that's right she's the 30 00:02:04,97 --> 00:02:10,25 coordinator for of media advisory for tobacco free mass which is 31 00:02:10,26 --> 00:02:14,49 a Health Coalition we're going to learn about that and also the Mass Health tobacco 32 00:02:14,71 --> 00:02:18,73 situation benefit that's coming up soon so we're going to get some details about 33 00:02:18,74 --> 00:02:25,10 that and why it's so important to. About this issue so thanks for being here now 34 00:02:25,11 --> 00:02:31,46 you're welcome. We will looking forwards who perhaps are you sure 35 00:02:32,29 --> 00:02:37,91 for joining us and it's you know us it was for go right Camaro right clearance Yes 36 00:02:38,29 --> 00:02:41,84 that's for Social be good but maybe you could say we'll start with you sure because 37 00:02:41,85 --> 00:02:47,24 I know she's driving is your last few. Minutes of. Tell me 38 00:02:47,25 --> 00:02:51,92 a little bit about what what is this what's the back or sensation cessation of well 39 00:02:51,93 --> 00:02:52,62 it's see 40 00:02:53,16 --> 00:02:57,91 a pilot program that lasts for two years it was passed by the legislature signed 41 00:02:57,92 --> 00:03:03,54 into law by Governor Romney last April it started in July of two thousand and six 42 00:03:03,83 --> 00:03:04,86 was passed as I say as 43 00:03:04,87 --> 00:03:10,06 a pilot program and it ends in July of two thousand and eight it basically allows 44 00:03:10,07 --> 00:03:15,75 anyone who is virtually anybody who is on mass healthy subscribes to Medicaid and 45 00:03:15,76 --> 00:03:20,86 who smokes and wants to quit to be able to access counseling face to face 46 00:03:20,87 --> 00:03:25,51 counseling telephone counseling patches and any sort of F.D.A. 47 00:03:25,52 --> 00:03:31,74 Approved medication. To allow them to help quit to allow them to to try to quit 48 00:03:31,75 --> 00:03:37,67 smoking so it provides resources exactly and tools to use exactly that's exactly 49 00:03:37,68 --> 00:03:43,08 right so were the resources and tools that access those where they can go for you 50 00:03:43,09 --> 00:03:46,38 have to if they come and talk to their doctor and ask for 51 00:03:46,39 --> 00:03:50,38 a prescription for the patch or like I say any sort of F.D.A. 52 00:03:50,42 --> 00:03:55,42 Approved medication like Chantix has been in the news lately and then they are able 53 00:03:55,43 --> 00:03:59,28 to literally take that prescription to their pharmacy and and and get the 54 00:03:59,29 --> 00:04:02,68 medication for for themselves for either free or usually 55 00:04:02,69 --> 00:04:08,88 a very low cost co-pay so that So those so those tobacco solution 56 00:04:09,62 --> 00:04:16,51 program. Actually helps cover some of the cost exactly covers it covers like I 57 00:04:16,52 --> 00:04:19,70 say pretty much everything and this is certainly something that 58 00:04:19,71 --> 00:04:23,70 a lot of people who have wanted to quit and their subscribers have not been able to 59 00:04:23,71 --> 00:04:26,72 access in the past because let's face it the cost of 60 00:04:26,73 --> 00:04:29,84 a pack of cigarettes is about five fifty but the cost of 61 00:04:30,04 --> 00:04:33,92 a box of patches is more like fifty dollars and that's really hard for 62 00:04:33,93 --> 00:04:36,37 a lot of people to afford and so this this you know for 63 00:04:36,38 --> 00:04:38,97 a dollar or two co-pay they're able to afford 64 00:04:39,55 --> 00:04:43,85 a whole box of patches or pills or whatever they need to whatever they need to do 65 00:04:43,86 --> 00:04:49,35 to quit smoking is excellent so yeah so how is that funded where does the funding 66 00:04:50,13 --> 00:04:55,32 those go to resources as part of the passage of the pilot program back last spring 67 00:04:56,09 --> 00:05:01,27 the legislator legislature allotted seven million dollars each year for the next 68 00:05:01,31 --> 00:05:02,42 for two years so for 69 00:05:02,43 --> 00:05:06,26 a total of fourteen million dollars to help pay for this benefit so it's something 70 00:05:06,27 --> 00:05:08,93 that the state is picking up and really makes 71 00:05:08,94 --> 00:05:13,89 a lot more sense to help people quit smoking now than treat six milkers in the 72 00:05:13,90 --> 00:05:17,85 future where the cost to Medicaid would be close to maybe even three you know 73 00:05:18,11 --> 00:05:22,86 million dollars Yeah mention all the pain exactly well for of its employees and 74 00:05:22,87 --> 00:05:26,36 economic and emotional health costs Yeah you know I were boarding 75 00:05:26,37 --> 00:05:30,90 a lot of that by helping people now. So if the state give him money from tobacco 76 00:05:31,05 --> 00:05:36,09 penalties and fees are from taxes from the tobacco sales right now it's coming out 77 00:05:36,10 --> 00:05:42,23 of the general finds that is. So now this benefit is to help raise additional funds 78 00:05:42,24 --> 00:05:47,23 is that what this is about is it is it is it's not of benefit event we are at it 79 00:05:47,24 --> 00:05:49,72 now if it's an event that's taking place we just call it 80 00:05:49,73 --> 00:05:52,13 a benefit because it's not that's because it's 81 00:05:52,14 --> 00:05:58,90 a benefit to people to quit. OK we're. Going to point so the back of the 82 00:05:58,91 --> 00:06:04,24 station benefit is this program isn't exactly how it's. So so why is this why is 83 00:06:04,25 --> 00:06:10,83 this so important well really. People who are on again people who smoke and want to 84 00:06:10,84 --> 00:06:14,61 be able to quit and who subscribed to Mass Health in the past have not had any sort 85 00:06:14,62 --> 00:06:20,38 of way to to access. To access prescriptions or to access any kind of help to 86 00:06:20,39 --> 00:06:23,98 access counseling and you've had to pay for it out of your pocket if you want to 87 00:06:23,99 --> 00:06:28,32 quit and it's really hard to do that so for somebody to be able to give the 88 00:06:28,33 --> 00:06:31,89 pharmacy a dollar and get all of this health in return I think is 89 00:06:31,90 --> 00:06:35,87 a really valuable thing and I know that one of the things that sound tobacco free 90 00:06:35,88 --> 00:06:41,23 mass which is an advocacy organization is working on is making sure that this C. 91 00:06:41,42 --> 00:06:43,94 Program becomes a permanent benefit because if I'm 92 00:06:43,95 --> 00:06:48,05 a smoker and I'm not ready to quit now but I'm ready to quit in September of two 93 00:06:48,06 --> 00:06:52,65 thousand and eight I want to be able to do that and I think it's only fair to allow 94 00:06:52,66 --> 00:06:56,89 people to be able to do that whenever they want to as opposed to having this car in 95 00:06:56,90 --> 00:07:01,98 July of two thousand and eight so. There is global warming or there's 96 00:07:01,99 --> 00:07:02,56 a little bit of 97 00:07:02,57 --> 00:07:05,79 a timeline and like you say one of the things that some tobacco free mass is 98 00:07:05,80 --> 00:07:10,56 working on is making this a permanent benefit. Through the Massachusetts 99 00:07:10,57 --> 00:07:14,39 a Comprehensive Cancer Coalition we've done some outreach to local organizations 100 00:07:14,40 --> 00:07:19,34 that work with myself subscribers just kind of let them know about it in the first 101 00:07:19,35 --> 00:07:21,70 place our hope is that if if 102 00:07:21,71 --> 00:07:25,78 a lot of people use this benefits that the state will see that it's 103 00:07:25,79 --> 00:07:30,90 a really valuable thing and want to make it permanent We've also worked with state 104 00:07:30,91 --> 00:07:32,71 representative and state senator to file 105 00:07:32,72 --> 00:07:35,09 a bill that would do the same thing that would make this benefit 106 00:07:35,10 --> 00:07:37,57 a permanent benefit so we've gone about it at 107 00:07:37,58 --> 00:07:40,89 a couple of different angles in terms of making sure that this is around for the 108 00:07:40,90 --> 00:07:47,67 long term she would think that that would be. Better for the beginning like we 109 00:07:47,68 --> 00:07:51,39 would we would yeah we were certainly hoping for something like that and I think 110 00:07:51,40 --> 00:07:55,39 that it was there are some challenges somewhere along the way that I mean I'm not 111 00:07:55,40 --> 00:07:59,03 really sure to tell you the truth other than this is something that Massachusetts 112 00:07:59,04 --> 00:08:02,93 was one of the few states I think there were close to forty other states that have 113 00:08:02,94 --> 00:08:06,52 a benefit like this in place already and Massachusetts is one of the few states 114 00:08:06,53 --> 00:08:09,96 that didn't have it and so. So I think that maybe they were testing the waters 115 00:08:09,97 --> 00:08:11,38 a little bit there so you know 116 00:08:11,39 --> 00:08:15,89 a concern that anything things cost money and I think there was 117 00:08:15,90 --> 00:08:19,35 a little bit of hesitation to make it worth per minute if they put this money aside 118 00:08:19,36 --> 00:08:23,17 and people weren't going to be to be using it well certainly again that's one of 119 00:08:23,18 --> 00:08:26,73 the things that we want to make sure happens is that people know about it and then 120 00:08:26,74 --> 00:08:32,65 use it as well yeah I mean it doesn't encouraging for them OK just to be more 121 00:08:32,66 --> 00:08:38,26 expensive than the actual cigarettes or Exactly it's so much incentive you know I 122 00:08:38,27 --> 00:08:41,40 mean well there's all those other if you go you're going to die from smoking or 123 00:08:41,41 --> 00:08:45,04 rate but it's so tough to quit your rate you know rate and it's I mean it's tough 124 00:08:45,05 --> 00:08:48,91 for me to just throw out fifty dollars for any young enough for so for somebody 125 00:08:48,92 --> 00:08:49,25 who's on 126 00:08:49,26 --> 00:08:53,79 a fixed income certainly it's even more difficult and hopefully this will really 127 00:08:53,80 --> 00:08:56,28 encourage people. To make 128 00:08:56,29 --> 00:09:02,46 a go of it you're good to go to work as I have there been any statistics too far as 129 00:09:02,47 --> 00:09:08,19 how many people who actually took advantage of the. Tobacco cessation benefit I 130 00:09:08,20 --> 00:09:11,88 think that I think that the Department of Public Health is very encouraged you'd 131 00:09:11,89 --> 00:09:17,90 have to ask Are you sure to get some more specifics part of the. The concern or the 132 00:09:17,91 --> 00:09:19,20 issues that we're having is that 133 00:09:19,21 --> 00:09:24,35 a lot of people don't know that it's even in place in the first place I know that. 134 00:09:25,47 --> 00:09:30,82 Mass Health has been working with doctors who provide the services. But there are 135 00:09:30,89 --> 00:09:31,20 but there are 136 00:09:31,21 --> 00:09:34,13 a lot of people don't know it even exists and so you know you're trying to quit 137 00:09:34,14 --> 00:09:39,99 smoking and your doctor doesn't always ask How can I help or you know you should 138 00:09:40,00 --> 00:09:44,44 really stop smoking we have you know you need to you need to ask your doctor about 139 00:09:44,45 --> 00:09:49,32 it I think. We've run into some situations where there are people asking for the 140 00:09:49,33 --> 00:09:52,34 benefit the doctors aren't even aware of it in the first place so we've got some 141 00:09:52,35 --> 00:09:57,46 work to do we've got some work ahead of us if we if we hope to get to get people to 142 00:09:57,47 --> 00:10:02,99 use the benefit in the first place yeah so no other medical model the doctor is 143 00:10:03,03 --> 00:10:07,52 people where this program great great I know as I say mass house Mass Health System 144 00:10:07,53 --> 00:10:11,98 some outreach with the doctors but I think it takes kind of 145 00:10:11,99 --> 00:10:16,76 a couple of tries. And make sure and making sure that you get to the right person 146 00:10:17,28 --> 00:10:22,06 within each physicians practice to make sure that they're aware of it but what 147 00:10:22,07 --> 00:10:27,87 brought you to describe the business is me personally tobacco free mass honestly I 148 00:10:27,88 --> 00:10:31,10 had to jab help wanted ad but didn't know it's 149 00:10:31,11 --> 00:10:35,74 a terrific organization it was. It was started were 150 00:10:35,75 --> 00:10:39,62 a fifteen member advocacy organization and we work on tobacco prevention and 151 00:10:39,63 --> 00:10:44,77 secession policies and our members range from you know the smallest community 152 00:10:44,78 --> 00:10:49,13 center in western Massachusetts to American Cancer Society to American Heart 153 00:10:49,14 --> 00:10:54,00 Association so you really are organizations run the gamut and American Cancer 154 00:10:54,01 --> 00:10:58,77 Society actually started that coalition back in one thousand ninety one around the 155 00:10:58,78 --> 00:11:03,73 question one ballot initiative to raise the tobacco excise tax by twenty five cents 156 00:11:03,74 --> 00:11:08,94 and kind of just kept going from Ban And so we've done things like work on getting 157 00:11:08,95 --> 00:11:12,60 some additional funding for the states tobacco prevention and suspicion program 158 00:11:12,89 --> 00:11:16,68 that's been slashed in the budget itself for the program has been slashed in the 159 00:11:16,69 --> 00:11:20,89 last couple of years and we also worked on I'm sure you're very familiar with the 160 00:11:21,01 --> 00:11:24,14 state wide smoke free workplace why that was passed in two thousand and four we 161 00:11:24,15 --> 00:11:28,98 were an advocacy organization behind them and so kind of whatever you think of 162 00:11:28,99 --> 00:11:34,15 tobacco control and you know we're trying to do things around and again this is one 163 00:11:34,16 --> 00:11:35,87 of the things we've been working on for 164 00:11:35,88 --> 00:11:41,87 a couple of years is trying to get this. This Medicaid suspicion benefit passed and 165 00:11:42,32 --> 00:11:45,61 you know like I say we've kind of gone one step with it where it's at least it's at 166 00:11:45,62 --> 00:11:47,87 least in place for a couple of years and we need to go 167 00:11:47,88 --> 00:11:53,69 a little bit further with it so. As we've been successful other people take you 168 00:11:53,70 --> 00:11:56,58 know we've heard I mean anecdotally we certainly have heard that there are 169 00:11:56,59 --> 00:12:03,10 a number of people who have who have used it. Which we're very encouraged by now. 170 00:12:04,23 --> 00:12:10,16 We are coming in to join us and so we're going to keep the camera views that are so 171 00:12:10,17 --> 00:12:15,13 much so there so there is there has been some people utilize that yes program yes 172 00:12:15,14 --> 00:12:18,48 certainly we've heard that hopefully people are getting there getting them out 173 00:12:18,88 --> 00:12:23,77 there getting the message here. Is what we do to get more word out for the for the 174 00:12:23,81 --> 00:12:27,45 for the most all of this you for the doctors and pharmacies I think it's 175 00:12:27,46 --> 00:12:34,07 a matter of again Mass Health both working on continuing its outreach and also our 176 00:12:34,08 --> 00:12:40,11 organization as an advocacy organization doing some more public outreach making 177 00:12:40,12 --> 00:12:43,94 sure that we're that we're hitting the right areas and not just sending 178 00:12:43,95 --> 00:12:47,96 a press release out here in there but actually touching the organizations and 179 00:12:47,97 --> 00:12:53,06 physicians' offices that work with the population here so this is No Longer term 180 00:12:53,10 --> 00:12:56,39 share you know yeah issue or something that needs to be had 181 00:12:56,79 --> 00:13:00,59 a lot of attention on it one of the things that we've been doing is we have 182 00:13:00,60 --> 00:13:01,03 targeted 183 00:13:01,04 --> 00:13:06,28 a couple of community health centers and I think they're mostly in eastern Massachusetts 184 00:13:06,28 --> 00:13:11,73 . To really work with the staff to make them understand that this benefit is 185 00:13:11,74 --> 00:13:15,88 available and try to get them to do some of their own outreach rather than just our 186 00:13:15,89 --> 00:13:20,35 organization doing outreach but do their own outreach amongst their clients and 187 00:13:20,65 --> 00:13:22,29 within their community so we're hoping to do 188 00:13:22,30 --> 00:13:26,83 a little bit more of that also over the next year year what can we do tell people 189 00:13:26,84 --> 00:13:33,02 to. Look at what can our viewers do out there. I'd say the word here if you're 190 00:13:33,03 --> 00:13:38,96 interested in in this benefits and in letting people know how important it is I'd 191 00:13:38,97 --> 00:13:43,23 say certainly call your state representative call your state senator tell them that 192 00:13:43,24 --> 00:13:43,51 this is 193 00:13:43,52 --> 00:13:50,34 a very important benefits. I'd also encourage you to visit our website it's 194 00:13:50,35 --> 00:13:53,93 tobacco free mass dot org and sign up to become an E.T.A. 195 00:13:53,94 --> 00:13:57,96 At the end you'll get some updates from us about what's going on in the world of 196 00:13:58,06 --> 00:14:01,53 tobacco prevention in suspicion and you'll get some more information about this 197 00:14:01,54 --> 00:14:07,07 benefit and how she can help share groups who are good we go you sure commercial 198 00:14:07,27 --> 00:14:13,01 camera you know thank you for joining us so you should. Go to the 199 00:14:13,95 --> 00:14:15,53 traffic deal with sometimes 200 00:14:15,54 --> 00:14:19,06 a little glad you didn't see this new you know West or so your nice little 201 00:14:19,07 --> 00:14:22,32 invention you know you're sitting in. Your M.B.A. 202 00:14:22,33 --> 00:14:27,20 Your health problems your health policy analyst that's correct and you're the from 203 00:14:27,21 --> 00:14:33,59 the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Well what are we we begin 204 00:14:33,60 --> 00:14:35,01 because you coming into the show we were 205 00:14:35,02 --> 00:14:40,28 a little bit about the back and say should benefit but you had your perspective too 206 00:14:40,32 --> 00:14:45,27 you could tell us about you know how this benefit was designed to you know so 207 00:14:45,88 --> 00:14:50,36 before you Opposition I've been the project manager on the Mass Health tobacco 208 00:14:50,37 --> 00:14:56,64 cessation benefit project since the mandate went into place and it's been 209 00:14:56,68 --> 00:15:01,00 a very strong collaborative effort with the Department of Public Health and their 210 00:15:01,04 --> 00:15:04,29 tobacco control program because as recent was saying they've had 211 00:15:04,30 --> 00:15:06,37 a lot of experience and 212 00:15:06,38 --> 00:15:11,13 a great deal of breath in this work offering services across the state so you know 213 00:15:11,14 --> 00:15:13,52 Mass Health is a portion of our state obviously in 214 00:15:13,53 --> 00:15:17,04 a back community so we really want to learn from them and their experience to be 215 00:15:17,05 --> 00:15:17,66 able to design 216 00:15:17,67 --> 00:15:23,83 a benefit that would really be the best for our members and so bad design process 217 00:15:23,84 --> 00:15:27,29 involved working with subject matter experts in the community we have some of the 218 00:15:27,30 --> 00:15:31,75 best experts in tobacco control and smoking station in the nation some of the best 219 00:15:31,76 --> 00:15:35,50 researchers out of Mass General Hospital and we all know the amazing medical 220 00:15:35,51 --> 00:15:39,57 community we have here in Massachusetts so I won't go on but in this case we're 221 00:15:39,58 --> 00:15:43,82 very fortunate to have some experts who could really help inform our decision 222 00:15:43,83 --> 00:15:48,75 making process around the design of the benefit and we were. As well as some of the 223 00:15:48,76 --> 00:15:52,78 community you masked men school they also work in collaboration with the Department 224 00:15:52,79 --> 00:15:55,27 of Public Health Tobacco Control Program and work 225 00:15:55,28 --> 00:15:59,62 a lot with providers and training people to become tobacco suspension counselors so 226 00:15:59,63 --> 00:16:01,35 we worked with them to make sure that we had 227 00:16:01,36 --> 00:16:05,42 a sense of what the providers needed as well as what the members needed in order to 228 00:16:05,46 --> 00:16:08,60 make sure the benefit would really work so this is 229 00:16:08,61 --> 00:16:12,61 a real this is available for everyone this is available for all Mass Health members 230 00:16:12,62 --> 00:16:19,57 no. Access to the program at all Rosso 231 00:16:19,58 --> 00:16:19,92 you talk 232 00:16:19,93 --> 00:16:25,14 a little bit about it maybe you can in the primary way that the benefit was designed 233 00:16:25,51 --> 00:16:30,10 especially in lieu of the fact that the benefit initially. Was designed and 234 00:16:30,11 --> 00:16:30,67 mandated as 235 00:16:30,71 --> 00:16:35,76 a pilot benefit so it wasn't as it was speaking about we really want to work to 236 00:16:35,77 --> 00:16:38,46 make sure that it is most effective so that it will become 237 00:16:38,47 --> 00:16:42,60 a permanent benefit and as the project manager I really 238 00:16:43,17 --> 00:16:47,89 a very strong believer of making sure that this continues and so we're working to 239 00:16:48,14 --> 00:16:53,51 to do that when we designed the benefit we designed it so that the source of 240 00:16:53,52 --> 00:16:57,94 services would be the primary care clinician so that really means that 241 00:16:57,95 --> 00:17:02,29 a mouse health member hopefully already has a primary care provider and 242 00:17:02,53 --> 00:17:06,90 a doctor that they go to for their primary care for their regular checkups for all 243 00:17:06,91 --> 00:17:11,58 of their routine care as well as if they have you know the flu or something and and 244 00:17:11,59 --> 00:17:15,97 so they would go to that doctor and say you know hopefully I'm interested in 245 00:17:15,98 --> 00:17:20,62 quitting smoking I heard that there are new services what more can you do you and 246 00:17:20,95 --> 00:17:24,48 the good thing about the benefit is it's designed to be very flexible the 247 00:17:24,49 --> 00:17:30,60 counseling portion of the benefit is. Up to sixteen sessions over the course of 248 00:17:30,61 --> 00:17:35,42 a twelve month cycle. And we know from research that most people when they're 249 00:17:35,43 --> 00:17:38,54 utilizing counselling to help them quit smoking they only use three or four 250 00:17:38,55 --> 00:17:43,20 sessions usually on average but we really wanted to make sure that if they tried to 251 00:17:43,21 --> 00:17:43,98 quit and had 252 00:17:43,99 --> 00:17:47,00 a relapse and needed to come back for more counseling that they wouldn't have any 253 00:17:47,01 --> 00:17:52,85 problems with access we also made sure that we didn't require counseling in order 254 00:17:52,86 --> 00:17:56,65 for people to get the medication so so that's that's 255 00:17:56,66 --> 00:18:02,33 a fairly controversial element of the benefit different programs do different 256 00:18:02,34 --> 00:18:06,95 things around that but initially we wanted to make sure that we would be able to 257 00:18:07,03 --> 00:18:11,56 offer the most open access to these services so that we could really evaluate what 258 00:18:11,57 --> 00:18:16,76 works best and then over time see how we might potentially read just the policy to 259 00:18:16,77 --> 00:18:21,01 see if there are other ways that we want to give people access to the search for 260 00:18:21,02 --> 00:18:23,53 media she was right we want 261 00:18:23,54 --> 00:18:27,08 a person to be able to go to their doctor and say I want help quitting and for the 262 00:18:27,09 --> 00:18:30,29 doc to say OK you know hopefully I've got 263 00:18:30,30 --> 00:18:35,55 a counsellor in my office down the hall who you can go and see or if at the time 264 00:18:35,56 --> 00:18:39,68 the provider isn't that knowledgeable they might already know about the Department 265 00:18:39,69 --> 00:18:41,96 of Public Health quick works program which is 266 00:18:41,97 --> 00:18:46,08 a phone counselling support system so they could also say you know I don't have 267 00:18:46,09 --> 00:18:49,75 a counsellor right now but you can get phone counselling through quite works and 268 00:18:49,80 --> 00:18:53,66 many providers might know about it because it works and the Department of Public 269 00:18:53,67 --> 00:18:58,92 Health Program was promoting their phone counseling service statewide to hospitals 270 00:18:58,93 --> 00:19:04,85 all across the state primary prior to the implementation of this benefit so there's 271 00:19:04,86 --> 00:19:05,29 already 272 00:19:05,33 --> 00:19:09,69 a little bit of groundwork that's been done on some level of counseling services 273 00:19:09,73 --> 00:19:15,26 for health members and people all over Massachusetts in the Commonwealth and then 274 00:19:15,27 --> 00:19:18,52 also for the provider to be able to say even if you don't want counselling or 275 00:19:18,53 --> 00:19:21,89 however you want to go about accessing that if if they don't have it in their 276 00:19:21,90 --> 00:19:26,93 office at the time. Of the medications we have this is the information about 277 00:19:27,14 --> 00:19:30,72 medications that might help. You know the benefit covers over the counter 278 00:19:30,76 --> 00:19:36,17 medications like the patch the lozenge and that's fairly unique not everybody 279 00:19:36,18 --> 00:19:39,95 covers over the counter medications those are usually very expensive if you just 280 00:19:39,96 --> 00:19:44,95 buy them at the drug store so we want to facilitate people's process and allow them 281 00:19:44,96 --> 00:19:51,49 to potentially access that medication but there are also. Prescription medications 282 00:19:51,50 --> 00:19:55,01 that can assist people in quitting smoking and we also cover those as part of the 283 00:19:55,02 --> 00:19:59,93 benefit and so it's really don't want to encourage people when they're working on 284 00:20:00,05 --> 00:20:02,00 quitting to partner with their provider to have 285 00:20:02,01 --> 00:20:05,24 a dialogue about what's going to work best for them and to work with their doctor 286 00:20:05,25 --> 00:20:09,82 to make the best decisions in their quit process hopefully they would combine 287 00:20:09,83 --> 00:20:12,09 counseling and medication we know from 288 00:20:12,35 --> 00:20:16,83 a lot of research that that is the most effective way to quit smoking you should 289 00:20:16,97 --> 00:20:17,40 have 290 00:20:17,44 --> 00:20:23,31 a combination of both the rates of quitting increased by fifty percent when people 291 00:20:23,80 --> 00:20:30,10 combine both. For those who are the actual providers for the service what should 292 00:20:30,14 --> 00:20:34,83 what would you advise them as far as to take to get involved revivers for the 293 00:20:34,87 --> 00:20:37,69 counseling service. Could be 294 00:20:38,08 --> 00:20:42,08 a range of medical professions you could have primary care physicians if there 295 00:20:42,09 --> 00:20:46,23 really champions of tobacco cessation they may choose to provide the counseling we 296 00:20:46,24 --> 00:20:50,48 think though it's more likely because primary care clinicians tend to be very busy 297 00:20:50,49 --> 00:20:56,34 and have fairly. Fast moving practices that they might 298 00:20:57,13 --> 00:21:01,54 facilitate having registered nurse or one of their physicians assistants or 299 00:21:01,55 --> 00:21:02,04 possibly 300 00:21:02,05 --> 00:21:06,21 a nurse practitioner in their practice provide the counseling service so that 301 00:21:06,22 --> 00:21:11,19 person would become the counselor in the office if they didn't have one of those 302 00:21:11,20 --> 00:21:14,82 clinically registered stuff available to provide the counseling then 303 00:21:14,86 --> 00:21:21,44 a physician could potentially hire tobacco suspicion counselor and back person 304 00:21:21,67 --> 00:21:27,42 simply means to have a basic level of certification which means to be at 305 00:21:27,62 --> 00:21:32,81 a minimum. Eight hours of training we kept the training minimum low and so that 306 00:21:32,82 --> 00:21:38,48 people could. Go ahead and get the certification I will become counselors I make it 307 00:21:38,49 --> 00:21:45,42 as long as they're under their physician. Supervision and then they can provide 308 00:21:45,43 --> 00:21:48,87 the counseling and the physician is the one who would do the billing and that's the 309 00:21:48,88 --> 00:21:49,46 same in 310 00:21:49,47 --> 00:21:54,62 a community health center or an outpatient department hospital you could hire these 311 00:21:54,63 --> 00:21:58,77 people or you can use people with clinical licenses and then bill for the 312 00:21:58,78 --> 00:22:04,33 counseling under community health center or the or the physician's office medical 313 00:22:04,34 --> 00:22:08,49 here in which there is actually one of. The only police that's doing 314 00:22:08,69 --> 00:22:12,76 a lot of training Yes exactly we are and like I said we partnered with them and so 315 00:22:12,77 --> 00:22:17,68 we knew that they had excellent resources for the training of tobacco cessation 316 00:22:17,72 --> 00:22:22,38 specialists and they actually did that prior to the benefit in training people and 317 00:22:22,39 --> 00:22:25,34 working with Ph And so the counseling is 318 00:22:25,35 --> 00:22:31,86 a major component to this isn't it seems. We really value the 319 00:22:31,87 --> 00:22:33,37 service and we have 320 00:22:33,38 --> 00:22:38,10 a great deal of desire to really encourage people to utilize counseling and we know 321 00:22:38,11 --> 00:22:38,64 that it is 322 00:22:38,65 --> 00:22:44,37 a very effective means of quitting smoking in combination with medication and. So 323 00:22:44,41 --> 00:22:48,83 in that sense it's very unique and it makes this benefit more of. 324 00:22:51,45 --> 00:22:57,66 More and more of a model in comparison to some other status that there's 325 00:22:57,67 --> 00:23:02,28 a whole different range of ways in which states can cover tobacco solution services 326 00:23:02,29 --> 00:23:07,85 they can simply cover the medications they could cover the medications and rely on 327 00:23:07,85 --> 00:23:12,97 . Other counseling but not cover it or reimburse the providers for delivering it 328 00:23:12,98 --> 00:23:19,41 which is more of a comprehensive approach on home yet. Can you discuss 329 00:23:19,42 --> 00:23:23,87 a little bit about what you doing to reach this program for those who are members 330 00:23:23,88 --> 00:23:30,46 will. Consider being members. While we've been working still in collaboration with 331 00:23:30,47 --> 00:23:33,25 the Department of Public Health through the whole project and they have 332 00:23:33,26 --> 00:23:37,88 a great deal of experience also in public health campaigns and so we partnered with 333 00:23:37,89 --> 00:23:43,71 them they recently did. A statewide mass media campaign that included transit and 334 00:23:43,72 --> 00:23:49,69 radio ads they specifically marketed to women in this campaign. 335 00:23:50,72 --> 00:23:54,74 And what they did was they found real people who had had success with quitting 336 00:23:54,75 --> 00:23:59,33 smoking and had their stories and then they had sort of billboards and they made 337 00:23:59,34 --> 00:24:00,04 flyers that 338 00:24:00,05 --> 00:24:03,89 a company of the images and everything and then there was secondary language that 339 00:24:03,93 --> 00:24:07,79 spoke about if you're amounts health member you can get support ask your provider 340 00:24:07,80 --> 00:24:13,36 call this number and so that outreach campaign happened at the beginning of this 341 00:24:13,37 --> 00:24:19,66 year back in summer January. We are currently working on developing an outreach 342 00:24:19,67 --> 00:24:21,37 programme which would probably have 343 00:24:21,38 --> 00:24:26,80 a similar touch and feel we don't want people to be confused about. Smoking 344 00:24:26,81 --> 00:24:30,90 cessation to getting different messages from all sorts of different sources and so 345 00:24:30,91 --> 00:24:35,59 one of the real benefits of working in collaboration with really the other primary 346 00:24:35,92 --> 00:24:42,82 state agency into liver and tobacco cessation services and support is that we can 347 00:24:42,83 --> 00:24:46,54 make sure we have similar messages so the basic message is that we want to 348 00:24:46,55 --> 00:24:50,14 encourage people to quit smoking the fact that mass health numbers have 349 00:24:50,15 --> 00:24:53,57 a service that's available is something we want them to know about and in telling 350 00:24:53,58 --> 00:24:58,11 them they will also hopefully speak to their providers and vice versa providers 351 00:24:58,12 --> 00:25:02,19 will be able to see the mass media information and really you know my myself 352 00:25:02,20 --> 00:25:05,81 members have this new resource but the bottom line is we want to help people quit 353 00:25:05,82 --> 00:25:07,03 smoking and that's really 354 00:25:07,04 --> 00:25:12,91 a major focus so we'll be working on implementing our own campaign to encourage 355 00:25:12,92 --> 00:25:17,97 people to continuously learn about the benefit we also update our website send out 356 00:25:18,60 --> 00:25:25,55 probably looking at redistributing messages to providers and members we have 357 00:25:25,56 --> 00:25:26,99 possible through our system we have 358 00:25:27,00 --> 00:25:30,23 a number of different ways that communicate we can communicate with our providers 359 00:25:30,38 --> 00:25:35,69 there's Rowsley It was discussing earlier the school and need to to move 360 00:25:35,95 --> 00:25:37,80 a solution to making this more of 361 00:25:37,81 --> 00:25:44,65 a permanent longer term program that's correct. Look hopeful yeah it looks 362 00:25:44,66 --> 00:25:51,62 very hopeful I think I think both both the legislature and and myself and D.P. 363 00:25:51,63 --> 00:25:55,55 Each have been pretty encouraged in terms of the numbers that they seem so far. 364 00:25:56,60 --> 00:26:01,61 People utilizing this benefit and we can say that the higher numbers that we can 365 00:26:01,62 --> 00:26:06,72 share with people you do using this the more likely it is to pass you and I think 366 00:26:06,73 --> 00:26:07,17 that there's 367 00:26:07,18 --> 00:26:12,90 a real understanding in the last year or so. The fact that preventive preventive 368 00:26:12,91 --> 00:26:18,00 programs are the way to go help somebody quit smoking now exercising now and in the 369 00:26:18,01 --> 00:26:20,87 long run it's going to cost a lot to treat them and I think there's 370 00:26:20,88 --> 00:26:24,94 a real awareness of that how can people who are interest of the working of this 371 00:26:24,95 --> 00:26:31,46 issue which is to be hopeful. Certainly you may have something to sing about. If 372 00:26:31,47 --> 00:26:36,78 they're interested you mean in terms of making this permanent or any way or in any 373 00:26:36,79 --> 00:26:41,70 way might say call your state legislator and let them now it's easy to reach the 374 00:26:41,71 --> 00:26:42,21 state has 375 00:26:42,22 --> 00:26:46,28 a number six one seven seventy two two thousand to ask for your State Senator Steve 376 00:26:46,29 --> 00:26:50,10 representative let him know that you know about this benefit you know how important 377 00:26:50,11 --> 00:26:53,79 it is and you want them to understand how important it is and certainly if you 378 00:26:53,80 --> 00:27:00,29 contact us tobacco free mass we've got some ideas as well and. That's our website 379 00:27:00,30 --> 00:27:05,59 address it's very good with the time you should Any final comments to wrap up 380 00:27:05,60 --> 00:27:10,28 today's program well I think that you know something that's really important to be 381 00:27:10,29 --> 00:27:14,23 aware of as far as making the benefit permanent as we are looking at evaluating the 382 00:27:14,24 --> 00:27:18,08 success that we've had to date we know that over ten thousand members have used the 383 00:27:18,09 --> 00:27:25,05 benefit which is fairly good news today through one of the things that we've just 384 00:27:25,06 --> 00:27:25,40 to give you 385 00:27:25,41 --> 00:27:29,94 a sense of what that number really means in Mass Health about thirty five percent 386 00:27:29,95 --> 00:27:35,37 of the members smoke that's about twice as much as the state smoking rate however 387 00:27:35,41 --> 00:27:40,02 in an average smoking cessation program that you run you're usually fortunate if 388 00:27:40,03 --> 00:27:40,34 you get 389 00:27:40,38 --> 00:27:46,96 a five percent participation rate and real involvement in the benefits so we feel 390 00:27:46,97 --> 00:27:48,65 pretty confident that we're actually doing 391 00:27:48,66 --> 00:27:52,23 a little bit more than that and giving the members utilizing the benefit of those 392 00:27:52,24 --> 00:27:56,40 numbers are continuing to increase actually each month it goes up anywhere from ten 393 00:27:56,41 --> 00:28:01,33 to fifteen percent right now so the rate is really building and part of that I 394 00:28:01,34 --> 00:28:05,04 think cost to do with the fact that we have been working to outreach and to tell 395 00:28:05,05 --> 00:28:09,01 people about the benefit and to really encourage people something else we'll be 396 00:28:09,02 --> 00:28:13,40 doing is mouse health is going to be encouraging and supporting Mousehole for 397 00:28:13,41 --> 00:28:18,26 members to be involved with overall wellness and part of wellness and having 398 00:28:18,27 --> 00:28:23,30 a healthy lifestyle is being smoke free so if you don't start to smoke don't start 399 00:28:23,34 --> 00:28:27,79 if you smoke see if whatever you can do taking small steps that you. Really 400 00:28:27,80 --> 00:28:31,41 successfully take and so that you can get on the road to quitting and ultimately 401 00:28:31,42 --> 00:28:34,38 that's what we want to encourage people to do and we'll continue to work with 402 00:28:34,39 --> 00:28:38,71 advocacy organizations in the Department of Public Health to really make sure that 403 00:28:38,72 --> 00:28:43,82 we can show through our evaluation on our report that this benefit will hopefully 404 00:28:43,83 --> 00:28:48,15 become permanent and we wish you much success and we're talking 405 00:28:48,16 --> 00:28:52,52 a quality of life or more that voters want the White thank you for joining us we 406 00:28:52,53 --> 00:28:58,95 have. Russell joining us. Regarding the mass health records issues benefits 407 00:28:59,20 --> 00:29:03,05 a Till next time I'm all good as well you know before the seeing you is 408 00:29:03,06 --> 00:29:08,93 a new species has written the big question. For. 409 00:29:26,02 --> 00:29:26,30 The.