Colorado QuitLine Urges Physicians to Refer Patients

Physicians and other healthcare providers are in a unique position in Colorado to help patients quit smoking, particularly during this time of year.  With over 630,000 adults in Colorado currently smoking, state healthcare costs related to smoking exceed $1 billion annually and seventeen percent of all Medicaid expenditures are spent on smoking-related illnesses.  But, the good news is that 85 percent of Colorado’s smokers report wanting to quit and you can help.

Research has shown that intervention by physicians can lead to a quit rate 2-3 times that of a person attempting to quit on their own.  And, if a person adds pharmacotherapy and coaching/counseling, the success rate increases ten-fold.  But, in Colorado, only 1 in 7 tobacco users are referred by their health care provider to a cessation program. 

There is a resource to which you can refer your patients for free telephone coaching with a live one-on-one person, free nicotine patches and other cessation support: the Colorado QuitLine at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669).  The QuitLine has helped over 48,000 people in Colorado stop smoking or chewing tobacco and now offers a fax form to authorize the QuitLine to call your patients.

To obtain brochures, fax forms and other QuitLine materials for your office, please contact Darlene Huang with Tobacco Free Larimer County at dhuang@larimer.org or 498-6718.