Updated EMS Rules Finalized
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 to carry additional medications they [...]
Regulatory Reform
We met a major milestone in 2014 when we filed our final new set of regulations for Arizona’s 5,500 licensed healthcare facilities. We’ve now completed our overhaul of the State’s regulations of hospitals, behavioral health inpatient facilities, nursing care institutions, recovery care centers, hospices, behavioral health residential facilities, assisted living facilities, outpatient surgical centers, outpatient treatment centers, adult day health [...]
Electronic Midwife Reporting Utility Goes Live
Our Special Licensing shop (which licenses certified professional midwives) went live with a new Midwife Electronic Reporting Utility last week…providing a secure online application for submission and viewing of midwife reports. Our certified professional midwives can now use the electronic reporting tool and our Midwife Survey Reporting Guide to track outcomes. The new web utility provides a secure online, password-protected application [...]
New Counseling Facility Rules
On January 1 we’ll begin accepting applications for a new class of health care institution called counseling facilities. New Rules (adopted this week) provide facilities a way to become licensed for counseling services. The new rules will allow the facility to be stand-alone (doing all administrative activities itself) or to be affiliated with another counseling facility or an outpatient treatment [...]
Arnold v. Sarn Service Capacity Increases on Target
Service capacity increases mandated by the Arnold v. Sarn lawsuit are on target. The exit agreement on the suit stipulates an increase of services for folks living with a serious mental illness in Maricopa County during fiscal years 2015-2016. Mercy Maricopa Integrated Care (the regional behavioral health authority for Maricopa County) is on target in providing the service capacity increases. [...]
ADHS Awards New Behavioral Health Services Contracts
The mind and body aren’t separated - and neither should the healthcare delivery system - especially for folks with a serious mental illness. People with a serious mental illness die more than 25 years earlier than the general population…an unacceptable health disparity in anybody’s book. The increased mortality is largely from treatable medical conditions caused by modifiable risk factors like [...]