House Bill 2491 has been in the media and became a law with the Governor’s signature. The new law requires us to add critical congenital heart defect (CCHD) to our newborn screening program protocol. This new screening and reporting requirement will kick in once our rulemaking is complete- probably this Fall. The screening test we'll be [...]
A few years ago, the legislature made some important changes to the language in our state laws by removing hurtful words related to people with developmental disabilities. Last year, the legislature removed some really old definitions and terms related to mental illness. This year a new law was passed and signed (HB 2667) that went through [...]
Last week we passed a major milestone in our Strategic Plan when we filed our final new set of rules for the Arizona's 5,500 licensed healthcare facilities. With this week's filing - we've now completed our overhaul of the State's regulations for hospitals, behavioral health inpatient facilities, nursing care institutions, recovery care centers, hospices, behavioral health residential facilities, assisted living facilities, outpatient surgical centers, outpatient treatment centers, adult day health care [...]
A healthcare worker who recently returned from Saudi Arabia is the first confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the U.S. The person's in stable condition in isolation in an Indiana hospital. All public health agencies around the world have been carefully watching for new cases of MERS since the disease was [...]
You might remember from a few weeks ago that a single patient exposed over 1,000 Arizonans to measles. Because measles is highly infectious and 90% of unvaccinated contacts become infected, Public Health worked overtime to identify and interview suspected cases. Health care facilities were placed on heightened alert. The State Laboratory rushed testing of suspicious [...]
