As you’ve probably seen, the Legislature went into a special session and worked some long hours to pass a FY 2014 budget. While we’re still analyzing everything, here are some key provisions of the budget bill as it was sent to the Governor. Medicaid (AHCCCS) will be restored and expanded. This will be a big [...]
The dry conditions in the Prescott National Forest have provided great fuel for the wildfire that started there yesterday. You can monitor conditions on the Forest website. And don't forget to check in with the state's Emergency Information Network. We play a significant role in response where there are wildfires in Arizona – our licensing [...]
Last week the AZ Department of Administration decided to ask the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings to conduct an official hearing regarding our October 1 contract award for the Regional Behavioral Health Authority in Maricopa County. You may remember that the ADOA issued a stay last month that stopped the transition process. We received a notice [...]
You can think of the border public health advocacy network as a bi-national matrix of public health partners that collaborate to improve conditions along the US-Mexico border. The network includes national organizations like the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission along with state based partnerships like the Arizona-Mexico Commission and the annual Border Governor’s Conference. As part of my job [...]
The annual plenary session of the Arizona-Mexico Commission wrapped up last night with some important health events. We signed a Cooperative Agreement with the Secreteria de Salud Publica in Sonora to educate people on both sides of the border about the importance of buckling up children and infants. In the last Child Fatality Review report [...]
One of the elements of last year’s state personnel reform is the ability to reward staff who do great work and have tangible results to prove it. Our first opportunity to take advantage of the incentives are coming this month with something called our “interim compensation strategies”. It’s basically the first stop in the road for applying incentives [...]
This week is Men’s Health Week - the worldwide event happens every year before Father’s Day calling attention to the issues that affect men’s health. Many groups take the opportunity to talk about men’s health – we should be thinking about our health every week. The top health issues that impact men’s health are also [...]
The Institute of Medicine just released a new report that recommends schools make physical education a core subject, just like math and English. According to the report… 44% of school administrators reported cutting significant time from PE classes in order to devote more time to reading and math over the last 10 years. There’s pressure to increase [...]
The Fed’s issued their final regulations for worksite wellness programs under the Affordable Care Act this week. The final rules are designed to incentivize workplaces to develop and execute health promotion programs. The goal is to improve health and wellness among workers and to limit growth of health care costs moving forward. The regulations outline [...]
A new Ohio State University study found smokers cost businesses about $6,000 more than nonsmokers every year. The researchers used the cost of increased absenteeism, lost productivity, smoke breaks and health care to reach the $6K/year figure – not surprisingly, smoke breaks account for the biggest share of the cost. More and more businesses are creating stronger worksite wellness programs. Arizona, for example, has [...]
