Last week I wrote about our Behavioral Health Outcomes Dashboard <https://directorsblog.health.azdhs.gov/?p=1117> - which highlights our efforts to shift our performance measures toward actual outcomes. In other words, we want to measure whether the services we provide actually help folks achieve their goals rather than whether someone’s paperwork is right. The same is true for public [...]
We’ve made a strong effort in the past couple years to make sure that we are doing our best to protect the health and safety of people in our licensed facilities. Whenever possible, we work to help those facilities come into compliance with our rules, but sometimes we have no choice but to drop the [...]
We’ll be holding four public comment meetings for the Medical Marijuana Rules next week. Public comment meetings are the part of the Rulemaking process whereby “an agency shall afford persons the opportunity to submit in writing statements, arguments, data and views on the proposed rule, with or without the opportunity to present them orally”. We [...]
Those of you that were working here in 2009 (or even if you weren’t) probably remember all of the angst and unrest that occurred when we increased our licensing fees for child care facilities (for the first time in over 20 years). The goal was to have licensing fee revenues cover the actual costs incurred [...]
Reports from Washington today say the President hasn't smoked in almost a year. He said last summer he's spent his adult life trying to give up cigarettes. Research shows that quitting is easier if you have help - Arizona Smokers' Helpline can help you. We have resources on the phone, online and even medication to [...]
Although we know a lot about the role of proper nutrition, exercise and general health in having a healthy baby, occasionally a baby is born with a special health condition or a birth defect. Our Newborn Screening Program tests babies for 29 special health conditions including hearing loss. These conditions, like phenylketonuria (PKU), can be [...]
A number of published studies have found that using marijuana (and other psychoactive substances) is associated with an earlier onset of psychotic illness (notice I said “is associated with” rather than “causes”). National mental health surveys have repeatedly found more substance use, especially cannabis use, among people with a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder. A [...]
This month we also distributed to stakeholders (and posted on our website) a new resource called “An Introduction to Arizona’s Public Behavioral Health System.” It's a high-level summary for people who wish to better understand who we are and what we do. The short document covers the service delivery structure and the continuum of care available, [...]
Our primary care and behavioral health folks put together a fabulous forum called the Arizona Integrated Models of Care in Behavioral Health and Primary Care Forum. Our team joined with the Milbank Memorial Fund to sponsor a forum on January 25 and 26 in Chandler, AZ, for policy makers in both the mental health and [...]
One of our primary objectives over the last couple of years in behavioral health has been to shift the focus of our performance measures away from process and procedures toward actual outcomes. In other words, we don’t want to measure our success on whether someone’s paperwork is right, but on whether the services we provide [...]
