statewide campaign in English and Spanish to educate Medicaid
members about the benefits available to help them quit smoking.
The campaign, “Quitting Smoking is Covered with Medicaid!” will
feature Facebook, online and mobile display ads, and Pandora radio ads geo-targeted
to Colorado counties with the highest tobacco use burden. Tobacco use remains a
health equity issue in Colorado, with Medicaid members bearing not only a disproportionately high burden of use, but also a disparately low rate of cessation success. The State Tobacco Education and Prevention Program (STEPP) is
committed to expanding awareness of and access to proven tobacco treatments for
all people living in Colorado. The campaign will run from December 2017-May 2018
with ads targeting the general Medicaid population as well as pregnant women.
New downloadable resources are also available to support the campaign
messaging; the new templates are available to partners at COHealthResources.org.
The mass media campaign is part of a
larger effort to encourage providers to educate patients about cessation
benefits such as counseling and medications available to them as part of their
health insurance with Medicaid. In addition to mass media outreach, the
campaign will also include posters to help raise awareness in doctor’s offices,
including behavioral health centers and OB-GYN offices.
The campaign
coincides with another important step towards eliminating barriers to
successful tobacco cessation. Health First Colorado (Medicaid) will no
longer require a co-pay for tobacco cessation medications. Health First
Colorado providers can prescribe any of the seven FDA-approved nicotine
replacement therapy (NRT) and non-nicotine containing medications, all of which
are on the Medicaid formulary and available to any Health First Colorado member
at participating local pharmacies.
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