Page 244 – AZ Dept. of Health Services News

Maricopa County Designated as a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area

The US Health Resources and Services Administration designated Maricopa County as a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area. This federal designation lets mental health facilities and providers participate in the National Health Service Corps Program, which recruits fully-trained health professionals to provide interdisciplinary primary health care services to underserved populations, assists clinicians in repayment of qualifying educational [...]

By azdhs-admin|2011-04-11T09:41:28-07:00April 11th, 2011|Behavioral Health|Comments Off

ADHS & the State Budget

As you have probably already heard, Legislature has passed and the Governor has signed a series of budget bills. One thing I know everyone will be glad to hear is that the remaining scheduled mandatory furlough days for this fiscal year and next are canceled. However, individual agencies have the option of using furloughs if necessary (I [...]

By azdhs-admin|2017-02-10T09:51:50-07:00April 8th, 2011|General|Comments Off

MM Tribal Consultation

Michael Allison has set up a Tribal Consultation meeting regarding Medical Marijuana to get input and advice from our tribal partners on the new medical marijuana law. There are a whole host of questions to consider, everything from whether any tribes intend to adopt the new law and whether they would ever be interested in [...]

By azdhs-admin|2011-04-07T08:41:04-07:00April 7th, 2011|General|6 Comments

Safety’s No Accident

For some reason human nature drives us to fear unknown, strange, and seemingly unpredictable hazards more than the commonplace hazards that we face day to day, even though the everyday hazards are a far more important public health risk. Accidents and injuries are a good example. Accidents and injuries are hands-down the number 1 killer [...]

By azdhs-admin|2017-02-10T09:51:50-07:00April 6th, 2011|Prevention|Comments Off

Health Homes Planning Grant Approved

Last week I wrote about how we and AHCCCS applied for a Health Homes Planning Grant from the US Dept. of Health & Human Services to improve the health status of folks with serious mental illnesses by improving case management, care coordination, health promotion, transitional care, individual and family support, referral to necessary services, and the [...]

By azdhs-admin|2011-04-05T08:50:33-07:00April 5th, 2011|General|Comments Off

Open Letter to Arizona Physicians on Medical Marijuana

Laura Nelson, M.D.. Chief Medical Officer, Arizona Department of Health Services Will Humble, Director, Arizona Department of Health ServicesThank you for your interest in the effective implementation of the AZ Medical Marijuana Act. We realize that many Arizona physicians may not yet feel comfortable with or fully informed about medicinal marijuana. It is likely that [...]

By azdhs-admin|2017-02-10T09:51:50-07:00April 4th, 2011|General|34 Comments

Trace Levels of Iodine-131 found in AZ Milk

Last week I wrote about how Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency (ARRA) instruments detected trace levels of Iodine-131 in AZ air from the troubled nuclear power plant in Japan. This week testing by ARRA and the AZ Dept. of Agriculture found trace levels of I-131 in the milk samples that they routinely monitor. The levels are of no [...]

By azdhs-admin|2017-02-10T09:51:50-07:00April 1st, 2011|General|2 Comments

Health Homes Planning Grant

Awhile back the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released preliminary guidance to state Medicaid agencies (AHCCCS) regarding a new federal funding opportunity to coordinate and integrate primary, acute, behavioral health, and long term supports for folks with chronic illnesses. The guidance encouraged state Medicaid agencies to work with partners to provide technical assistance for [...]

By azdhs-admin|2017-02-10T09:51:51-07:00March 31st, 2011|General|Comments Off

Death Certificates In-House Now

Lots of people know that our Office of Vital Records is the statewide data hub for birth certificates, but we’re also in charge of death certificates. The program we use for death certificates is called the “Vital Statistics Information Management System”. The system used to be supported by a contractor in Utah, but no more. [...]

By azdhs-admin|2011-03-31T08:46:38-07:00March 31st, 2011|Preparedness|Comments Off

Ultra Brief CPR Videos Work

Each year, almost 300,000 people suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the United States. Survival rates from these events tend to be extremely low. However, research has shown that hands-only bystander CPR can triple survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The problem is that bystanders that witness a cardiac arrest only attempt CPR about 26% of the [...]

By azdhs-admin|2017-02-10T09:51:51-07:00March 30th, 2011|Preparedness|4 Comments