General – Page 30 – AZ Dept. of Health Services News

Medical Marijuana Sales Tripled in 2014

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 16th, 2015|General, Licensing|

We published our end-of-year annual medical marijuana report this week. Dispensary marijuana sales were three times higher than in 2013. Dispensaries sold over 9 metric tons (about 10 US tons) of marijuana in 2014 for an estimated gross revenue of about $110M. There were 1,433,808 individual sales in ‘14 (among the 55,000 patients), with an [...]

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Ebola Epidemic Index Case Identified?

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 15th, 2015|General|

A 2 year-old boy from Guinea appears to be what we call in our business the “Index Case” for the West African Ebola epidemic. In epidemiology, an Index Case is the first documented case of an illness that spreads to others. The 2 year-old appears to have been infected by playing in a hollow tree [...]

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Arizona’s Paramedic Training: Excellent Results

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 14th, 2015|General|

Arizona’s Paramedic training programs are taught by a combination of colleges, private training centers, and fire departments. A typical Paramedic course is over 1,000 hours of class room, hospital and ambulance time covering anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, terminology, and hours and hours of assessment and proficiency tests on a multitude of skills. To become certified [...]

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Staying in the Saddle

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 9th, 2015|Behavioral Health, General, Preparedness, Prevention|

We’ve had a great run together since I accepted the Interim ADHS Director position 6 years ago. I’m grateful to all of you for trusting me in this important position and for working together for the benefit of the folks of Arizona. We’ve made tremendous progress toward our Vision of Health and Wellness for all [...]

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Teen Pregnancy and Births

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 7th, 2015|General, Prevention|

Teen pregnancies and births continued to be a challenge for us in 2014, but we continued to see encouraging results. Having a baby as a teenager impacts the mom, the dad, the baby and the whole community. Teen parents often don’t finish high school, which in turn, reduces their ability to financially take care of [...]

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American Medical Response’s Application Approved

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:21-07:00January 5th, 2015|General, Licensing|

This morning I approved American Medical Response’s (AMR Maricopa) application to operate ambulances in Maricopa County (called a Certificate of Necessity or CON). I approved the Certificate of Necessity after reviewing a host of evidence presented to an Administrative Law Judge and her Order recommending approval. The official notice will be posted on the Office [...]

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Infectious Disease Preparedness & Response

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:21-07:00December 31st, 2014|General|

The Ebola virus, influenza, enterovirus, tuberculosis, and other emerging infectious diseases posed key public health challenges in Arizona during 2014, sparking important interventions. In October the Governor issued an Executive Order establishing the Council on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response to develop and implement a coordinated plan to ensure Arizona’s public health infrastructure is prepared [...]

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Updated EMS Rules Finalized

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:22-07:00December 26th, 2014|General|

Emergency Medical Services will also be improved thanks to some new rules that will take effect on January 1. The new rules (filed last week) make it easier for a patient who meets certain criteria to be taken to someplace other than an emergency department. The new rules also allow some emergency medical care technicians [...]

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The Certificate of Necessity (CON) “Pipeline”

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:22-07:00December 16th, 2014|General|

American Medical Response’s (AMR) isn’t the only application in the pipeline. A number of fire departments along with private groups are applying for CONs right now. Some are farther along in the application process than others. Why all the interest in running an ambulance company? Rural Metro’s bankruptcy has probably played a role along with [...]

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Administrative Judge Recommends Approving New Ambulance Service Application

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:23-07:00December 9th, 2014|General|

Late Monday, an Administrative Law Judge issued an Order recommending that I approve American Medical Response of Maricopa’s (AMR) application to operate ambulances (certificate of necessity or CON) in all of Maricopa County. We regulate ambulance services differently than most states. In order to operate an ambulance here the applicant needs to meet a number [...]

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