Using recognition programs to create and strengthen public health policies

Implementing an annual recognition program has proven to be a successful, cost effective strategy for engaging policy stakeholders across Maine to adopt best practice strategies.  Through the Maine Gold Star Standards of Excellence programs, colleges/universities and hospitals are highlighted for creating and maintaining tobacco-free environments and for strengthening their organizational stance and efforts to address tobacco product use and promotion.  Through these programs, the Breathe Easy Coalition of Maine has been able to collaboratively engage every Maine college/university and hospital around addressing tobacco use, a leading cause of preventable disease and death, exposure to secondhand smoke and emerging tobacco and nicotine products, such as electronic cigarettes.  In addition to establishing buy-in from these institutions, the program provides an opportunity for positive recognition in the media, community and amongst peers for comprehensive policy and social norm change.  Over five years of program implementation, participation in the hospital Gold Star Standards of Excellence program has more than doubled and numerous hospitals have adopted tobacco-free campus policies and implemented evidence-based strategies to address tobacco use ane exposure.  The Gold Star Standards of Excellence program provides an opportunity to collect annual data on tobacco prevention and control efforts at these institutions and to continually advance organizational policy.  Based upon Maine's positive experience in applying these recognition programs to tobacco control in the college/university and health care setting, we believe best practice based recognition programs could be more broadly implemented to effect public health policy change.