The ADHS won the first-ever Newborn Screening Quality Award from the March of Dimes this week. We were recognized for shortening the length of time it takes bloodspot samples to get from Arizona hospitals to our State Laboratory, setting and achieving a target of receiving 95% of samples within 72 hours, and for establishing a policy [...]
I was at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Annual Meeting and Policy Summit most of last week. This year’s meeting was entitled Achieving Population Health in Evolving Systems. We shared best practices with each other about different ways states are approaching population health. We heard from the Acting Surgeon General Rear Admiral Boris D. [...]
Community Integrated Paramedicine programs are beginning to come together in two primary business models in Arizona. The first one has EMS (emergency medical services) agencies partnering with hospitals to reduce the frequency that patients are re-admitted to hospitals. In the second, EMS agencies are cultivating social service referrals to reduce the frequency that folks use emergency departments [...]
Arizona joined the states asking CDC for laboratory testing for Enterovirus D68 on Friday. We’ve had an increase in the number of children hospitalized and treated for upper respiratory illness. Enterovirus is in the family with the common cold and illness is usually limited to cold symptoms (stuffy or runny nose and cough). There seem [...]
We publish several reports every year that are required by Arizona law…including our annual abortion surveillance report. We published our 4th Abortion Surveillance Report this week. Overall, the abortion rate in Arizona was stable from 2012 to 2013, however, the rate of abortions among 18-19 year old women decreased more than 30% between 2012 and 2013…the [...]
State government authority and policy is driven by laws that are established by the Legislature and carried out by the Governor through the Executive Branch. Sometimes laws are passed directly by the voters (called a voter initiative). Many state laws require state agencies to develop regulations to “flesh out” the laws they pass by giving [...]
Thanks for all your hard work in changing our culture of care at the Hospital. It’s been 2 years since we implemented new processes to change how we work with patients. We’ve revised roles and responsibilities for unit staff and campus support, trained all our staff in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, which is an evidence-based, best [...]
As one of the largest departments in Arizona State Government, ADHS is joining in the salute to payroll professionals by participating in National Payroll Week. National Payroll Week recognizes professionals who support the American system by not only processing your wages, but also reporting your earnings and withholding employment taxes, which keep America running. Our payroll department [...]
Arizona is focused on making affordable fruits and vegetables easy-to-find in communities throughout the state. In Arizona, more than 40% of Farmers’ Markets accept Arizona Farmer's Market Nutrition Program coupons so WIC moms and seniors on the Commodity Supplemental Food Program can purchase fruits and vegetables at Farmers’ Markets, compared to just 21% of the [...]
In 2012, more than 1,000 Arizonans took their own lives, including more than 200 folks who had served in the military. Suicide influences populations differently. Nationally, the group committing suicide in the greatest numbers is elderly men. In Arizona, we also have a high rate among American Indians. Additionally, those with a serious mental illness [...]
