Date: May 30, 2023

Time: 10:00 am to 11:00 am

Please contact Adria for this meeting’s information.

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According to the CDC, cigarette smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death and disability in the United States; in Washington state 1 in 5 deaths are caused by cigarettes, including secondhand smoke, and 6 of the leading ten causes of death are related to tobacco use. What’s even more worrisome is that the harm caused by tobacco use disproportionately affects marginalized populations.

Purchasers, health plans, providers, and consumers all play roles in the ongoing work to reduce tobacco/nicotine use and to help users quit. The Washington Health Alliance, under a contract with the Washington State Department of Health, is offering a webinar on the impact of tobacco use and the status of health plan coverage of cessation modalities on April 30.

Plan to attend to learn about how you can improve health and health equity related to tobacco use in Washington State!

Speakers:

• Dr. Sharon Eloranta, Medical Director, Washington Health Alliance
  Dr. Eloranta is the Washington Health Alliance’s Medical Director for Performance Measurement and Practice Transformation. Prior to joining the Alliance in 2021, Sharon spent the majority of her career in the development and implementation of healthcare quality improvement initiatives. Sharon started her career as a primary care provider in pediatrics but found her true passion in healthcare quality improvement, working for more than 20 years at (then) Qualis Health, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for the states of Washington, Idaho and Alaska.
• Dr. Thomas DeCato, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
  Dr. DeCato graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Washington. He then proceeded to complete a pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship at the University of Utah. He serves as a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and the respiratory systems director. He holds the same appointment/rank at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His clinical and research interests include COPD, pulmonary hypertension, unexplained dyspnea, and focus on the use of pulmonary function testing and cardiopulmonary exercise testing. He serves on the pulmonary function testing committee for the American Thoracic Society, and he is the current chair of the pulmonary function, physiology, and rehabilitation section for the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST).
• Brandon Omernik, tobacco treatment specialist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
  Brandon Omernik has served as a tobacco treatment specialist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center since 2021. He works in collaboration with patients, caregivers and family members to develop a personalized treatment plan to reduce or stop nicotine dependence. He also provides outreach and education about current best practices and guidelines around tobacco treatment services. Brandon has a Master of Science in Health and Wellness Management from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and is a Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist trained by Duke-UNC Tobacco Treatment Specialist Program, and certified by NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals.