Posts Tagged ‘strategic map’

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AZ Healthy Community Design Tools

April 15th, 2013

Improving the health of Arizonans is critical to improving the quality of life as well as reducing health care costs. The most effective strategies are ones that incorporate the principles of population health… which includes health outcomes as well as the determinants that influence those outcomes including the public policy that influences the social and environmental determinants. A city’s General Plan can be a large public health lever to improve those outcomes. 

Designing healthier communities requires a new way of thinking. For example, the way a city zones can affect how easy it is to get physical activity.  The tough part is connecting all of the right people to sit in on the conversation together. The zoning people might not talk to the health people, who may not talk to the transportation folks. But where can community residents start? One place to start is with a recently developed Toolkit put together by ADHS and other members of the Healthy Community Design Collaborative. 

This toolkit is really designed to help cities, towns and counties strategically think about how to enhance health through changing the built environment, like through adding sidewalks or bike lanes. It’s basically a guide for local residents who want to participate in their community planning process. The Toolkit provides a general overview of the process, explains the purpose of city General Plans, and gives guidance regarding who to talk to in local government- and presents ways to get involved. There’s also a checklist for what policy topics should be addressed in a plan and even some examples of policies for residents to consider for incorporation into their city’s General Plan. It also provides coaching for community residents to build relationships that facilitate implementing policy language. 

Our team recently created the azhealthcommunities.org website, which is another tool that provides information on the influence of community design, accessibility and transportation on health. You can even find some recent examples of how communities in Arizona are working to create healthier environments and learn to create a Health Impact Assessment, which can be used to help city projects improve population health. These are just some examples of how we can work to promote healthy and safe community environments – one of our priority areas of our Strategic Map.

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Posted in Prevention

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Driving Suicides to Zero

April 10th, 2013

Medical providers (doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, etc.) are invited to join Magellan for their Driving Suicides to Zero training Monday, April 29 from 9 to 11 a.m. or 1 to 3 p.m.  The goal of the training is to help reduce the suicide rate by providing behavioral healthcare professionals with the skills, knowledge, attitudes and support to more effectively intervene and engage with those at risk of suicide.  The course is available for free to medical providers and will take place at Magellan’s Learning and Performance Center (4801 E. Washington St., Phoenix). To register visit Magellan’s Learning Website.

Reducing suicides is one of our 5 Winnable Battles at DHS.  Our Office of Prevention in Behavioral Health works with Magellan and all the Regional and Tribal Behavioral Health Authorities across the state.

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Posted in Behavioral Health

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Licensing Changes Near

April 9th, 2013

We’re getting near the end of the long journey of our licensing regulatory reform.  Last Wednesday we posted the revised draft rules for Chapter 10 (Health Care Institutions – Licensing) and Chapter 20 (Non-licensing approval).  Our goals is to simplify and streamline our rules so they align with our strategic plan and map to improve public health outcomes.  We’ve been working with representatives from the medical community, the behavioral health system, advocates and other affected folks to help reform our regulations.  We still need your help. Please provide comments for Chapter 10 using online surveys . Please provide comments for Chapter 20 using online survey .

The comment period will end on May 5th. The Department will revise the drafts and the final rules will take effect on July 1st of this year.  Please visit our Licensing webpage  to learn more about our integrated licensing rules implementation.

Thanks to all who have helped to advance the licensing of integrated health in Arizona!

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Posted in Licensing

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Accreditation Gaining Momentum

January 31st, 2013

We’re fully committed to achieving national public health accreditation and are well on our way.  Accreditation will bring us a gold star for the work we’re doing to meet the ten essential public health standards and will validate our collaborative relationships with our partners and our governing body.  Our efforts are led by a steering committee made up of our senior leadership team including Dr. Janet Mullen, Don Herrington, Sheila Sjolander, Carol Vack, Dr. Cara Christ, Dr. Khaleel Hussaini and Pragathi Tummala…  who provide oversight and guidance to the Managing for Excellence program to make sure we’re on track.  I’m happy to report that we’re on track for applying for accreditation at the end of 2013.   It’s a complicated process, but I want to touch on some highlights. 

Before we can even apply, we have to complete three prerequisites: a Strategic Plan, State Health Assessment, and a State Health Improvement Plan.  Our strategic plan is done, and is being updated annually.  The State Health Assessment is currently underway, with each of our counties conducting their own community health assessments in order to identify for themselves the health priorities for their communities.  Based on these results we’ll work with our state partners to create a State Health Improvement Plan in the spring to identify strategies and resources to address the issues that rise to the top.  By working with our partners to collaborate, we’re strengthening the public health infrastructure and building relationships that will continue on beyond accreditation.  When we work with people and build a team of strong partners, the relationships we create will ensure sustained success for our mission.  The team win is so much more valuable in the long run. 

We’ve also begun the process of collecting all the evidence we’ll need to demonstrate compliance with national standards for public health accreditation.  Twelve domain teams have begun their work, led by Dr. Khaleel Hussaini, Jessica Rigler, Sheila Sjolander, Carol Vack, Tom Salow, Patricia Tarango, Karen Sell, Tifney Tihey, Bernard Sanden, Dr. Janet Mullen, Jennifer Botsford, and Colby Bower.  Many of you will be tapped by these team leads to help gather the evidence we need to provide the documents to demonstrate compliance with the required standards and measures that are part of each domain. 

While we’re jumping through the necessary hoops to prove that we’re consistently providing the 10 essential public health standards, we’re accomplishing much more than that.  The road to accreditation will continue to bring forth opportunities for advancing our agency, building stronger partnerships, and increasing employee engagement- resulting in better public health outcomes.

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Regulatory Reform Update

January 22nd, 2013

We’re continuing to make significant progress in our licensing regulatory reform efforts.  Our overall goal is to simplify and streamline our regulations so they align with our strategic plan and map to improve public health outcomes.  The new regulations will more acutely focus on health and safety criteria- and will put more emphasis on outcomes.  We’ve held numerous meetings with representatives from the medical community, the behavioral health system, advocates and other affected stakeholders to help us reform our regulations for Inpatient Behavioral Health Facilities, Residential Facilities, DUI Services, Domestic Violence Offender Treatment Programs, Outpatient Treatment Centers, Nursing Care Institutions, Assisted Living Facilities and Hospitals.  Public comments are being solicited through online surveys.  

In all, 18 Articles of regulations are being overhauled.  Draft Articles and online surveys can be found at the Health Care Institution and Behavioral Health Service Agency webpages.  By April 1st final drafts will be posted on our website for another round of comments.  The completed rules will be submitted to the Secretary of State by July 1, 2013. Thanks to all who have helped to advance the licensing of integrated health in Arizona!

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Posted in Licensing

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Suicide Prevention: A Winnable Battle

December 18th, 2012

Back in 2009, AZ had the 9th highest rate of suicide in the U.S.  In that year 1,060 Arizonans took their own lives- so it’s easy to see why suicide prevention is an agency priority and is featured in our Strategic Map as a Winnable Battle.  Since we’re responsible for the state’s behavioral health system- we have a leverage point…  especially for the folks that receive services through our public behavioral health system including crisis services. 

One of our primary interventions for this Winnable Battle has been our collaborative Suicide Deterrent System, which was launched in 2009 by Magellan (our Regional Behavioral Health Authority in Maricopa County).  It’s evolved into a training initiative for behavioral health professionals to a comprehensive national model addressing one of the most at-risk populations – folks diagnosed with mental illness. Since kickoff, the initiative has trained more than 3,000 behavioral health care staff to recognize the signs and symptoms of suicide in persons with mental illness, and to help them stay safe and seek help.  The program has also addressed family engagement and support groups for suicide attempt survivors- and has developed clinical tools and procedures for assessing risk and appropriately intervening. 

The ADHS and Magellan Health Services of Arizona won a Council of State Governments Innovation Award this year for the Suicide Deterrent System.  The objective of the Suicide Deterrent System is to make suicide a “never event” for those served by our public behavioral health system.  Nationally, most public sector behavioral health care systems have made suicide prevention a business side-line…  relying mostly on crisis interventionist specialists.  Our model recognizes that to be successful, we need to provide safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable care. Our systems approach brings the core business of state-funded behavioral health care to tackle the challenge, including a systematic “do whatever it takes” approach, top leadership commitment, measurement and reporting and robust performance improvement. 

Our collaborative initiative has changed the mindset about suicide prevention. By providing knowledge, skills, tools and management support, this project has made suicide intervention a core responsibility of all behavioral health staff. It recognizes the complexities of suicide and addresses: 1) Behavioral health workers’ skills/confidence to intervene (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training – ASIST); 2) Connectedness for those contemplating suicide (attempt survivor support groups, family engagement); and 3) Risk identification and stratification (clinical care and intervention).

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Posted in Behavioral Health, Prevention

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ABRC Strategic Plan

December 17th, 2012

The Arizona Biomedical Research Commission was created several years ago as a mechanism to fund biomedical research in Arizona.  Core projects include research that digs into the causes, the epidemiology and diagnosis, the formulation of cures, the medically accepted treatment or the prevention of diseases, including new drug discovery and development.  Funding comes from tobacco and lottery money. 

The Commission became a part of ADHS on July 1, 2011… and since then, we’ve been working to ensure that it’s financially sustainable, operating effectively, and is strategic about its future investments in research.  We just reached a milestone on the strategic part last week, when the Commissioners met and developed a draft Strategic Map to help guide the future of the Commission.

The  Commissioners and Executive Director (Tracey Sotelo) felt that a strategic map would assist the ABRC in setting priorities and mechanisms for awarding monies to deserving applicants.  I’d talked with the Commission during earlier meetings and had expressed my vision for the future of the ABRC, and I think the draft strategic map has captured our shared vision and mission.  The mission statement is “Identify and support innovative biomedical research to improve the health of all Arizonans”.  Primary tasks include identifying, funding and supporting biomedical research, maximizing collaborations and communications to build a strong Arizona presence, and establishing the Commission infrastructure to maximize the ADHS partnership.  Once finalized through a vote at the next public meeting, the map can then be deployed.

This was a classic case of community partnership and bringing diverse stakeholders together for a common cause.  Thanks go out to Tracey Sotelo, and the ABRC Commissioners for their active and helpful participation in getting a draft map put together.

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Introducing Our New Licensing Director & Agency CMO

August 22nd, 2012

Please join me in welcoming Cara Christ, MD as our new Division of Licensing Services chief.  Cara has agreed to share her talents as the new Assistant Director for Licensing as well as serving as the Agency Chief Medical Officer.  Also, thanks a million to Colby Bower who’s been doing an excellent job serving as interim director for licensing since Alan passed away. 

Cara started her public health quest about a dozen years ago when she worked in our infectious disease epidemiology shop.  While there, she developed a passion for both medicine and epidemiology- so she left to study medicine with a goal of working as a CDC disease detective.  I can remember being disappointed when we lost her to medical school 10 years ago  but alas, she returned to us after graduating- and she’s been working in our Bureau of Epidemiology and Disease Control (EDC) for the last few years…  most recently serving as the EDC Bureau Chief (one of my old jobs). 

I think Cara will be perfect for this job- bringing value added from her solid leadership and management style to her eye for public health “leverage points”- and most of all her passion for improving outcomes and using public health principles to change lives and communities.  Our Licensing Division is perhaps our greatest leverage point for achieving these elements of our strategic map. 

Cara will also be providing Agency leadership in her new role as the ADHS Chief Medical Officer.  Dr. Nelson has been serving in the Agency CMO role for the last couple of years- doing an excellent job.  I’m certain that we can count on Cara to continue to carry that torch effectively for Arizona. 

Thanks!

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Posted in Licensing

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Dr. Nelson- Our Friend & Amiga

July 25th, 2012

One of our priorities over the last 3.5 years has been to ensure that we develop and train our workforce so that we maintain business continuity and have the ability to transition effectively to new leadership when the time comes (part of Strategic Map element E1).  We’ll be putting our prep work to the test in the coming weeks- as Dr. Nelson will be leaving her posts as Deputy for Behavioral Health and as Chief Medical Officer on August 24 to work at Mercer.  But by keeping our strong behavioral health team together- we’ll continue to keep up our momentum and continue delivering high quality behavioral health services for the people we serve. 

Under Dr. Nelson’s leadership, we’ve shifted the Department’s behavioral health system to focus on the core principles of Recovery and have adopted outcome-based performance measures to monitor and to improve the performance of Arizona’s behavioral health system, resulting in real and measurable improvements in people’s lives.  We’ve re-focused our efforts at the Arizona State Hospital to improve the quality of care for our patients and families, incorporating a Culture of Care that improves our performance every day. 

 Dr. Nelson is well recognized throughout the entire behavioral health system as a dynamic and competent leader and will surely be missed.  She’s even developed a solid national reputation, most recently receiving the President’s Award from the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors.  We all know that about her – but it sure is nice to hear that type of praise on a national stage.  It reminds us that we are lucky to have someone with her skills advocating for those with mental illness in Arizona. 

I have to admit that I’m a little bit misty as I write this- as I think back to what Dr. Nelson and I have been through together (and what we’ve achieved as an Agency) since we started our quest together back in January of ’09.  Believe me, I know it’s hard to lose leadership like this…  but we’ll continue with our mission as a team.  Anytime an organization loses leadership as strong as Laura it’s a challenge…  but it can also be an opportunity for growth.

 

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Posted in Behavioral Health

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Telling the Public Health Story

July 5th, 2012

One of the key elements of our Strategic Plan is to “Build Public Health Value.” One of the best ways to do that is to tell good stories that capture people’s attention and imagination- stories that highlight the value of public health.  During our Division of Licensing’s employee recognition event last week, Larry Martens read a perfect example of how to “Tell the Public Health Story.”

The story captures the essence of what licensing does every day and the type of peace of mind that Arizona families have, knowing we provide a safety net of services that helps families ensure that their loved ones are being properly cared for.   Often we couch our messages in technical reports that show data driven results, or create fact sheets to effectively communicate to a given audience- but telling a story that references real people can be more impactful.

Check out Larry’s story on our Managing for Excellence website.  It is a great example of our Strategic Map at work.  In this story, we see how this licensing program is Building Public Health Value (box D1), as well as Addressing Quality of Care Issues and Public Health Risks (box C2) and Providing a Safety Net of Services and Community Support (box C4).  It makes us proud of being public health professionals when we see the upside of how we make a difference, and stories like these also help build our credibility in the community.

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