Arizona seems to have escaped the first round of the national measles outbreak without any more cases, but that doesn’t mean we can drop our guard. Measles is still circulating in the country, especially in nearby states. So parents, nurses, doctors and all healthcare professionals need to consider measles as a possibility when someone has [...]
We’ve made a lot of progress implementing the provisions outlined by the Governor’s Council on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response late last year including: 1) successful designation of 2 hospitals; 2) receiving new funding to support accelerated infectious disease preparedness planning and response; and 3) approval of a new award to enhance hospital readiness. New [...]
The website for National Public Health Week, which will run April 6-12 this year, is now open for business. Visit www.nphw.org to stay abreast of information and events and access the NPHW toolkit. The toolkit contains fact sheets, media outreach materials, suggested community events, legislative information and other helpful resources and activities. This year's NPHW [...]
In the past, tuberculosis was all over popular culture. It was portrayed in opera (Puccini’s La bóheme, Verdi’s La Traviata), in novels (Tolstoy’s Anna Karénina, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment), and in poetry (works by both Keats and Shelley). Nowadays, it seems like the only time TB is in the news is when it’s about ancient [...]
In mid-December (2014) we awarded contracts for the Northern and Southern regions of the state to Health Choice Integrated Care and Cenpatico Integrated Care. On January 2nd United Healthcare filed a Protest with the ADHS for the award in Southern AZ, requesting an Emergency Stay and Administrative Hearing. On January 21 we denied the Protest. United [...]
Az Health Improvement Plan Paying Dividends We made progress this week on one of our key Arizona Health Improvement Plan (AzHIP) objectives: To improve access to well care in underserved areas of Arizona. This week the Governor signed Senate Bill 1194 which enhances our State Loan Repayment Program by expanding the types of providers who can receive loan repayment assistance, increasing [...]
In the world of health care - the clinician works with patients individually. They examine various indicators of health for their patient including direct observations and laboratory or other diagnostic tests and implement interventions to help their patient improve their health. Providers also encourage their patients to live healthy lifestyles and take safety precautions - [...]
A few weeks ago I approved American Medical Response’s (AMR Maricopa) application to operate ambulances in Maricopa County, called a Certificate of Necessity or CON. While I approved the CON (after reviewing a host of evidence presented to an Administrative Law Judge and her Order) I didn’t actually issue the Certificate because of the administrative [...]
Before I started working here in ’92 I spent a year backpacking in southern Asia with my now wife (then my girlfriend). Wherever we went in China we’d see seniors in the parks or village squares doing Tai Chi in the morning. In a village it might be a group of a dozen folks, and [...]
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that requires hospitals that accept Medicare payments to provide emergency healthcare to anybody regardless of citizenship or immigration status or their ability to pay. Under the law, hospitals that accept Medicare payments can’t transfer or discharge patients that need emergency treatment unless [...]
