Sample Newsletter Content for Statesor Organizations
(to Be Tailored as Appropriate)
Topic:“Talk With Your Doctor”initiative as part of CDC’s Tips From Former Smokersnational tobacco education campaign
Intended Audience:Health care providers and health care organizations throughout the state
Word Count: XXX
Suggested Header:[Insert state or organization name] Joins Forces With CDC to Empower Patients to Talk With Their Doctorsfor Help Quitting Smoking
In April 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)launched a continuation of its groundbreaking national tobacco education campaign to increase awareness about the negative health effects caused by smoking and secondhand smoke exposure and to encourage smokers to quit. The campaign, Tips From Former Smokers,featuresformer smokers who have experienced smoking-related diseases at a relatively young age.The ads, which first aired in 2012, havebeen highly effective in motivating smokers to quit, with calls to the toll-free 1-800-QUIT-NOW quitline (1-800-784-8669) more than doubling compared with the same 12-week period in 2011.
As part of the this year’s Tips campaign, [Insert state/organization] is partnering with CDCto support a new initiative called “Talk With Your Doctor,”which encourages smokers to talk with their healthcare providers about quitting. From May 27th through June 2nd, select TipsFrom Former Smokers television ads as well as digital and online ads will feature the following tagline: “You Can Quit. Talk With Your Doctor for Help.”The goal of this initiativeis to engage health care providers and encourage them to use the Tipscampaign as an opportunity to talk with their patients who smoke about quitting.The initiative can also serve as a reminder for smokers to talk with their health care providers about effective methods to help them quit.
"Physicians play an important role in helping patients take steps to improve their health,” said Tim McAfee, MD, MPH, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at CDC, and a primary care physician.“Patients with tobacco dependence should be identified and treated in the same way that patients with diabetes, hypertension, or other health issues are identified and treated.We hope that this initiative provides a conversationstarter for physicians to proactively talk with their patients about how they can quit smoking.”
Studies show that when health care providers offer patients brief, motivational advice to quit smoking, patients are more likely to try to quit and to succeed. Physicians can play an important role in helping patients to quit by asking themwhether they use tobacco, advising those who use tobacco to quit, and referring them to cessation resources such as the 1-800-QUIT-NOWquitline, which routes callers to their respective state quitlines for free help.
[Insert additional state/organization spokesperson quote, such as: “The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that clinicians ask all adults about tobacco use and provide tobacco cessation interventions for those who use tobacco products.The USPSTF rates this as an “A” recommendation. [Insert organization] strongly encourages all of our physicians to routinely intervene with their patients who smoke.”]
[Insert paragraph about any state or organization outreach efforts with clinician groups, as appropriate.]
[Insert state/organization]is providing links to tools and resources to help its members address tobacco use with patients.A healthcare provider section on CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers Website ( now features a range of useful resources such as factsheets, downloadable posters, intervention scripting cards, andother training materials and resources.
For more information about the campaign, visit For moreinformation about how to talk with your patients about smoking, go to