We are mourning the tragic deaths of 19 firefighters at the Yarnell Hill Fire. We're working through the Northern Arizona Regional Behavioral Health Authority to help the firefighters and community there to deal with the loss of life and the speedy evacuation in front of the fire. The loss of most of the Granite Mountain Hot Shot team [...]
The heat played havoc with the computer system that services us this weekend. While doing some routine maintenance on Saturday morning, the heat overwhelmed the generators that were keeping the servers running. So for about 8 hours, no one could access our homepage nor any of the services we offer like azcarecheck, assisted living renewals, [...]
We owe a big round of applause to our Licensing & Rulemaking teams- who’ve spent the better part of 2 years working with hundreds of folks from numerous associations and licensed facilities as part of our regulatory reform initiative. This afternoon we filed an overhaul of 20 Articles of regulations for healthcare institutions and behavioral health service agencies including [...]
This week many of us are heading out for vacations or picnics to celebrate the nation’s birthday. And when we’re out of normal routines, we may forget basic health prevention – such as washing our hands. Even though we know that it is the best way to prevent spreading germs, a new study shows that [...]
The Arizona Center for Rural Health in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the U of A was recently recognized as an Outstanding Rural Health Organization for 2013 by The National Rural Health Association. The Center partners with Arizona’s rural communities to improve access to healthcare, reduce the costs of care, [...]
You’ve probably heard the words “meaningful use” thrown around… but what is it? Basically, it’s using electronic health record technology to: 1) Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities; 2) Engage patients and family; 3) Improve care coordination, and population and public health; and 4) Maintain privacy and security of patient health information. Using [...]
This week, The Journal of Infectious Diseases published a study looking at the number of human papillomavirus infections in females before and after HPV vaccine was created (back in ’06). The study found impressive results: a 56% decrease in HPV since the vaccine was introduced in 2006 (among girls between 14-19 years old). This is a big deal [...]
The core of our decision-making as an agency relies on evidence. Evidence can be scientific like surveillance or research or it can be administrative or financial. Whichever way you slice it- the key is to get good reliable information so that our teams can make effective decisions as we execute our mission. One of the [...]
Our Licensing & Rulemaking teams have spent the better part of 18 months working with hundreds of folks from numerous associations and licensed facilities as part of our regulatory reform initiative. We’ve been overhauling 18 Articles of regulations for Healthcare Institutions and Behavioral Health Service Agencies including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient surgery and treatment centers, recovery [...]
The American Medical Association voted to recognize obesity as a disease this week. This is an important change… because the term “disease” in the managed care world means that that prevention and treatment is more medically necessary, justifying reimbursement for necessary interventions. If obesity isn't a disease then I don't know what is. Obesity has [...]
