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Massachusetts' Success in Helping Medicaid Recipients Quit Smoking Shows Why Congress Should Require Cessation Coverage in Health Reform 

Massachusetts today announced extraordinary results from its aggressive efforts to help Medicaid beneficiaries quit smoking by providing easy access to coverage for smoking cessation medication and counseling.

Massachusetts reported that smoking rates among beneficiaries in its MassHealth program plunged by 26 percent in the first two and a half years after the state began providing coverage of smoking cessation in July 2006. Costly medical procedures among those who utilized the cessation benefit also fell dramatically. Among benefit users, there were 38 percent fewer hospitalizations for heart attacks and 17 percent fewer emergency-room visits for asthma symptoms in the first year after using the benefit. There were 17 percent fewer claims for maternal birth complications since the benefit was implemented, state health officials reported.

Massachusetts is leading the way in demonstrating that health insurance coverage for smoking cessation quickly improves health and saves lives, and no doubt reduces health care costs as well.

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• Massachusetts' 'Model' Tobacco Cessation Benefit Spurs Unprecedented Drop in Smoking Rates, Heart Attacks, Asthma, and Birth Complications 

A "model" tobacco cessation benefit offered to Massachusetts' Medicaid participants has produced an astounding 26% drop in smoking rates in only two and a half years, and has already been linked to decreases in heart attacks, hospitalizations for asthma and COPD, and a significant decrease in birth complications.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program (MTCP) found that up to 38% fewer MassHealth cessation benefit users were hospitalized for heart attacks in the first year after using the benefit, and that 18% fewer benefit users visited the emergency room for asthma symptoms in the first year after using the benefit. Researchers also found that there were 12% fewer claims for adverse maternal birth complications since the benefit was implemented.

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services said more than 75,000 people -- a full 40% of MassHealth members who smoke -- have used the benefit to try to quit smoking. Cost savings are being studied, and all indications suggest they will be significant.

"It is clear from these latest findings that the Commonwealth's efforts to help people quit smoking is a sound investment," Executive Office of Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby said. . . .

"As the nation debates the future of its health care system, the national significance of this research cannot be understated," said Robert J. Gould, PhD, President and CEO of Partnership for Prevention, a national organization that advances policies and practices to prevent disease and improve the health of all Americans. "These findings demonstrate that prudent investments in preventive health today will have a dramatic and positive effect on our health care system tomorrow."

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Newton TAB Editorial: Smoking ban a bad idea  

Newton --

This week the Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance disallowing pharmacies from selling tobacco products. We are very disappointed in the vote and in the 18 aldermen who supported the measure, including some who told us privately that they were opposed to such a ban but didn't want to be seen as pro-smoking.

We applaud Aldermen Bill Brandel, Jay Harney and Amy Sangiolo for courageously voting against it. . . .

If the intended purpose is to make it more difficult for teens to buy cigarettes, it's a noble effort, but it's not going to work. All we've done is taken cigarettes out of a carefully monitored setting where underage smokers are probably least likely to buy cigarettes and deferred the business to gas stations and convenience stores, where underage smokers are more likely to buy cigarettes.

With all the substantive problems facing this city, our aldermen should not be getting involved in legislating what stores can and cannot sell. That's not why we elect them.

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• With aid, Mass. poor cut smoking  

Lower income Massachusetts smokers have dramatically abandoned their habit amid a major state campaign that vigorously promotes and pays for tobacco addiction treatment, according to a report scheduled to be released this morning.

Smoking rates among the poor plummeted 26 percent in the first two years of the ongoing state program, a striking result that is already drawing national attention to the effort. Officials targeted a population that historically had the highest smoking rates in Massachusetts.

The study, issued by the Department of Public Health, found early indications that the tobacco cessation efforts - aimed at patients enrolled in the state’s medical insurance for the poor, MassHealth - are reaping immediate health benefits.

Once patients began receiving counseling and medications to help snuff out their habits, they made fewer trips to emergency rooms because of wheezing bouts of asthma, and there was a trend toward fewer life-threatening heart attacks.

The stop-smoking initiative, which covers virtually all the costs of cessation counseling and drugs, was ordered by the Legislature as part of the landmark health care overhaul in 2006 with a dual purpose: saving lives and money. National health leaders plan to point to the Massachusetts experiment to bolster efforts to expand tobacco cessation services as part of federal health care legislation.

“These findings are extraordinary - they have major public health implications as Congress is debating health care reform,’’ said Matthew Myers . . .

The expectation, based on the experience of other states and health plans, was that 5 to 10 percent of MassHealth patients who smoked might seek help in the first couple of years, Keithly said.

Instead, from July 2006 to May of this year, about 75,000 patients had used the services - two of every five MassHealth smokers.

“We wondered if this population would be interested in cessation,’’ said Dr. Nancy Rigotti, director of the Tobacco Research and Treatment Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It turns out they were interested - they just couldn’t afford it.’’

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Greenfield apartment complex fire caused by careless disposal of hand-rolled cigarette, state fire marshal's office says  

Investigators have determined that the cause of the fire that displaced 21 tenants from a residential and commercial complex on Chapman Street earlier this month was caused by improper disposal of a cigarette.

The fast-moving fire at 29 Chapman St. started in the living room of one of the third floor apartments, according to a news released issued by State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan.

The fire, which destroyed the building, was reported on Nov. 8 about 8:30 a.m. It took firefighters from about 25 communities about three hours to get it under control.

The cigarette was hand-rolled and not fire standard compliant, Jennifer L. Mieth, a spokeswoman for Coan, said.

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Newton aldermen snuff out tobacco in pharmacies  

The Board of Aldermen approved a ban forbidding pharmacies from selling tobacco products in the city by a wide margin Monday night. The measure passed without discussion.

In an 18-3 vote, members approved the ban, which supporters said was intended to prevent those in the public health business from selling cigarettes and other tobacco items.

Aldermen Bill Brandel, Amy Sangiolo and Jay Harney cast the only nay votes against the ban.

Supporters of the proposal said at a previous meeting that pharmacies should not sell cigarettes because they also sell medicine -- including medication for people trying to quit smoking.

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‘Vaccine’ helps smoker blow off cigarettes  

Leslie Cook was losing control of her life one cigarette at time, 20 cigarettes a day.

The 53-year-old Boston real estate lawyer spent nearly half her life smoking, and nothing - not patches, gum, gurus or drugs - loosened the grip of nicotine.

"I just felt like it owned me. It controlled me," said Cook, who finally kicked the habit in 2007 with the help of an experimental vaccine called NicVax, which took away the pleasure of nicotine.

"I don't miss it to this day," said Cook, who participated in a clinical trial at Massachusetts General Hospital testing the drug.

Buoyed by the success of the first trial, MGH researchers are looking for more smokers like Cook who are willing to join in the third and final phase of a clinical trial testing the crave-curbing vaccine. Last week, researchers enrolled 50 smokers.

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• Falmouth voters OK ban on beach smoking  

Voters at last night's town meeting gave a big thumbs down to those who like to light up on the town's public beaches.

Smoking is no longer allowed on any of the town's 11 public beaches, following a 128-60 vote that makes Falmouth the third community on the Cape to snuff out smoking on municipal beaches. Proponents of the ban cited litter in the form of errant cigarette butts in the sand, as well as the harm caused by secondhand smoke, as the main reasons to pass the smoking ban warrant item. . . .

In the end, a majority of town meeting voters said they were tired of "inconsiderate" people on the beach who refuse to move even after complaints and throw cigarette filters in the sand, where young children often find them while building sand castles.

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• Smoking Tied to Suicide Risk in Bipolar Disorder  

People with bipolar disorder who smoke appear to have a heightened risk of suicidal behavior -- possibly because they are generally prone to impulsive acts, a new study suggests.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is marked by dramatic swings in mood -- ranging from episodes of debilitating depression to periods of euphoric recklessness. Previous studies have found that bipolar patients who smoke have a higher suicide risk than their non-smoking counterparts, but the reasons have not been clear.

The new findings suggest that high levels of impulsivity -- one of the symptoms of bipolar disorder -- may draw some patients to both smoking and suicidal behavior.

Dr. Michael J. Ostacher and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston found that among 116 bipolar patients they followed, current smokers generally scored higher on a standard measure of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

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VIDEO: Heavy smoking on Mass. college campuses  

22News takes a hard look at cigarette smoking on Western Massachusetts college campuses.

This after a cigarette butt clean up on the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts yielded thousands of cigarette butts this weekend.

And that's just the butts that weren't properly discarded.

Students attending Holyoke Community College told 22News, "It's tough not becoming a smoker in this day and age. Holly Frederick told 22News "she started smoking because her father smokes". Nick Duclos told 22News, "It's hard not lighting up when all your friends are smokers".

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• Debate continues over diagnostic scans for lung cancer  

For the 42 percent of Americans who smoke cigarettes or once did, a ruling from the state's highest court last month seemed to offer hope that a simple screening tool could help them ward off advanced lung cancer.

The judges decided that Philip Morris USA may have to pay for lung scans for smokers so they can get early warning if they've developed cancer - and get treatment before it spreads into a deadly mass. (A federal court would have to affirm the state's decision before the company would have to pay.)

Even before the court weighed in, advocates had been pressing politicians for money to pay for CT scans for high-risk but asymptomatic people - insurers generally don't cover the test for screening - particularly since a group of New York researchers published results in 2006 suggesting that screening is saving the lives of smokers, former smokers, and people exposed to secondhand smoke and other hazards, such as asbestos. Some smokers are so convinced of the benefits of CTs they pay the $400 screening fee themselves.

"Our movement is really taking hold,'' said Joanne O'Connor, cochair of the Lung Cancer Alliance in Massachusetts, which is lobbying legislators for funding. "I wouldn't want to find out [I had lung cancer] like my sister did when she was already stage four. She died six months later.''

But even as pressure for CT scanning builds, many of the country's top cancer specialists are saying not so fast. . . .

The Massachusetts Supreme Court relied in part on Miller's expert testimony during the lawsuit brought against Philip Morris by two Massachusetts smokers. Since the 2006 study was published, however, the New England Journal has published three corrections, including one from Henschke revealing that some of the funding for the study came from cigarette-maker Liggett Tobacco.

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No Butts About It Day at UMass 

Volunteers and students at UMass Amherst helped pick up cigarette butts around campus Sunday.

It was the 4th annual “No Butts About It Day” at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where members of the community hunt for and dispose of cigarette butts littering the campus.

The event is organized by the Student Health Advisory Board at University Health Services. . . .

Last year 12 pounds of cigarette butts were picked up in just three hours.

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Falmouth to vote on beach smoking ban 

Local beach officials are tired of all the butts in the sand.

Voters at Monday's annual town meeting could make all of Falmouth's 11 town beaches smoke-free if they approve a recommendation from Beach Supt. Donald Hoffer and the Falmouth Beach Committee. If it passes, Falmouth will become the third Cape town, in addition to Barnstable and Yarmouth, to ban tobacco products from all public beaches, Hoffer said.

"Cigarette butts and filters end up in the sand, thousands of them every year, and they're not biodegradable," Hoffer said. "We'd be ridding the beaches of noxious debris."

The warrant article -- one of 32 voters will decide on Monday -- stemmed from a unanimous 5-0 vote from the beach committee and simply states "the use of smoking materials on the public beaches of Falmouth is prohibited."

Lifeguards will be responsible for enforcing the proposed rule, although Hoffer said he hopes beachgoers will eventually learn to police themselves so lifeguards can focus on keeping people safe from drowning.

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Falmouth to vote on beach smoking ban 

Voters at Monday's annual town meeting could make all of Falmouth's 11 town beaches smoke-free if they approve a recommendation from Beach Supt. Donald Hoffer and the Falmouth Beach Committee. If it passes, Falmouth will become the third Cape town, in addition to Barnstable and Yarmouth, to ban tobacco products from all public beaches, Hoffer said.

"Cigarette butts and filters end up in the sand, thousands of them every year, and they're not biodegradable," Hoffer said. "We'd be ridding the beaches of noxious debris."

The warrant article -- one of 32 voters will decide on Monday -- stemmed from a unanimous 5-0 vote from the beach committee and simply states "the use of smoking materials on the public beaches of Falmouth is prohibited."

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Smoking ban may include fines  

But exposing young children to cigarette smoke is another matter, said Mayo, a town Parks Commissioner who inspired the board to ban smoking at the park and Sandy Pond Beach this summer.

Now, the Board of Health is teaming up with the Parks Commission to put more teeth into the regulation, possibly instituting some fines for violators.

The Ayer Board of Health is expected to discuss nuts and bolts of its potential smoking regulation at its biweekly meeting scheduled for Monday, Nov. 9. The purpose of the proposal is to add an enforcement component to the smoking ban that the Parks Commission adopted in August.

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