Quit Tobacco (QT): A state of the art worksite cessation program

The Maricopa County Public Health Department's Tobacco Use Prevention Program (MACTUPP) entered into a unique joint venture with Maricopa County Employee Health Initiatives (EHI) department offering integrated, intensive, on-site tobacco cessation counseling for county employees and covered dependents. From this collaboration, EHI has leveraged MACTUPP's experience providing high-quality health education and tobacco cessation programs and its funding from the Arizona State Department of Health Services (ADHS), together with health benefit partners Walgreens Health Initiatives (WHI) and Pfizer pharmaceutical to develop the Quit Tobacco (QT) program. The county has created this innovative worksite wellness program by bringing best-practice health services to county employees at their respective worksites at no additional cost by utilizing existing funding through the county's self-insured health benefits program and the County Department of Public Health's tobacco cessation program. All Maricopa County facilities are tobacco-free.

While over ninety-five percent (95%) of QT participants surveyed report the program as meeting their needs; the substantive results are evidenced in improving the clients' health status and generating cost savings to the county. QT participants have quit tobacco use at a 14% higher rate than traditional cessation participants. In the first three years, one hundred-forty (140) county employees or dependents have quit tobacco use. Based on estimates of employer costs savings calculated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Maricopa County has already saved approximately $473,620 ($227,220 in medical costs and $146,400 in lost productivity) in the first three years of the program!