Fax to quit: a model for delivery of tobacco cessation services to Wisconsin residents

Abstract

Research has shown that proactive tobacco cessation quitlines are effective in increasing quit rates 4-fold, compared to quitting with no counseling support. In Wisconsin, the state-funded Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line has documented a quit rate of 22%, with an estimated 6700 individuals quitting as a result of receiving Quit Line services. Since its launch in 2001, the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line has assisted more than 36,000 callers. Until recently, quitline call volume has been highly dependent on paid media campaigns-an expensive, episodic, and often politically difficult strategy to fund at the state level. To foster and sustain quitline use and assist health care professionals in helping their patients successfully quit, the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTRI) developed the "Fax to Quit" program in March 2003. The model involves close collaboration between UW-CTRI and health care delivery systems who train their staff and integrate a quitline referral system into their regular delivery of health care for smokers who are interested in having the quitline contact them. This paper examines the extent to which this approach has been adopted by health care providers in Wisconsin. The potential is for this to become a key component of an integrated tobacco dependence treatment.