healthcare

National Public Health Week: A Celebration of Health Improvement

By |2017-02-10T09:50:34-07:00April 5th, 2013|General|

This week we’re celebrating National Public Health Week… a week that helps us recognize the work we do to keep our communities healthy. Public health focuses on improving our overall health by making the entire healthcare system stronger. The theme of this year’s celebration is Return on Investment. This isn’t just an investment of money, [...]

Medicare’s Physician Bonus Program

By |2017-02-10T09:50:34-07:00April 3rd, 2013|General|

Healthcare providers including MDs, DOs, dentists, podiatrists, psychiatrists and chiropractors that work in a Health Professional Shortage Area (and meet the requirements) can apply for the Medicare Physician Bonus Program which qualifies for a 10% reimbursement bonus if they’re providing services to Medicare beneficiaries in a medical shortage area.  Medical providers can check online to [...]

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Norovirus Blooms with the Desert

By |2017-02-10T09:50:37-07:00March 15th, 2013|Prevention|

Spring in Arizona is exciting for many reasons. We look forward to warmer weather, beautiful desert blooms, and cactus league baseball. Spring also signals the transition to our norovirus season… which infects about 21 million Americans including hundreds of thousands of Arizonans.  Norovirus inflames the stomach and intestines and causes 24-48 hours of very unpleasant vomiting and diarrhea. [...]

Strategic National Stockpile Readiness

By |2017-02-10T09:50:39-07:00February 27th, 2013|General, Preparedness|

The CDC's “Strategic National Stockpile” is a large quantity of medicine and medical supplies that are available to states in case there’s a public health emergency (flu outbreak, asteroid, etc.) severe enough to cause local health supplies to run out.  Once federal and local authorities agree that the stockpile is needed, meds and supplies are [...]

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Doctor Shortage – a Public Health Concern

By |2017-02-10T09:50:44-07:00January 30th, 2013|Affordable Care Act, General|

Public Health tracks the number of healthcare workers – physicians, dentists and psychiatrists – to make sure we have enough to take care of the community.  In Arizona we’ve been challenged to recruit and keep those professionals – and we have numerous Health Professional Shortage Areas.  Just to eliminate the current shortages, we’d need an [...]

Finding Free or Low-Cost Clinics

By |2017-02-10T09:50:47-07:00January 9th, 2013|General|

Our team at the Bureau of Health Systems Development recently posted a new interactive website to help people easily locate a clinic that provides free or low cost primary, mental and dental health services to people without health insurance. These Sliding Fee Schedule clinics determine, based on gross family income, the portion of billed charges [...]

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Integrated Care Responses On Deck

By |2017-02-10T09:50:47-07:00January 8th, 2013|General|

We all need to take care of both our physical and behavioral health needs in order to be healthy. The mind and body aren't separated- and neither should the health-care delivery system- especially for folks with a serious mental illness. Folks with a serious mental illness die more than 25 years earlier than the general [...]

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Integrating Physical & Behavioral Health Services to Save Lives

By |2017-02-10T09:50:55-07:00October 11th, 2012|Behavioral Health|

We all need to take care of both our physical and behavioral health needs in order to be healthy. The mind and body aren't separated- and neither should the health-care delivery system- especially for folks with a serious mental illness. Folks with a serious mental illness die more than 25 years earlier than the general [...]

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Worksite Wellness- a Critical Public Health Lever

By |2017-02-10T09:50:59-07:00September 21st, 2012|Affordable Care Act, Prevention|

Chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes cause 70% of deaths in the US these days… absorbing 75% of the $2.5T spent on annual medical care costs.  When it comes to employee healthcare expenses- the indirect costs of poor health like absenteeism, disability, and reduced work output can be several times higher than direct medical [...]

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Our Unwelcome Winter Visitor Returns

By |2017-02-10T09:51:24-07:00December 16th, 2011|Preparedness, Prevention|

Just in time for the holidays, we’re got our first lab confirmed case of influenza – actually two cases.  Influenza has probably been in the state for a while now, but we don’t officially start counting the cases until there is a case confirmed at our lab.  The vaccine was approved this summer and fights 3 [...]

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