FDA Approves Painkiller Overdose Field Treatment
It’s no secret that misuse and abuse of opiate painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin are a large and growing public health threat in Arizona- misuse and abuse of these medicines are now killing more Arizonans than car crashes. Last week the FDA approved a prescription treatment called Evzio that can be used in medical emergencies caused by prescription opiates or heroin. It’s approved [...]
More Arizona Parents Choosing Not to Vaccinate their Kids
As I mentioned in a blog post last year, more AZ parents are choosing not to vaccinate their kids- using “personal exemptions” when they enroll their kids in school. This has jeopardized our immunization rates enough that this week’s measles case in Maricopa County could spread. We’ll know in a couple of weeks. Vaccinating yourself and your kids is more about [...]
Epidemiologists: Public Health’s Smoke-Jumpers
Like a hotshot team, a rapid response by public health is essential to stopping the spread of measles in unvaccinated persons… and disease detectives in Maricopa County are currently working to squash a measles outbreak right now. Last week a person with measles visited a restaurant, church and airport in Arizona, exposing over a thousand people to measles. Press releases [...]
Let’s Get Screened
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Arizona. Across men and women, all age groups, races, and ethnicities, about ½ of all colorectal cancer diagnoses in Arizona are late-stage, which are more difficult to treat. Our Fit at Fifty HealthCheck Program screens about 1,500 Arizonans per year by providing Fecal Immunochemical Tests and colonoscopies for individuals who [...]
Medicare Cost Transparency
I’ve always believed that transparency improves the efficiency of any system. Health care costs are no exception- and health care reimbursement costs are probably at the top of the list of systems that could be improved by applying a healthy dose of cost transparency. Today the federal government took a giant step forward when they released a public data set [...]
Healthcare Associated Infections Progress Report
Healthcare-Associated infections are a major (often preventable) threat to patient safety. Last week the National and State Healthcare Associated Infections Progress Report expanded on previous reports- detailing progress toward the eliminating healthcare-associated infections. The HAI Progress Report found significant reductions for nearly all infections- including in AZ. Central line-associated bloodstream infections and surgical site infections continued to approach the 5-year [...]